squid with lemon & chilli

This is a recipe I picked up when I was living in Spain and ticks all the boxes: It's fresh, it's cheap, it's healthy, and above all, it's tasty! And it smells fantastic when you're cooking it! Squid is low in calories and is high in nutrients such as Vitamin A, potassium and calcium. And at around only €8/kilo, it makes for an incredibly economical ingredient. So don't be scared by fresh squid, and give this a go. It's a much nicer alternative to deep fried, battered (rubbery) squid rings!

Ingredients

• 4 fresh squid, cleaned & prepared*
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 2 red chillis, de-seeded & sliced very thinly
• 500g new potatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Juice of 2 lemons
• Large handful of fresh mint, chopped
• Large handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• Olive oil
• 4 knobs of butter
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

*To prepare my squid, I usually put slices though it, but be careful not to go all the way across. To do this safely, just lay a large knife inside the squid, and slice across with a second knife, then repeat on the other side. The knife inside the squid will act as a barrier to stop you cutting all the way through and ending up with squid rings! This technique is great for getting all the other flavours into the squid, and looks professional too!

Method

1. Place the potatoes in boiling salted water & cook for around 8 minutes, until starting to get soft. Drain and leave to dry in their own steam in the colander.
2. When the potatoes have cooled slightly, heat 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 knobs of butter over a medium high heat in a large heavy frying pan, and add the potatoes, crushing down slightly with a wooden spoon or a masher.
3. When the potatoes are starting to colour nicely, make space in the pan and add a drop more olive oil, along with the red onion.
4. Cook until soft, then remove the potato & onion mixture and keep to one side in a warm dish.
5. Add a little glug of olive oil to the pan. Season the squid lightly on both sides and fry for around 2 minutes on each side; you should see the squid starting to lose it's opaque look.
6. Add another couple of knobs of butter to the pan along with another glug of olive oil and add the chilli, garlic and parsley. Toss around so all the flavours get into the squid. Pour over half the lemon juice, a little more seasoning to taste, and toss again to make sure everything gets a good coating.
7. Put the potatoes & onion back in the pan and again, toss around to make sure everything picks up the flavours of everything else.
8. To serve, place the potatoes on a large platter and lay the squid on top.
9. Finally, squeeze over the rest of the lemon juice and sprinkle with the fresh mint.

Serves 4.

lamb's kidneys with mushrooms on toast

This is my take on one of my favourite Spanish dishes 'Riñones al Jerez', or kidneys with sherry. Whilst I was living in Spain this turned out to be really versatile, in that it makes a great tapa, a substantial starter or a lovely comfort food supper.

Ensure you get nice fresh kidneys, with all of the fat trimmed off (your butcher will do this for you). Kidneys are a really tasty piece of offal, and are cheap too - usually only around 60c each!

Ingredients

• 6 lambs kidneys
• Handful of smoked bacon lardons
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 100g closed cut mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 2 tbs sherry vinegar
• 2 tbs olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 2 tbs crème fraîche
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

1. To prepare the kidneys, first make sure you take off the thin membrane that covers them - you'll know if this is still on as the kidneys will look greyish in appearance - once removed you'll see them in all their lovely plummy shininess! After that, cut the kidneys lengthways, snip out the white cores with scissors (these can be quite tough to eat), and cut the kidneys in half again, giving you quarters. Place these on a plate and cover in the lemon juice to marinate a little.
2. In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over a medium high heat and add the bacon. After a couple of minutes add the garlic & fry for a further minute.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes, until they soften.
4. Pour in the kidneys, including the lemon juice and cook for 5 minutes, stirring gently (don't kill the kidneys!).
5. When the kidneys have started to lose their pinkness, add the sherry vinegar and again stir to combine all those lovely flavours.
6. Throw in the parsley and and salt & black pepper to taste.
7. After a minute or so, take off the heat a add a good dollop of crème fraîche. Stir this in to give a nice rich sauce.
8. Serve with lovely thick slices of toasted ciabatta.

This dish tastes lovely with a nice glass of Rioja - my favourites with kidneys are Campo Viejo or Marqués de Cáceres Reserva. Enjoy!