Although this recipe is Chinese, specifically from Fuchien , it is very similar.
I use raw oysters, tiny sauteed shrimp in garlic and grated ginger, bean sprouts, chinese chives, in sweet potato starch ( the fine opposed to the coarse sweet potato starch) , add a scrambled egg and the
oyster juice to obtain a pancake consistency batter, S/P then pan fry, served with ketchup and tabasco.
Typically, I pan fry them on the plancha of my vulcan range as I can make a lot at a time, but one can buy very tiny 3-4 inch cast iron pan from Asian Store if one wants to get fancy.
Just saw the San Sabastian episode. Told my wife this is were I want to live
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love squid cooked anyway
Again dried squid grilled, fried calamari rings dusted with roasted powdered schechuan peppercorn and marinara sauce. I saw earlier Calamaris rellenos de Carlos posted by someone, I will try that one of these days when I can get to the Asian markets ( they are almost 2 hours away )
Mussels with picada based on this recipe here.
Picada does go well with quite a few things. Must use it more often now.
This is the bread. Got it in Koblenz, Germany when I was on my way home from Bremm.
Text means something like “happiness lies in making others happy”. Not a literal translation but that’s the meaning of the saying.
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Beautiful photos. I’m trying a picada recipe tonight myself, with chicken. Will report back!
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Finally got around to making my first Spanish dish of the quarter! I was browsing the Food and Wine website and found an interesting recipe for chicken with Catalan picada and decided to give it a go. Skin-on chicken thighs are browned in a pan, then you build a sauce to braise the chicken with onion, tomatoes, sherry, chicken stock, bay leaf, thyme and orange peel. While the chicken is braising, you make a picada of garlic, toasted almonds, chocolate, clove, saffron and cinnamon (all buzzed in the food processor to a paste), then stir it into the braise to thicken. The recipe also called for a bit of bread to thicken, which I omitted with no ill effects.
I liked this a lot, although I think next time I would omit the clove (I only used a smidgen but I find its flavor really assertive). I would also add something acidic for a little balance - a touch of Sherry vinegar or sliced green olives, maybe. I loved the combo of chocolate and sherry, though. Deep and complex flavor. Served it with a simple romaine salad with a garlic buttermilk dressing.
ETA: DH is eating the leftovers of this right now for lunch and he said the sauce is AMAZING reheated - sounds like it needed to sit for a day to let the flavors blend. I’ll try making it a day ahead next time and maybe just serving with freshly roasted chicken thighs instead of braising them in the sauce, as I prefer to eat chicken skin when it’s fresh and crispy!!!
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Nice . I find recipes always need tweaking to your likes .
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I used chocolate as spice for a beef or lamb stew once and another time a beef dish in a restaurant, both really nice 
. Should try with chicken next time.
Looks delish ! Never made picada , now must. How does the flavor relate to a Mexican mole’?
Yeah, I’m typically more of a “recipes as inspiration” cook, rather than a real follower, but in this case I decided to make it more or less as written since the flavor combinations were somewhat new to me.
This was definitely reminiscent of a mole, with the chocolate and nuts, but the lack of chiles and the Sherry and orange took it in a different direction. I think if you are a fan of mole poblano, you’d enjoy this.
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The stars and pintxos bars are equally delicious – the distance between them is different offerings and styles – good cooking is good cooking here, so much so that deciding where to return is a nice problem to have.
@biondanonima, nice effort. Like @emglow101 I always tweak recipes to my liking.
I’ve seen at least 1 chicken recipe with picada in 1 of my Spain books. Gonna give that a go soon. It has no chocolate, however.
A must in (coastal) Spain! Most commonly served as part of tapas, cooked “a la plancha”. Briefly grilled and drizzled with a sauce of olive oil, parsley and garlic.
With linguine for the partner.
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Tortilla & salad, tonight. In this house, this is a very simple, never changing recipe. The potatoes and onions get fried separately and are then mixed together. Eggs (two per person) go in and are slowly cooked through, drawing the eggs in to make a suitable thickness. In due course, the omelette is turned out, upside down, onto a plate and then slid back in to finish for a minute or so. It’s accompanied by crusty bread and a salad of letttuce, onion and tomato. Dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and Tabasco.
There’s a story to this dinner.
Nigh on 40 years ago, my sister in law went on holiday to Mallorca, with her parents. She met a guy - his parents ran the beach bar. She didnt speak Spanish (or Mallorcan). He didnt speak English. But they got by in school French. Within weeks, she had packed in her job and left to go back to Mallorca to live with him. They lived with his parents - his father also looked after a small farm owned by a wealthier relative. In what was still a significant rural community, this was scandalous - an unmarried couple living together and with the consent of the parents. Shocking! It wouldnt be happening if he had chosen a nice Mallorcan girl.
The next year, Jan and I went to visit. We got a taxi from our hotel and it dropped us in the village square. In a while, the sister in law turned up with her pet lamb tied to a length of rope. Of course, in that society, no edible animal is ever a long term pet (sister in law couldnt bring herself to eat any of the lamb when its time came). We had tortilla and salad for dinner - he cooked the omelette and made the dressing, she cut up salad vegetables. And how we cook it, is how they cooked it.
There’s usually enough for lunchtime leftovers the next day. Although we don’t eat it as the brother in law did - accompanied by a whole bulb of raw garlic to snack on.
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I could never love someone that eats raw bulbs of garlic.
The torta sounds good. Do they cook the eggs brown or stay in the pale yellow range?
Sorry, but I’m not sure I understand the question. Are you asking is it long cooked, or a quick process? If so, then Pedro cooked it slow (therefore, so do we), constantly bringing it towards the centre so it thickens up to about 1cm thick. The whole thing gets some colour and is cooked long enough for it to be quite firm - you can just about pick up a slice next day without it falling apart.
So similar to a quiche?
I was referring to the way American omelets are cooked, so they are browned on the outside, but French omelets are pale and never browned.
This is pretty much how they look.
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Would love to visit Galicia someday!
Octopus with paprika and potatoes. Blanch the octopus then simmer until tender (with experience you will know how long it takes). Drizzle with OO and paprika powder. Sweet or spicy or both, you decide.
I also made asparagus with grated dried tuna roe brought back from Alicante.
Closer look of the dried roe.
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Tortilla with bacon, potatoes, onion, egg, cream. Same cooking method as @Harters .
We like it not too cooked in the middle. Ate with an endive salad.
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reminds me I have an all clad d5 omelette pan in one of the drawers that makes fantastic frittata
I will and make some for breakfast the next few days.
I do not use cream but use cheese ( either havarti in between the layers ) or with reggiano as topping.
