Rich Tomato & Capsicum Gazpacho with Garlic Croutons

Some people really don't like the idea of cold soups, but once you try them, you'll love them! The important thing to remember is that seasoning for cold soups is different - your sensitivity to sourness and salt is reduced, so you need to be a bit more heavy handed with these ingredients. It's so refreshing on a summer evening to tuck into a refreshing chilled soup, particularly utilizing the delicious juicy red tomatoes that abound at the moment.

Smokey Red Pepper & Chickpea Salad

Salad time! Another leftover ingredient-user from my cupboard, this one gobbled up my supply of chick peas and my frozen chorizo!! This is a very rich salad and easily served as a meal for my family. Alternatively it would make a delicious side in a spanish banquet.

Baked Eggs with Tomato & Chorizo

I'm not a big breakfast person. Every work day my breakfast consist of 1/3 cup of instant oats, 1/2 cup milk, microwaved in a mug for 120 seconds on high. Sacrilege i know, for someone who loves his food so much! The idea of eggs benedict, of Canadian short stacks and even champagne and roast chicken brunches is so alluring, but when i grumble my way out of bed in the morning my stomache just wants its cardboard porridge to start the morning.

But every now and again the mouth wins out and i'm taken on a journey to seek out an indulgent weekend breakfast. This time the catalyst was my parents' going to brunch in Warrandyte. So i rolled up me sleeves and decided to make my own! Now THIS is my kinda breakfast.

Chilled Tomato & Bread Soup Cordoba Style

Some of the greatest foods are born of simplicity and that is what i love about the Movida cookbook. Movida owner Frank Camorra talks of the heart of spanish cuisine, and every recipe i have cooked has focused around bringing out the true essence in one or two core ingredients. To that extent i think of his restaurants, i would probably prefer the lower keyed taverna style Movida Next Door, over the opulent dishes of Movida itself.

This is yet another recipe i have lifted from Movida's cookbook: and this time, i have not played one bit with the recipe (except to halve it so i'm not eating it for the next 6 months). I can tell this soup is best made in the summer when tomatoes are at their best; do not skimp, and ensure you use fresh, vine ripened tomatoes. And don't use Wonder White bread!

Torta Di Chocolate with Candied Oranges and Macadamias

In my quest for the richest chocolate cake i stumbled across the torta; and this one is fantastic. It is very, very easy to make, and very, very sinfully delicious. A word of warning: the darkness of the chocolate will determine the bitterness of the final product; i love bitter chocolate cake so i went with the highest cocoa content i could find easily. 

Not only does this cake have no flour, it also has no nuts as a binding agent! Much like the spanish puddings i cooked on this blog once before, the only thing holding this cake together is the egg. As a result, the finished cake is rich but so light it dissipates on the palate. Along with the candied oranges, this is a cake fit for royalty :)

Pollo En Pepitoria

Yet another Movida cookbook recipe which has turned out being amazing, the English name for this dish is Saffron Braised Chicken Thickened with Almonds and Egg Yolk. My favorite element of this dish is the Spanish fino sherry, which at a stretch, you could substitute with a dry white wine. But the fino gives a delicious depth to the sauce which is unadulterated by cream. Considering the expensive ingredients going into the sauce, I found a heck of a lot of it leftover which i'll use as a sauce for other things. However i've upped the quantity of chicken in the recipe below to counter this.

Bunuelos & Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Mmmm churros. The weather has turned a little bit lately, still beautiful during the day but with the slightest nip to the evenings. And my mind is already wandering to wintry comfort foods! And i believe the definition of comfort is deep fried balls of bread, crisp on their outer and fluffy on their inner. Of course, any epicurean knows that true comfort also involves a warming bowl of melted chocolate to slather said bunuelos in. 

For those who don't really know bunuelos, they are simply churros in a ball shape, or in the case of my attempt, a glob shape.

Chocolate Ganache Puddings with Spanish Nougat

As yet another addition to my Movida cookbook tests, this one is my favorite to date! Sure i've had chocolate puddings before, but this one suits my tastes! The puddings are slightly bitter if you use the right chocolate, which makes them rich and a great counterpoint to Vanilla ice cream. I was happy to see that each pudding turned out cooked on the outside but gooey on the inside.

Ingredients (Makes 3; yes i do make unusual quantities)

• 2 eggs at room temperature
  
• 200gm the darkest good chocolate you can find; cropped finely
• 1/2 cup of pouring cream
• 2 tbs butter, diced and at room temperature.
  
