So to kick off, I am cooking from 1080 Recipes by Simone and Ines Ortega. I bought this thing (and I have to call it a thing, not a book bacause have you seen the size of this thing!?) because I read a lukewarm review of it's English translation in Slate magazine ages ago. They were lamenting the use of canned peas and other convenient ingredients in the recipes and mentioned Ferran Adria at last twice as an example of the kind of Spanish food you should really be trying to make. Very annoying, bunch of fetishists.Anyway, here's my mise en place
That stuff in the foreground, taking up half of the picture is Serrano ham, just in case you had any doubts. Did I ever mention that my boyfriend is Spanish? Well he went shopping with mummy a couple of days ago (that's what they do in Spain, apparently, instead of giving their mum the finger and running off to drink cider in the park with their mates), bought some Serrano ham, came over and put it in my fridge without telling me about it. So when I wanted to make this recipe for dinner and saw the package in the fridge I asked him whether it was Serrano or Parma. Oh My God! How dare I ask such a thing! How dare I suggest that he would bring the inferior meat into my house, or any house! What did I take him for, some kind of lunatic? Was I aware of the difference between Italy and Spain?!I stood there for a few minutes hoping he would shut up, but then he noticed that our olive oil is Greek and it all started again from the beginning. Spain has the ideal climate for growing olives, and the types of trees are themselves better than any of that crap they have over there. Why did I think they all lived such long healthy lives? Blah blah blah, I stopped listening to some of it, and then he left to have dinner with some friends. Just as well because I only had 4 trout.
I scaled them under the tap, but left the heads on. Some people think it's a bit creepy to have them googling you, but I always leave them on because if you squeeze the cheeks a bit you can make the mouth move and sing little songs, or ask questions, like 'why did you kill me?' - it's really funny. And also it makes the sauce a lot more juicy.
This recipe is very simple, maybe that's the reason I never describe the process, because everything is clear as day from the recipe below and you'd have to be duuuuuuuuuuumb to mess it up.
Result: Wow, that picture is really appetizing, isn't it? Why does all of my food end up being gray? I was worried that it would be a bit salty from all that Serrano and the pickled peppers, but it was just perfect. One fish per person is a lot, but no matter how full I got I just had to keep eating, it was that good. The boyfiend doesn't like freshwater fish because they tend to have an earthy, almost dirty taste, but this was just amazing. It tasted almost meaty, like a juicy piece of veal or something. Again again again!(I can't get to the scanner, so I'll have to type the recipe up. Grrrr)
Trout with ham and peppers
4 Trout, cleaned
300g canned red peppers, drained and cut into strips
1 Chilli, seeded and cut into pieces
4 thin slices of Serrano ham
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar or lemon juice
salt
Preheat the oven to 200C. Season the trout with salt and pepper. Divide the red peppers and chilli among the slices of ham. Roll up each slice of ham and put one inside the cavity of each fish. Put the trout into a roasting tin in a single layer. Pour the oil over them and sprinkle with garlic. Season with salt and bake for about 12 minutes, until the flesh flakes easily. Transfer the trout to a warm serving dish. Add the vinegar or lemon juice to the roasting tin and bring the mixture to the boil, then pour it over the trout and serve immediately.
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