Tempest63

I’m thinking that chilling the eggs once wrapped will help. The morcilla and eggs will be at the same cooler temperature giving the breadcrumbs time to turn golden before the filling over expands and splits. I will be trialling the quails eggs wrapped in smoked cod tomorrow so I will get them made and in the fridge a couple of hours or more before frying. Then it is time to practice making the Croquettes. Ham and cheese croquettes and porcini croquettes. The restaurant recommended a mix of manchego and ermesenda cheeses, but I cannot find the latter anywhere.

As an aside I reckon about 40g of morcilla, with some finely chopped parsley well mixed in is about right to wrap the eggs in, taking off any excess as you shape them. After several attempts I found it easier to make a patty of the morcilla then stand the egg upright to wrap it.

I made my first attempt at the Morcilla/quail scotch eggs that they serve in our local tapas bar. mixed results. Out of the 5 cooked (there were 6 but one floated. May have been bad, possibly not, but didn’t want to risk it) Boiled eggs for 2 minutes then egg dip snd breadcrumbed twice before putting in 180C oil for 5 minutes. Shell was good but the eggs were over cooked. Put in two more at 170C for 4 minutes and they came out soft, but the morcilla split on one side of one of the eggs. Did two more at 160C for four minutes. Breadcrumbs hadn’t turned golden so gave them another minute. Similar result to the previous two but both split. I will give it another go with a further 6 eggs but chill them for a few hours before frying. I will enquire with the chef himself.

I went to our local Tapas for dinner tonight and got a bit of a lesson in making the quails eggs in Morcilla. I’ve offered my services free to help out in the kitchen if they need a hand with the washing up if I can be shown how to make the eggs, the croquettes etc. Mark the chef didn’t take me up on the offer. I told him that I went to a Spanish grocers at Borough Market, London Bridge today and was shocked at the prices they are charging now. £10 for a vacuum pack of 20 white marinated anchovy fillets. Mark took pity and sold me a 1 kilo pack of what they sell in the restaurant for, in comparison, a measly £11. Best before March 2025, they will be fine for our tapas night. As an aside me and a tapas loving colleague went to a tapas bar in the very centre of London’s square mile today to look at potentially booking it for lunch one day. The restaurant is run by one of the leading U.K. based Spanish chefs, but the menu was very very uninspiring. It was all very seasonal salad orientated with extremely limited fish, meat or fowl. Disappointing to the extreme. I think the reason I went to our local tapas bar tonight with Mrs T63, was to make sure it was still there and we had access to a good menu. This is our local drum. https://www.elpulpo.co.uk For those with an interest in History (sorry to move away from the food) the restaurant is housed in what is left of a 15th century open hall house. https://www.withamtowntrail.com/33-newland-st

Thanks for the link, there are some dishes I am considering and there will be some with paprika. I am looking at these albondigas. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/apr/08/lamb-albondigas-recipe-oloroso-piquillo-peppers-jose-pizarro I will likely reduce the amount of paprika but I do like the addition of the lemon, sherry and sherry vinegar, plus the peppers (if I can source them). That should give a different twist to the dish.

Tonight was Koftet Roz, an Egyptian meatball recipe made with Beef, large quantities of fresh herbs, and ground rice. We saw the recipe in the current BBC Good Food magazine and it was a new dish, new variant on meatballs, so I had to give it a go. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/sohas-koftet-roz-egyptian-rice-meatballs I made it with lamb mince instead of beef, as that was what I had available, the sauce recipe looked a little bland for my tastes so I upped the garlic, added a finely chopped red onion and some Za’athar, black pepper and Maldon sea salt. The final dish was very agreeable with nice, tasty, soft meatballs and a great tasting sauce. We served it with plain steamed basmati rice. The full dish in the frying pan. Served with Dishooms, plain steamed basmati rice.

Many, many congratulations, and a great meal to celebrate with. Nice and pink, well cooked!

Marinated anchovies is a definite. It is a favourite of both mine and Mrs T63.

As our Pescatarian guest is near vegetarian there will be plenty of veg dishes. The Brindisa Russian salad as well as stuffed mushrooms, Mediterranean veg and likely one or two others. We will finish with a couple of paellas, one meat based and one heavily veg and fish based. I’m still doing my research on the paellas.

