A couple of weeks back, we had been to wholefoods market and surprisingly found big, fresh sardines sitting on the seafood aile. We don't get fresh sardines often, so i got a couple pounds and stacked my freezer. I marinated the fish with indian spices and roasted it.



Now to the recipe,

You Need:

Sardines - 5nos,
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tbs
Chilli powder - 2tsp
Coriander powder - 1tsp
Pepper powder - 1tsp
Lime juice - 1tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Yogurt - 1 tbs
salt, to taste

Cleaning the Sardines:

1. Cut the head with a sharp knife.

2. Make a small slit in the stomach area and pullout the
entrails.

3. Remove the fins on the sides.

4. Hold the sardines under the running cold water and rinse well.

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients in to a fine paste.

2. Apply the paste on the fish and gently massage to coat the fish.

3. Let it sit for atleast 1/2 hour.



4. Heat a heavy bottomed pan (i used a normal non-stick pan), Coat the pan with cooking spray.

5. Place the fish on the pan and leave it for 3-4 minutes on each sides.

6. If you want the fish to be more crispier leave it another 2 minutes on a low flame.

7. Serve hot.

The host for August Daring Cooks Challenge is Olga from Las Cosas de and Olga's recipes. She has chosen a delicious Spanish recipe, Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes by José Andrés, one of the most important Spanish Chefs at the moment.

Olga says, chef Jose Andres is trained under well-known Ferran Adria at his three Michelin star restaurant El Bulli. José Andrés lives now in Washington DC and he owns several restaurants in Washington DC area (El Jaleo, Zaytinya, Oyamel…).

The recipe She brings us is from his US TV show Made in Spain.

Rice with Potatoes, Rock shrimp and artichokes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Equipment:

1 Chopping Board
1 knife
1 medium saucepan
1 Paella pan (30 cm/11” is enough for 4 people. If not available, you may use a simple pan that size)
1 Saucepan


Sofregit (a well cooked and fragrant sauce made of olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and onions, and may at times contains different vegetables such as peppers or mushrooms)-

Cooking time: aprox. 1 hour

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
5 big red ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 Bay leaf
Salt
Touch of ground cumin
Touch of dried oregano

Method:

Put all the ingredients together in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft.

Allioli : Traditional Recipe

Allioli is served together with the rice and it gives a very nice taste

Cooking time: 20 min aprox.

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, peeled
Pinch of salt
Fresh lemon juice (some drops)
Extra-virgin olive oil (Spanish preferred but not essential)

Method:

Place the garlic in a mortar along with the salt.

Using a pestle, smash the garlic cloves to a smooth paste. (The salt stops the garlic from slipping at the bottom of the mortar as you pound it down.)

Add the lemon juice to the garlic.

Drop by drop; pour the olive oil into the mortar slowly as you continue to crush the paste with your pestle.

Keep turning your pestle in a slow, continuous circular motion in the mortar. The drip needs to be slow and steady. Make sure the paste soaks up the olive oil as you go.

Keep adding the oil, drop by drop, until you have the consistency of a very thick mayonnaise. If your allioli gets too dense, add water to thin it out. This takes time—around 20 minutes of slow motion around the mortar—to create a dense, rich sauce.

José's tips for traditional recipe:

It's hard to think that, when you start crushing the garlic, it will ever turn into something as dense and smooth as allioli. But don't give up. It's worth the extra time and effort to see the oil and garlic come together before your eyes. Just make sure you're adding the olive oil slowly, drop by drop. Keep moving the pestle around the mortar in a circular motion and keep dreaming of the thick, creamy sauce at the end of it all.




Allioli a la moderna (Modern recipe)
Cooking time: 3-4 minutes

Ingredients:

1 small egg
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (as above, Spanish oil is highly recommended)
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 Tbs. Spanish Sherry vinegar or lemon juice (if Sherry vinegar is not available, use can use cider or white vinegar)
Salt to taste

Method:

Break the egg into a mixing bowl.

Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic cloves, along with the vinegar or lemon juice.

Using a hand blender, start mixing at high speed until the garlic is fully pureed into a loose paste.
Little by little, add what's left of the olive oil as you continue blending.

If the mixture appears too thick as you begin pouring the oil, add 1 teaspoon of water to loosen the sauce.
Continue adding the oil and blending until you have a rich, creamy allioli.

The sauce will be a lovely yellow color.

Add salt to taste.

José's tips for modern recipe:

If you do not have access to a hand blender, you can use a hand mixer (the kind with the two beaters) or a food processor. If you use a food processor, you must double the recipe or the amount will be too little for the blades to catch and emulsify.

What happens if the oil and egg separate? Don't throw it out. You can do two things. One is to whisk it and use it as a side sauce for a fish or vegetable. But if you want to rescue the allioli, take 1 tablespoon of lukewarm water in another beaker and start adding to the mix little by little. Blend it again until you create the creamy sauce you wanted.


The Rice:

Ingredients (serves 4):


4 Artichokes (you can use jarred or freezed if fresh are not available),cut into eights
2 Potatoes, diced
2 Bay leaves
1 glass of white wine
1/2 lb rock shrimp, shelled and deveined
“Sofregit” (see recipe up)
1 1/2 cups short grain rice
3 cups water ( For 1 cup rice use 2 cups water )
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbs olive oil
Alioli (olive oil and garlic sauce, similar to mayonnaise sauce) - optional

Method:


Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and add the shrimp.

Add a bay leaf, artichokes and the potatoes to the shrimp.

Sauté until the artichokes turn golden.

Add the white wine to deglaze the pan.

Add the sofregit and mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with the sofregit.

Add water and bring it to boil.

Add rice, Let boil for about 5 minutes in heavy heat.

Add turmeric and stir. Turn to low heat and boil for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”)

Put the pan away from heat and let the rice stand a couple of minutes.

Olga’s Tips:

(1) In Spain, rice is not stired as often as it is when cooking Italian risotto. You must stir it once or twice maximum. This tip is valid for all Spanish rice dishes like paella, arròs negre, arròs a banda…

(2) When cooking the alternative style you can change the cuttlefish or squid for diced potato.

(3) If you can’t find cuttlefish or squid, or you’re not able to eat them because of allergies, you can try to substitute them for chicken or vegetables at your choice.

(4) Sofregit can be done in advance. You can keep it in the fridge or even freeze it.

(5) To watch how Jose Andres cooks this dish click here.

(6) For more information on how to clean and remove the heart of artichokes, please watch this video.

(7) To tone down the taste when you do it by hand in a mortar, then add an egg yolk. If you want to tone it down in the alternative way use milk or soy milk. Anyway, the best alternative way is the original oil and garlic alone.

(8) Allioli must be consumed during the preparation day and preserved in the fridge before using it.

It has been a while since i sat down to post any new dishes in my blog. The truth is i did not tryout any new dishes for a while now. June had been a very hectic month for us because of the packing and moving due to change of apt. However, keeping a 3 1/2yr old at home, i managed to set things in place in about two weeks and was happily releaved from the stress of packing and unpacking. After a week we started noticing tiny little spiders and insects in the house, informed the exterminator the next day.
The guy comes in, examines the house and says there are bugs in your house so you need to move all the things from the wall and clear things from the closet ( OMG packing again ! ) and getout of the house for 5hrs ( this part is good, i can go shoppinggggggg )inorder for him to getrid of the bugs. It is yet to happen in few days, will tell you ' what happened after dat? '. Now coming to the eating part, bcos of all this disaster happening around i was never in a mood to cook anything new. I was just browsing thru my food pictures and came across this wonderful dish i made earlier. Do not worry, this dish is bug-free :D. It is a quick n simple recipe and a wonderful side.

This is my entry to Monthly Mingle-grill it Event hosted by Sig on Live to Eat.