Peppers de Padron and Pork in Almond Sauce
My Spain book has gone to meet Rick himself at Waterstones today, so last night I thought I'd better put it to use. I'm not sure what Rick will think of the oil splashes and glob of almond sauce, but maybe he will be glad someone is giving it a go.
Just to give you a heads up, tomorrow we will be going Italian, I am going to try and recreate Penne Marco Polo in my own kitchen.
But for now I had a packet of Peppers de Padron in the fridge that needed to be eaten. Rick recommends frying them in a saucepan with a couple of tablespoons of oil, as does the recipe on the packet. I personally have never had them cooked this way. In Spain I have seen them shallow fried in a centimetre of olive oil in a frying pan, or deep fried in a heavy based saucepan. Heat the oil (don't leave unattended) until a cube of bread rises to the top and fries quickly. Scoop out the bread and fry the peppers for about 3-4 minutes (be careful they will spit and splattter) until they start to sag and blister, they shouldn't taste raw but should be coloured all over, they should still be a shiny dark green.
Scoop out into a bowl lined with absorbent paper and sprinkle with coarsely ground salt.
Eat as soon as possible, hold the stalk and bite off all the pepper leaving the stalk behind like a little umbrella.
The majority of the peppers are beautifully sweet and salty, but every now and again you will feel a little tingle of heat on your tongue or then again one will be fiery and hot and take you completely by surprise. They say on the packet 1 in 30 has a kick, but I think it's a lot more than that, early in the season not so many but when it gets to the end of August you will get more. We once grew some and the ones that grew in August were so hot they were nearly inedible (nearly)!
So that was the starter done with, for main I cooked the following.
Pork in Almond Sauce
First heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and lightly fry 4 whole, peeled cloves of garlic and a 15g slice of white bread (no crust) until golden, don't let the garlic go too dark or it will be bitter. Take out of the pan and put in the bowl of your blender.
Next cut 1kg of pork shoulder into large chunks, coat lightly in seasoned flour and seal (cooking the outside of the meat until brown to keep the juices in) until lightly brown all over in the frying pan in another couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Take out the pork and put on a plate until later.
Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, heat and then gently fry a large chopped onion, 4 cloves of garlic finely sliced, a teaspoon of sweet (pimentón dulce) paprika, some fresh thyme leaves - about a teaspoon, 2-3 fresh bay leaves. Fry til soft and sweet but not brown.
Add 200ml of chicken stock and 200ml of dry white Spanish wine, stir well and bring to the boil. Return the pork to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Lower the heat and simmer for 90 minutes. The meat will be soft and tender.
While the pork is cooking lightly toast 75g of whole blanched almonds then add then to the bread and garlic in the blender bowl.
When the pork is cooked add about two thirds of the sauce into the blender bowl with the other ingredients and add a tablespoon of chopped fresh flat leaved parsley. Blend until you have a smooth paste (picada), then stir the picada back into the pork in the pan, adjust the seasoning, cook for 5 minutes until the sauce is thick, served sprinkled with chopped thyme or parsley.
This was really different, Tony really loved it, it was so tasty you could taste all the ingredients and it had such a lovely texture. For me the sauce was a little bit like satay or peanut butter, I did really like it but if I made it again I would make the picada with 50g of almonds and 30-50gm of fried bread. The proof of it's deliciousness was that Lauren insisted on having some and then some more and then some more!
We had it served with rice with broad beans stirred in. This was a simple recipe, but it there were a lot of elements to keep control of, I was talking on Skype while making it and burnt the first lot of garlic so the advice would be to make it on a day when you can concentrate!
See you tomorrow with the Marco Polo....
http://www.rickstein.com/NEW-BOOK!-Rick%E2%80%99s-Stein%E2%80%99s-Spain-News.htm
Just to give you a heads up, tomorrow we will be going Italian, I am going to try and recreate Penne Marco Polo in my own kitchen.
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| Broad beans for the rice (courtesy of Tammys dad), the picada for the pork and the uncooked peppers de padron |
Scoop out into a bowl lined with absorbent paper and sprinkle with coarsely ground salt.
Eat as soon as possible, hold the stalk and bite off all the pepper leaving the stalk behind like a little umbrella.
 |
| Ready to eat |
So that was the starter done with, for main I cooked the following.
Pork in Almond Sauce
First heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and lightly fry 4 whole, peeled cloves of garlic and a 15g slice of white bread (no crust) until golden, don't let the garlic go too dark or it will be bitter. Take out of the pan and put in the bowl of your blender.
Next cut 1kg of pork shoulder into large chunks, coat lightly in seasoned flour and seal (cooking the outside of the meat until brown to keep the juices in) until lightly brown all over in the frying pan in another couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Take out the pork and put on a plate until later.
Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, heat and then gently fry a large chopped onion, 4 cloves of garlic finely sliced, a teaspoon of sweet (pimentón dulce) paprika, some fresh thyme leaves - about a teaspoon, 2-3 fresh bay leaves. Fry til soft and sweet but not brown.
Add 200ml of chicken stock and 200ml of dry white Spanish wine, stir well and bring to the boil. Return the pork to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Lower the heat and simmer for 90 minutes. The meat will be soft and tender.
 |
| In the pan |
When the pork is cooked add about two thirds of the sauce into the blender bowl with the other ingredients and add a tablespoon of chopped fresh flat leaved parsley. Blend until you have a smooth paste (picada), then stir the picada back into the pork in the pan, adjust the seasoning, cook for 5 minutes until the sauce is thick, served sprinkled with chopped thyme or parsley.
This was really different, Tony really loved it, it was so tasty you could taste all the ingredients and it had such a lovely texture. For me the sauce was a little bit like satay or peanut butter, I did really like it but if I made it again I would make the picada with 50g of almonds and 30-50gm of fried bread. The proof of it's deliciousness was that Lauren insisted on having some and then some more and then some more!
 |
| On the plate! |
We had it served with rice with broad beans stirred in. This was a simple recipe, but it there were a lot of elements to keep control of, I was talking on Skype while making it and burnt the first lot of garlic so the advice would be to make it on a day when you can concentrate!
See you tomorrow with the Marco Polo....
http://www.rickstein.com/NEW-BOOK!-Rick%E2%80%99s-Stein%E2%80%99s-Spain-News.htm
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