The reason I say unique in my previous post is because it seems so many tapas recipes and beyond include Paprika, to the point where I’m beginning to find it a little ubiquitous. Looking for a twist on a good steak rub I found several, but all had large quantities of paprika included. My pork cheeks have a teaspoon of sweet paprika so my fried chorizo recipe will likely be dropped from the menu.

We have six friends coming around for a Tapas evening late September meaning we will be over our U.K. summer and will likely be dining indoors. I am trying to find a number of Tapas dishes with something a little unique about them. I have already discussed scotch eggs made with morcilla and quail eggs, but we have a pescatarian coming who eats no meat or fowl so an alternative recipe with the egg encased in smoke cod looks to be a possibility. Two variants of croquettes, one with porcini, the other with traditional ham and cheese can be made in advance and fried at the last minute. I made pork cheeks in red wine this evening to freeze and heat through on the day. All a bit of a rush as my eldest daughter was hospitalised today and I had 8 hours with her in A&E before coming home. One thing I have found is a couple of unusual Sangria recipes, both from a very select chain of Tapas Bars here in England called Tapas Revolution run by a great chef in the person of Omar Allibhoy. Sangria with Spanish Sparkling Wine https://tapasrevolution.com/sangria-spanish-sparkling-wine-cava-recipe-spanish-restaurant-tapas-bar/ Tapas Revolution Special Sangria https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/special-sangria/

Very quick after work dinner tonight. Rose Veal sirloin steaks. Oven chips and peas. I had wholegrain mustard instead of my usual English mustard. Some garlic mayonnaise to dip the chips in. we finished up with a little Ossau Iraty, a semi hard Spanish sheep’s cheese and a glass of Merlot. Very nice.

I really need to expand my repertoire to include more African recipes. The more I see these types of recipes, the more I realise there is so much of the worlds cuisine that I need to explore.

Pork chops in a garlic sauce tonight, pan fried new potatoes with steamed green beans and sautéed spinach. Recipe for chops here https://www.dontgobaconmyheart.co.uk/garlic-pork-chops/ Unusual for a UK site that the ingredients are given in cups. You see that commonly with US recipe sites but very rarely UK. Personally it doesn’t phase me either way as I use both US/imperial and UK/metric measurements.

We have a Tapas and Paella night coming up in September so I thought I ought to start practicing for the night. I cooked up this Paella tonight. Chicken, prawn and squid rings. Red pepper and peas, and a shortcut using shop bought passata instead of making a pukka tomato sauce. I cook with an induction hob and cannot use a traditional paella pan so use this Le Creuset non stick paella pan. Unfortunately this means we don’t get much of a Socarrat on the base. The recipe was an interpretation of one of the straight forward and simpler recipes from “Paella” by Alberto Herraiz. The book explores some of the traditional methods and recipes of cooking the dish, delving into the near science behind cooking paella. A lot of the recipes in the book start on the stove before cooking in the oven which seems a little unusual to me. I always thought of paella as being a stove top recipe.

Dinner tonight was chicken in a garlic cream sauce, boiled new potatoes and steamed tender stem broccoli . Chicken recipe from here. https://www.thechunkychef.com/creamy-garlic-chicken-breasts/

Two new books arrived today from second hand booksellers but ordered via Amazon UK. The first is Brindisa, Spanish cooking written by the Lady who opened the first Brindisa, Spanish deli shop in London in 1988. Her first tapas bar was opened in Borough Market, now she has several restaurants, including one in Spain. I paid £11.33 including delivery for this book whose condition is as new. The cost of a new book is over £26. The second book in equally good condition that arrived today is the Immigrant Cookbook. Stories and recipes from those who have left their homelands, often due to conflict and persecution, and made a new home for themselves in other countries such as the U.S. and the U.K. A varied selection of recipes from many countries. I paid £4.36 including delivery for this hardback which is no longer listed as available as a new publication, though I bought this as a gift for someone in 2018 and paid £13.50 for a new copy then (according to Amazon).

