Garlic Prawns

This is one of my favourite dishes. A Spanish-style dish, it combines the seafood taste of prawns with the a sauce based on garlic and paprika.

a good "glug" of olive oil
3/4 - 1 kg prawns
3-6 garlic cloves, finely chopped - add more if you like garlic
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup of white wine
1 tsp smoked paprika
1⁄2 tsp chilli pepper (to taste)
4 tbsp Italian parsley, chopped
salt and fresh ground pepper

• Peel and devein the prawns.
• In a wide, shallow pan over high heat, heat the olive oil; add the prawns, then add the garlic and sauté quickly for about 2-3 minutes.Add the garlic at a point when the prawns are half cooked so they garlic doesn't blacken.
• Add the lemon juice, paprika, chilli pepper, wine and salt and pepper to taste. Adjust all of these to your liking.
• Finally, transfer the garlic prawns to a warmed serving dish, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve at once.

Stuffed Mushrooms

This is one of my favourite Spanish tapas. They are great also as an entrée.

To make this dish you need:
12 mushrooms
4 long green onions
2 slices of prosciutto
200ml white wine (or you can just open a bottle of wine and serve the rest with the meal)
a handful of chopped parsley
50ml olive oil
salt
pepper


Clean the mushrooms, remove the stems from the caps of the mushrooms and cut the stems of the mushrooms into small pieces. Chop the onion, garlic and parsley.
Now sauté the onion and garlic in a pan with some olive oil. Then add the prosciutto, cook for a few moments and then add the choppped mushroom stems and sauté the mixture until soft. Now add about 2Tbsp white wine until reduced a bit and finally add the chopped parsley. Let the mixture cool.
Fill the mushroom caps with cooled mixture, put them in a baking dish with a little oil,  about 50 ml white wine and sprinkle with pepper. Cook at 180°C for about 15 minutes or until soft. Serve hot or cold.

Tortilla

Spanish-style tortillas are one of my favourite foods, whether served hot, served cold on a picnic, or best of all, served sliced and warm in a baguette on a picnic high in the Pyrenees, with a glass of red wine.

1 large potato, diced
1 onion, chopped finely
4 eggs
pinch of salt
olive oil

Pre-cook the diced potato in a covered plastic container in the microwave for 3 to 4 minutes until softened slightly. Meanwhile cook the onion in a small non-stick frypan moistened with olive oil until the onion has softened. Add the softened potato and gently cook with the onion until they are both soft but not browned. In a basin, mix the eggs and salt. Add the potato and onion to the egg mixture and return the whole lot back to the frypan. Cook over the stove until the bottom of the tortilla is set. Meanwhile heat the griller and when the bottom of the tortilla is set, put the frypan under the griller to set the top. A useful technique is: when the top of the tortilla is set slightly, take the pan from the stove, put a plate on top of the pan and quickly invert the whole lot so that the tortilla is on the plate. Now slide the tortilla back into the pan and cook it a for a while on top of the stove. You should aim to keep the centre of the tortilla slightly runny.

Remove the tortilla and serve hot or let it cool and then serve. It is a great dish to serve on a picnic in a sandwich sliced between 2 halves of baguette.

Paella

There are hundreds of “authentic” recipes for paella. However, a few basic rules are important. The dish must always be made with olive oil. This helps to brown the chicken and meat evenly and to keep each grain of rice separate. Saffron must be added, to give the rice its golden colour and the sauce its special pungency and aroma. The best way to make a paella is to cook everything together in a large shallow paella pan, uncovered.

1 1.2 kg chicken, cut up.
1/2 kg chorizo, sliced and fried
50 - 75 ml olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
2 whole garlic cloves
2 tablespoons minced parsley
1 medium onion, minced
1 red pepper, chopped
1/2 teaspoon saffron
2 teaspoons salt
1 litre chicken stock
300g Spanish Calasparra rice (allow about 80g per person)
1/2 kg prawns, peeled or 2 blue swimmer crabs chopped and cleaned
1/2 kg sliced and cleaned calamari
1 litre mussels or clams (or use both) well scrubbed
1 cup frozen peas
2 tbsp white wine

1. Remove about 8 pieces of chicken from the body. Use the carcass and the wing tips to make some stock.  If using prawns also, add the prawn shells to the stock
2. Heat the oil in the paella pan over medium heat. Add onion, red pepper, garlic, chorizo, chicken and calamari. Add rice and stir for 1 minute. Stir in stock, saffron and paprika.
3. When the stock is boiling and rice grains begin to swell, add the crab or prawns. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the stock has reduced and the rice has begun to swell. Push the mussels and clams into the rice and cook until the shells open. Finally add the peas, strips of capsicum and parsley and leave it for five more minutes on low heat.
4. Cover and leave standing for about 10 minutes before serving.

Zarzuela de Mariscos

Zarzuela de Mariscos is a great Spanish dish. This is a quick and simplified version based on the Marinara Mix which most fishmongers sell. Of course other seafood ingredients may be added to give a better end result such as opened mussels, prawns, clams and scallops.
750g of Marinara Mix from the market, use any other suitable mix from your fishmonger
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp brandy
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 small garlic clove, peeled, and sliced
1 small red pepper, diced
1 tomato, peeled and chopped (or just use some tomato from a can)
1 tbsp ground almonds
1/2 sachet of Spanish saffron powder
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tbsp minced parsley
Sauté the red pepper in the olive oil in a pan. When it is softening add onion, garlic and tomato. Cook until very soft. Add the brandy, almonds and saffron. Cook briefly and then add the wine and marinara mix. Simmer until the seafood is cooked. To serve, add the chopped parsley and serve with either rice or cous cous.