Paella, Tapas & Pinchos Cookery Class & Meal Recipes – Seafood Paella; Morcilla Pinchos;

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tapas and paella class at the cookery school manchester

Paella, Tapas & Pinchos Cookery Class & Meal Recipes – Seafood Paella; Morcilla Pinchos;

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Our cookery classes are as much about learning to cook as they are a sociable experience. We hope you enjoyed your evening and are ready to recreate the dishes again.

We Cooked: Seafood Paella; Mackerel, Romesco & Salsa; Morcilla, Quail Egg & Pepper Pinchos; Padron Peppers; Catalan Cocoa Bread; Ham Croquettas

Seafood Paella

Ingredients: Serves 4

  • – 80ml olive oil (80 ml)
  • – 1 large onion finely diced
  • – 2 garlic cloves minced
  • – 2 medium tomatoes peeled and diced
  • – 5 teaspoons sweet paprika Spanish pimentón de la Vera is the best if you can get it.
  • – 1 pinch of saffron threads
  • – 380g rice (380 g) see notes
  • – 240ml white wine (240 ml)
  • – 720ml of seafood stock (720 ml)
  • – 12 prawns or jumbo shrimp, with or without shells.  Shells on great – but much harder to eat!
  • – 12 mussels
  • 2 large squid cleaned and sliced into 1/4-inch rings, tentacles left whole (not used in this dish)
  • Realistically, use any seafood – frozen is fine, sometimes it’s the freshest you can get.

Method:

  1. Add your saffron to the white wine and leave to infuse.
  2. In a large saucepan, bring the seafood stock to a simmer and keep warm.
  3. Put a large paella or sauté pan  over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. When hot, add the onion to the pan and sauté until translucent, stirring often.
  4. Add the garlic and cook until aromatic (about 1-2 minutes). Before it starts to brown, add the tomato and stir, adding in the paprika and a pinch of salt. Continue to stir and saute until the tomatoes are reduced and the oil is sizzling
  5. Next, add the rice and stir to combine. After a minute of sautéing, spread the rice evenly across the pan (don’t worry if it looks like a thin layer, it will puff up).
  6. Add the  white wine and stock to the pan, all in one go. Reduce the heat to low, and cook, without stirring, for 10-15 minutes with a lid on.
  7. If the rice starts to dry out you can top it up with a bit more hot stock, half a cup at a time. Don’t stir the rice. 
  8. If using mussels and raw prawns, add them to the pan with a splash of water and put the lid back on. After a few minutes of steaming, the mussels should open Discard any that don’t open. You can see the prawns cooked through when they are pink.
  9. If using a seafood mix, add it to the pan at this point with the lid and allow to steam for 5 minutes. 
  10. When the stock in the paella pan fully evaporates, you will hear a faint cracking from the bottom of the pan as the crispy layer on the bottom (also called socarrat) starts to form. If you don’t hear anything, you can raise the heat to medium for a short burst!
  11. When the rice is ready, remove the pan from the heat and taste to check seasoning.
  12. Serve from the pan, with wedges of fresh lemon.

Mackerel, Romesco & Salsa

Ingredients – Serves 4:

If Mackerel is out of season – you can replace with Sardines.  Allow 2-3 per person.  Cook the same method, but leave the fish whole and turn as soon as the skin colours.

  • – 4 mackerel fillets, bones removed

For the Romesco sauce:

  • – 1 roasted red peppers, seeded and skinned
  • – 40g stale bread
  • – 30g almonds
  • – 10g smoked paprika
  • – 30ml red wine vinegar
  • – 100ml olive oil
  • – Salt and pepper

For the salsa:

  • – 1 medium onion
  • – 1 red pepper
  • – 1 medium fennel bulb
  • – 20g capers
  • – 20g anchovies
  • – 20ml red wine vinegar
  • – 50ml extra virgin olive oil
  • – 20g flat leaf parsley
  • – 10g tarragon
  • – Salt and pepper

Method:

  1. Place all the Romesco sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust the liquid if needed then season to taste.
  2. For the salsa, finely chop the vegetables, fish and herbs. Place them in a bowl and mix together. Add the vinegar and oil, and season to taste.
  3. Place the mackerel skin side up on a tray, then season and drizzle with olive oil.
  4. Cook under a grill on a medium to high heat for four minutes or until there is a good colour on the skin and the fish is cooked through.
  5. On a small plate or bowl, add a generous layer of Romesco sauce. Top with the cooked mackerel and serve with a generous spoon of salsa.

Morcilla, Eggs & Pepper Pinchos

Ingredients – Serves 4:

  • – 1 whole morcilla de burgos
  • – 4 eggs (or you can use 8 quails eggs)
  • – 200g tinned piquillo peppers, sliced into thin strips
  • – 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely sliced
  • – 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
  • – 1 tsp caster sugar
  • – Sea salt

Method:

  1. In a medium size frying pan, gently warm the olive oil and add the garlic slices, cook gently for 1 minute or until lightly brown. Remove from the oil, add the piquillo peppers and slowly cook for five minutes. Sprinkle a pinch of sugar, season with sea salt and return the garlic, cook for a further 10 minutes on low heat and set aside.
  2. To cook the morcilla, cut the sausage into small cubes or slices and fry in a hot frying pan for a couple of minutes. Drain on some kitchen towels.  For the quail eggs, gently crack each egg using the edge of a knife. Drop each egg in a small ramekin or cup and gently slide it into the hot oil. Cook four eggs at a time until they firm up, 1 to 1.5 minutes. Larger eggs may take a little longer.
  3. On a warm plate, spoon the warm piquillo peppers, place a piece of the morcilla sausage and top with a crispy fried quail egg before serving.