This is our variation of the Dishoom method for cooking Basmati rice. We use Tilda as it always gives consistent results. We cook a batch and freeze whatever is left over for Ron. Dishoom Basmati Rice (Stephanies Favourite Rice) This is a lengthier process than some rice cooking methods, but the end result will be perfectly fluffy rice, with each grain intact.You will need a large pan with a lid (which is only used in Step 6) Serves 4 Ingredients 360g basmati rice 2 teaspoons fine sea salt A generous squeeze of lime juice, or 1 tablespoon spirit vinegar 25g unsalted butter (optional, but recommended) Method. Fill a large bowl with cold water and gently add the rice. Move the rice around with your hands to help release the starch, let the rice settle to the bottom. Pour out the water and repeat this process until the water is clear (usually 3 to 4 times) cover the rice with fresh, cold water and leaves to soak for one hour. Bring 3 litres of water to the boil in a large pan and add salt and lime juice or spirit vinegar. Bring to the boil Cut, a piece of foil large enough to comfortably cover the top of your pan. Drain the rice and add it to the boiling water. Cook, stirring regularly until almost done: this should take 4 to 5 minutes and the rice should still be slightly firm in the centre. Tip the rice into a sieve immediately; don’t shake off all the excess water. Return the rice to the still-hot pan, shake the pan gently to create an even layer, then dot with butter, if using. Place the foil over the top of the pan and tightly crimp the edges around the edge of the pan. Place pan over high heat, until you see the foil dome up (inflate a little), about one minute. Position the lid to seal. Turn off the heat and leave to stand, covered, for 15 to 30 minutes before serving.

In the interest of research I took the wife out to the local tapas restaurant last night and after £189 worth of research (ouch!) I left with a full belly and some supplies for a Tapas and Paella meal for us and six friends. The chef, Mark, is someone who we have known through various local restaurants and eateries over the years and he advises that you boil your quail eggs for exactly 2 minutes and 10 seconds before plunging in iced water for “no more” than five minutes; leaving them longer results in harder eggs in the finished dish. You then work the Morcilla in your hands with some finely chopped parsley until it has a consistency similar to putty. Make a small cup shape then place the egg in the cup and completely wrap it with the Morcilla. Egg, breadcrumbs and refrigerate. When you are ready to cook drop them in 180C oil until the breadcrumbs are suitably golden and voila (or the Spanish equivalent) you have a softish yolk encased in beautifully cooked blood pudding. Mark uses this Morcilla which he gets from Brindisa https://brindisa.com The restaurant sells this product along with a selection of other Spanish ingredients that I bought to start practicing for the Tapasfest. The jar between the olives and the Morcilla is a chilli jam that they serve on the side with the eggs cut into two

…is not duck, but a fish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_duck#:~:text=At one time%2C 13 tonnes,approved freezing and canning factories. In the formative curry eating days of my youth it was always my preferred starter in a British Indian Restaurant, being dry, salty and fishy…it appealed. Like marmite you either loved it or hated it. Then the EU banned its importation following a food poisoning scare and the producers back in India couldn’t meet the strict EU processing rules. Now it is back in force and I see it in most of the Indian grocers that I frequent. I have recently been considering adding some to flavour ghee or oil at the beginning of the cooking process, similar to the way some dissolve anchovies in oil at the start of a ragu, or similar; a process I often use to add that extra Umami. I have trawled the web and can find no previous reference to using BD in this way and wondered whether anyone else has come across the process? I Know BD can be made into a pickle https://www.hildastouchofspice.com/2012/07/dried-bombay-duck-chilli-fry-sukha-bombil.html where it is partially rehydrated and then fried, but I was specifically thinking of it as a tempering, possibly ground up to a fine powder.

Dinner tonight could not have been easier, left overs from our curryfest. Dishooms Chicken Ruby and Black Lentils and Cafe Spice Dhansak. The rice was cooked tonight and was also from the Dishoom cookbook.

Maybe the addition of the chutney in Duvels post may be the answer? I know that the owner of the Tapas bar insisted it had to be Spanish Morcilla, and not a UK style black pudding to make it successful.

Thanks for all your feedback.

I wonder if anyone can help. A local tapas bar has scotch eggs on the starter menu, but these are quails eggs encased in Morcilla, a Spanish blood or black pudding. The egg yolks are still soft after cooking, but I cannot find a recipe online for this dish. Does anyone know of a recipe? Or better still do they have a tried and tested recipe?

Many congratulations. Now you will have the joy in due course of cooking with the grandchildren. My eldest grandson, Jack, is coming up 13 now and often pops round “to help” when I am cooking for the family.