Sunday, August 19, 2012

GRILLED SARDINES


Sardines! So many memories! We should eat more fish. And more kind of fish like Sardines. They are delicious and healthy. If you are not eating them, you do not know what you are missing! Let’s cook them today!

Ingredients:

4 sardines
Some salt
Some extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
Some fresh parsley, chopped
½ teaspoon pimentón, sweet or hot, to taste
Some drops of lemon juice

First, clean the sardines. Remove the head and the inner parts. Basically everything. We only want the fillets. You can also cook them without removing anything if the sardines are small. They are good in both ways. But I prefer to have just the fillets.
Then put some extra virgin olive oil in a grill pan. Just some drops. Heat the pan and then put the sardines. Fry them around three minutes and then turn them and cook them for 2-3 more minutes on the other side.
In the meantime, you can prepare a delicious seasoning. Mix three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil with the garlic, the parsley and the pimentón. You can use sweet or hot pimentón. It is your choice but I prefer the hot one. Add some drops of lemon juice and mix well.
And everything is ready for our sardines. Serve them along with the seasoning. Use it generously on the sardines. And why not? Serve them with a good white wine. A recommedation: Portuguese Vinho Verde. I love it. You will. Enjoy!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

FISH AND SEAFOOD BISQUE


Soup. Soup. Soup. A Fish and Seafood Bisque for today. This is delicious. And really comforting and rewarding. Let’s cook.

Ingredients:

A fillet of amberjack
10 peeled shrimp
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons chopped carrot
3 tablespoons chopped onion
3 tablespoons chopped celery
4 tablespoons chopped tomato
3 tablespoons frozen corn
1 clove of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
½ liter milk
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon sherry
Some salt, to taste
Some freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon sweet pimentón
1 teaspoon thyme
Some drops of Tabasco

First we will have to prepare the fish. Clean it and remove the skin. Then cut it in little pieces. Then we will prepare and cut the vegetables.
And now to the pan. Put the butter in a pan and heat it. When it is hot, add the bay leaves, the onion, the carrot and the celery and cook for two minutes. Then add the tomato, the corn and the garlic. Cook for three more minutes. Now we can add the fish and the shrimp. Mix the cornstarch with the milk and then add it to the pan too. Some drops of sherry are perfect too. Add them now. And the following to add to our delicious bisque is the salt and pepper, the pimentón and the thyme. Turn the fire low and cook for some minutes. When the fish is cooked the bisque will be ready. If you want it to be a bit thicker, you can add more corn starch. But be careful.
I like to add some drops of Tabasco. It makes it tastier.
Serve hot and enjoy!