T for Tapas

The Tapas Revolution has started & two fresh faced Spanish chefs (Omar trained at the famous El Bulli in Espagna and Danny his quiet and sweet sidekick) are at the helm of it. With a big leg of jamon serrano (cured ham) in hand; they are making their way across the UK –in the shape of a big ‘T’ with only a motorbike and a few cooking utensils.

Chef Omar said that he is going to cook for anyone that crosses his path and with only the ingredients they have in their kitchen (err…that might be tough, as if he came to mine he’d only find a pineapple, popcorn kernels and cupcake supplies!).

Before their grand departure for first stop, glamorous Liverpool, the charismatic chef and his sidekick invited a few peeps to a farewell dinner in Westbourne Grove at the lovely El Pirata Detapas for a send off. After this dinner I remembered how much I love Spanish food and how I don’t have it enough!

The menu consisted of the loveliest foods ever. First up was my favourite of the night - Ajo Bianco, a drink made with ground almonds, milk & garlic. Divine! Then there were piquillo peppers with the tastiest and softest baccala (salted cod) served on toasted bread – I think I hogged the whole platter of this; following that, there was a lovely salad with chick peas, orange, sultanas and veg served with a thick red pepper dressing –yum. And, yes there was more, a large rice dish was carried out that had a bit of fish, sausage, rabbit and other meats and treats inside –yum again. All served with sangria that was drunk too quickly on a hot evening and on an empty stomach; the Burger warned me that there was alcohol in there (you could only taste fruity goodness!) Well, with a light head and full belly we bid the energetic chefs off and skipped off home to meet the visiting Dutch and Czech visitors.

Have a watch of their videos and if you live along the ‘T’ in the UK – get out there and ask Omar to cook you a meal – you won’t regret it! http://www.tapasrevolution.com/ 

And a big thanks to Niamh at Eat Like a Girl for the wonderful photos!

Dining at Providores (the queue was too long at the 'steak frites' place again!)
Two nights in a row the queue was disgustingly long at the steak frites place, not sure its name but you will know it, it's the one on Marylebone Lane with a horrible queue outside ALL the time. The alternatives were Italian or tapas at the Providores. We chose the Kiwi-owned, Spanish inspired latter. The mains were great as usual, a nice blend of different flavours but my favourite was the dessert.

Sticky banana and date pudding with salted maple caramel sauce, served with cardamom ice cream (this was gross and on the side). Why not just plain vanilla ice cream? I guess some people like the taste of cardamom with their ice cream, not sure who though. We ate very well and had lovely wine too, although you can't really go there if you are too hungry as you would need to order a lot of tapas to fill you up. I was quite happy about that as it meant that I had space for the delicious dessert. Ed watching over the pudding, not eating too much of it as he is on a dairy free diet - this was good news as it meant more of the sweetness for me!

Turned onto - sherry wine
I received a sherry wine book entitled, The Perfect Marriage - The art of matching food and sherry wines from Jerez from some contacts at a PR agency. One of their clients is the sherry producers of Jerez. In an hour I learned quite a bit about sherry wines and how it is not a drink just for your gran anymore - it is a versatile wine for us to pair with fabulous food dishes. Here is a recipe from the book. Enjoy!

Chocolate Delice With Sherry Prunes & Vanilla Cream

Best paired with: Cream, Moscatel, Pedro Ximénez Sherry

Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes, plus 8 hours chilling
serves 6

Ingredients

• 12 prunes, stoned and halved
  
• 150 ml cold water
  
• 4 tablespoons PX sherry
  
• 2 handfuls of Raspberries

For the delice

• 75 g free range egg yolks
  
• 100 g caster sugar
  
• 300 g full fat milk
  
• 250 g double cream
  
• 200 g dark chocolate, chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons PX sherry

For the vanilla cream

• 200 ml double cream
  
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar (or 2 tablespoons caster sugar and 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract)

Method

Place the prunes in a small pan with the cold water. bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, gently stirring twice. add the sherry and simmer for 2–3 minutes, until the cooking liquid thickens, then leave to cool. Chill, covered, in the fridge.

Meanwhile to make the delice, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar until pale in colour. Place the remaining sugar in a pan with the milk and cream and bring to a simmer.

Pour the hot cream over the egg yolks, whisking continuously, then return to the pan and cook over a moderate heat, stirring constantly until the custard thickens and coats the back of the spoon.

Place the chocolate and sherry into a metal bowl, pour the hot custard mixture over and gently mix it together until the chocolate melts. Pour through a sieve into a clean bowl. Press some baking parchment on to the surface of the delice and leave to cool. Chill in the fridge for at least 8 hours to set.

To make the vanilla cream whisk the double cream and sugar until it forms soft peaks. Chill in the fridge.

To assemble, use 6 small glass bowls or martini glasses and place a raspberry or a few raspberries in the bottom of each. divide the vanilla cream amongst them. top each with a spoonful of cooked prunes and then a quenelle of the delice. drizzle each dessert with a few teaspoons of the prune liquid.

Tip to quenelle the delice, half fill a heatproof jug with very hot water. sit a dessertspoon in it to warm up – ideally a spoon with a half egg-shaped hollow. run the hot and still slightly damp spoon across the top of the delice, slightly digging it in as you drag it along. the delice should roll up into the spoon and give you an egg-shaped quenelle.