Salmon with Philadelfia and Caremalized Onions En-croute

Beautifull en-croute, made with salmon and a topping of caramelized onions and Philadelphia cream cheese.

Recipe Ingredients: (enough for 4)

• 1 skinless and boneless salmon fillet (I purchased it with skin and removed it after as is cheaper this way)
  
• 1 packet of puff pastry (I purchased it already rolled, as I didn't want the trouble to make it myself)
  
• 1 Large Onion (finely chopped)
  
• 2 tomatoes sliced
  
• 2 minced garlic cloves
  
• 21/2 a shot of Port Wine
  
• 2 Heaped soup spoons of Philadelphia Cream cheese (or similar)
  
• 1 bunch of parsley (finely chopped)
  
• a little salt, black pepper and virgin olive oil
  
• 1 egg yolk to brush the pastry
  

In a frying pan put a little olive oil and once hot add (salt and pepper), onion and garlic. Let them cook until they caramelize well, when this happens add the port wine, cook for another minute, remove from heat and leave to cool.

After cooling add the two tablespoons of Philadelphia over the chopped parsley and stir until it becomes consistent. Place the fillets of raw fish over the pastry (add a little salt and pepper on top), spread fillets with cream cheese and onion, put on top of the slices of tomato.

Now lift the flaps of the pastry covers the fish but do not completely cover it, use the excess of the ends of the wrap to make the strips to put over, these will not let the dough open more when cooking (see photo). Press the edges with the teeth of a fork and brush the dough thoroughly with the egg yolk. insert it in the hot oven (200 degrees C) for 25 minutes, and is ready to serve.

The vegetables are just boiled, I used as you can see, round beans, carrots and potatoes. You can use the same or even cauliflower, broccoli etc. You can also quickly after boiling the vag sauté them for one minute with butter on a frying pan then sprinkle some chopped parsley and a little lemon juice.

For the sauce puts the milk in a saucepan with the nutmeg, butter plus a dash of salt and pepper. Once it boils, mix the wine with the flour premixed, and stir until it thickens, finally add the chopped parsley and is done, pour over the vegetables. Bon Appetite

Fish and Chips Rico Way

Once again I am picking another great British dish and making it mine with super flavour and textures.

Recipe Ingredients: (for two)

• 2 cod fillets (skinned)
• 4 medium potatoes (with the skin cut into wedges)
• 1/2 a glass of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 150mls sun-flour oil
  
• some coarse sea salt, black pepper, 1 tea spoon of dehydrated parsley, some olive oil

Place a pan with some boiling water and a pinch of salt on the stove medium heat to keep water boiling, put the potato wedges in and let it boil for 3-4 minutes. After this drain the wedges and place them in a bowl (meanwhile switch the oven on 200c until hot), add to the wedges 3 soup spoons of olive oil + 2 tea spoons of coarse sea salt and 2 tea spoons of the dehydrated parsley, toss it all until well mixed, distribute these wedges on a baking tray with the wedge up on each potato piece, place them in the oven and let them cook for 30-35 minutes.

Ten minutes before the potatoes are done pour the sunflower oil into a deep frying pan and let it get very hot. Meanwhile put the flour in a bowl + a pinch of coarse salt a little pepper and the tea spoon of baking powder, add some water to the consistency of thick runny yoghurt with the aid of a balloon whisk, dip the fillets in the batter and let them get a thick covering rubbing excess on the sides of the bowl and place them in the frying pan the oil should cover them.

Fry for about 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown, then place them on a plate with a few kitchen towels to drain the excess fat, then just serve them with the chips (wedges) and a dollop of tartar sauce (optionally you can boil some peas and have them like that or mush them with a couple of mint leaves and some lemon juice and serve on the side)

Also the batter if you prefer instead of water you can add some beer instead for a lighter texture and more flavoursome batter, although I like the simplicity of this one I made.

The Perfect Bangers and Mash with Onion Gravy

A very, very traditional British meal made luxurious and super delicious.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 6 fresh sausages (minimum 65% pork shoulder, preferable)
• 1 large onion (thinly sliced)
  
• 4 large potatoes (pealed and cut into small cubes for fast cooking)
  
• 2 heaped spoons of Gravy powder
• 1 bunch of chopped parsley
• 1 soup spoon of butter
• 1/4 tea spoon of ground nutmeg
• 1 small glass of milk
• olive oil salt and pepper (sufficient)
  

Butterfly cut all the sausages (slice them down the middle without separating the halves). Then put a non stick frying pan on the stove at medium heat with a little olive oil. Once hot add the sliced onion and stir occasionally until it starts to get golden.

While that is happening put a pan on the stove with boiling water and place the cubed potatoes inside (+a little salt) and boil them till cooked.

On the frying pan now that the onions started to caramelize move the onion to one side and place the sausages split down first in the pan then cover them with the onions, and let them cook for about 3-4 minutes, after that turn them and let the onions fall under the sausages and cook for another 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally. This will allow the sausages to cook but more importantly will allow the onions to caramelize further.

Now the potatoes should be cooked so strain them and at the same times remove the sausages from the pan (dish them in pre heated plates to conserve them hot) leaving only the onions. Add to the onions a large glass of water with the gravy powder diluted in it, and bring it to the boil until the gravy thickens and infuses with the caramelized onions and sausage meat flavours from the pan.

While the gravy is making, mash the potatoes with the potato masher, once smooth add the butter + the parsley + the milk and nutmeg and mix well.

Than dish it all and eat this simple traditional yet super delicious meal. :)

Reward for wining a Competition

I have entered a competition on I Love Flavour, Me! the owner of that blog is Ruth, so you can see me below receiving the prize which is a really excellent 1L of Italian super nice olive oil.

Thank you Ruth for your generosity, I know it wasn't cheap...

The page announcing me as a winner is here and it talks about traditional "pasteis de Belém" one of my favourite cakes, and also contains some history ...cheers !