Padron Peppers

Literally the best of the best sides!  And always the risk that one of yours might be mind-blowingly spicy (it’s a rumour, not a fact)

Ingredients – Serves 4:

  • – 300 grams of Padron peppers about 2 cups
  • – 50 ml extra virgin olive oil (1/4 cup)
  • – Flaky sea salt

Method:

  1. Rinse and dry the peppers.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a pan at high heat until it is very hot (but not yet smoking).
  3. Add the peppers and cook, tossing occasionally, until the skin starts to blister and soften. Don’t let them burn, but do leave them enough time to completely soften.
  4. Remove the peppers and place them on a plate.
  5. Sprinkle generously with sea salt and enjoy!

Catalan Coca Bread

Ingredients – serves 2:

  • plain flour 185g
  • Salt – 1/3 tsp
  • Instant Yeast – 1tsp
  • Water 80g
  • Olive oil 1tsp

For The Topping:

  • Onion
  • Yellow pepper
  • sliced tomatoes

Method:

  1. In a bowl, mix together flour, salt, yeast.
  2. Add oil and enough water to make a soft dough.
  3. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until elastic.
  4. Cover and set aside for 1 hour or until double in volume.
  5. Slice onions, peppers and tomatoes into thin long slices.
  6. Preheat oven to 250°C.Punch the dough and shape it into a thin rectangle on a greased baking tray.
  7. Top it with sliced onions, peppers and tomatoes.
  8. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top.
  9. Bake in preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden.
  10. Slice it up and serve hot.

GF Sweet Potato Dough Recipe

Ingredients – Makes 6:

  • – 1 cup sweet potatoes, baked until soft, skins discarded
  • – 2 cups of good quality gluten free flour, (have some more just in case)
  • – Seasoning

Method:

  1. To make the dough: Mix all the ingredients above in a mixing bowl. Make the sticky dough, wrap it in cling film, and let rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
  2. To make the rotis, lightly flour a clean surface and put some flour into a small bowl. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll a piece between your palms to form a ball, flatten it and coat it in the flour. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin to the size of a small saucer (around 10cm in diameter). Dip the roti in the flour and continue rolling it out to around 20cm in diameter.
  3. Take a tablespoon of the filling and spread it out on one half of the roti. Fold the other half of the roti over the top of the filling so that you end up with a semicircle. Seal it by gently pressing the edges closed, working from one side to the other so as not to trap air into it.
  4. Put a frying pan on a medium to high heat. When it’s hot, throw on the first roti and leave for around 60 seconds to a minute, until the edges colour and the side is browning nicely in spots. Turn it over and cook for the same length of time on the other side.
  5. Press down on the roti with a chapatti press or spatula on the back of any uncooked bits until cooked through before transferring to a plate. Repeat with the rest of the dough. To keep your roti warm while you cook the rest, make a foil nest for them to sit in or tuck them in a tea towel.

Ham Croquettas

Ingredients – Makes 24:

  • – 60g unsalted butter (60 g)
  • – 60ml olive oil (60 ml)
  • – 120g flour (just under one cup — 120 g)
  • – 1 medium onion very finely diced
  • – 1l whole milk at room temperature (1 litre)
  • – 1 pinch nutmeg
  • – 225g jamón serrano or Parma ham diced into small pieces (225 g)
  • – flour for breading
  • – 2 beaten eggs
  • – breadcrumbs for breading (try Panko for non-traditional extra crispy croquettes!)

Method:

  1. Melt the butter and warm the oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat.
  2. Add the diced onion and sauté for a few minutes, until it just starts to colour.
  3. Add a pinch of salt and the nutmeg. Don’t add too much salt as the Serrano ham is already salty.
  4. Add the diced ham and sauté for 30 seconds more.
  5. Add the flour and stir continuously, until the flour darkens. You must not stop stirring or the flour will burn!
  6. When the flour changes colour, add the milk little by little, always stirring until you incorporate the entire amount. It should take about 15 minutes to add it all.
  7. Turn off the heat and let the dough cool to room temperature.
  8. Butter the sides of a large bowl and place the croquette dough inside, covered directly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate ideally a minimum of 4 hours, but preferably overnight.  
  9. To make the ham croquettes, shape them into little logs (or use a pastry sleeve if you have one.)
  10. Next, while heating a pan full of olive oil on the stove, pass the croquettes through the three-step breading process. First, cover them in flour, then in egg, and, finally, in the breadcrumbs.
  11. Fry the ham croquettes in the hot oil for about five minutes (making sure to turn halfway so they brown evenly) and then let them cool for a few minutes before enjoying!

We Hope You Enjoyed The Class

If you have any feedback about the class or questions for chef please do get in touch. Email: lovetocook@foodsorcery.co.uk

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