• 1 tbs spanish nougat per person
• Vanilla icecream, for serving
• Flour to dusk ramekins
  
• Extra butter to coat ramekins
  

Method

Brush the inside of 3 125ml ramekins with butter and then coat lightly with flour. Place in fridge to chill. 

Place eggs in a large bowl and whisk lightly.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (bowl sitting over, but not touching, simmering water.)

Whilst the chocolate is melting, bring the cream to the boil in another saucepan, and then immediate turn off and set aside for 5 minutes.

Add the chocolate to the eggs, a bit at a time, mixing well with each addition.

Add the now warm cream and the cubes of butter, and continually stir until the butter has melted.

Refridgerate this mix, covered, for 1 hour.

Spoon the mixture evenly across the 3 chilled ramekins and return these to the fridge for at least an hour, or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Bake the ramekins straight from the fridge for approximately 15 minutes or until the puddings are cracked slightly in the centre.

Leave on the bench to cool for 5 minutes then run a knife around the outside edge to loosen.

Turn the puddings out onto a plate.

Scatter with nougat and a dollop of good vanilla icecream.

Flamenquin

How come i had never heard of these before??? These are the best racion!! Think about it. Spanish jamon and manchego sheeps cheese wrapped up in pork and then crumbed and fried? Hangover heaven!! Alas i did not have the heart to make these when i was actually hungover (pizza pockets are much easier to er heat, admittedly). Trust me, two is enough per person.

PS Check out the amazing plates my parents got me for my birthday!! (The black one at the end)

Ingredients (makes 8)

• 4 pork loin steaks (probably about 80 grams each)
• 1 slice of jamon cut about 5mm thick and cut into 8 strips
  
• 1 slice of manchego sheeps cheese or other hard sheeps chease, again about 5mm thick and cut into 8 strips
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs (japanese bread crumps available from the deli)
• Flour for coating
• Thyme
• Salt
• Oil for frying. 

Method

Place the each pork steak between 2 pieces of cling wrap and bash the heck out of it with a mallet until you get an even 5mm thickness across. Cut each piece into 2 strips.

Place 1 piece of jamon and 1 piece of cheese onto each pork fillet, sprinkle with thyme.

Roll up each pork piece with the cheese and jamon inside like a cigar.

Lightly whisk the eggs and place the eggs, breadcrumbs and flour is separate bowls.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Dip each piece into flour, then egg, then roll in breadcrumbs.

Bring oil to heat in a saucepan and test heat with a piece of bread. We want the bread to take 30 seconds to go golden.

When ready, add the flamenquins 2 or 3 at a time and cook until golden brown.

Transfer the flamenquin when cooked to a baking tray, and when all ready, put in the oven for 5 minutes.

Scoff scoff scoff whilst hot. Goes great with an aioli dipping sauce.

Chilled Almond Soup with Grape Granita

My lovely sister got me the Movida cookbook for my birthday, and this is the first recipe that i have made from it. I think it's also the first cold soup that i've ever had. I had no idea how the ingredients were going to combine, but it looks like i realise why Movida is so popular. Everything in this soup is very well balanced and it makes a great, refreshing palate cleanser that is very light but full of clean flavors.

Ingredients:
Granita
250gm red grapes
1 cup water
100gm castor sugar

Almond Soup
150gm blanched almonds
1 2cm thick slice day old bread, crusts removed
1 tablespoon aioli (can be purchased at a specialty deli, or its quite easy to make which i did!)
450ml chilled water
Salt
1 clove garlic, crushed

Method
Granita
Remove the grapes from their stalks and process into a puree in a blender
Pass the pureed grapes through a sieve.

Heat the water and sugar together in a saucapan to a boil and then simmer until reduced by 1/3
Add the sugar syrup to the grape mix and pour both into a container for the freezer.
Every 3 hours, break up the granita with a fork. When it begins to completely set, you can form the flurry ice crystals by raking a fork up and down it.
Done!

Almond Soup
Cover the blanched almonds in water overnight.
Soak the bread in water for 1 hour.

Drain the almonds and bread and transfer to a blender or food processor with garlic and process into a puree.
Slowly add the chilled water whilst continuing to blend. Should take about 3 minutes in total.
Pass this 'almond milk' through a fine sieve.

Place the aioli into a large bowl and slowly add the almond milk, whisking constantly.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve, loosely fill the serving glasses with 2-3 heaped tablespoons of the granita.

Pour in the almond soup, approximately an equal amount to the granita.
Enjoy.