CookingwithMavis: " Cuttlefish Barcelona " blog # 38 by 'COOKINGWITHMAVIS'

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ #38 ‘Dinner out! Eating Cuttlefish in Barcelona…’

CUTTLEFISH BARCELONA

Recently, ‘My M’ and Me ,we were out to friends for dinner, a casual, intimate evening - just the Four-of-Us , old friends, being 2 couples, comfortable in each other’s company, you know…pick-at-the-salad-type comfortable!

They were embarking on a trip to Barcelona, and, as we’d “done” Barcelona, we came on the eve of their departure, to eagerly part with as much knowledge ……to bombard them with info-and-bus-routes , and trendy shops… and hotels of our preference, and restaurants and food markets and Gaudi buildings and guidebook advice …and guidebooks….. and more guidebooks …a-an-and even a “khoki” (hi-lighter) pen to hi-light Their likes and dislikes in our travel books…can you tell that I am bordering on ObsessiveCompulsive..well , y-ye-e-esss?...only when it involves planning for travel!

The stories soon reached climatic exultation when we were reminded of an evening , sans local friends to help us order and decipher that Catalan language of the tapas restaurant.

I’d taken my ‘tiniest-of-diminutive’ Spanish/Eengleesh phrase books , tucked into a pocket, ready to translate any menu, and all dishes!

Half an hour passed trying to decipher that tapas menu…and sohh STRESSED with the pressure put upon us by the over-zealous Barcelonian impatient non-AngloSaxonSpeaking waiter. One of the many choices I dared to venture for, off the menu card, - the kind-of-well?....... think-it-is?, was it?… mmmm?, …probably is?.... definitely was!, yes!.....cured sausage chorizo-type thingy possibly-delectable-dish, that turned out to be a plate of bloomin’ grilled CHiLLi’s !

*! B-R-A-V-A-D-O *% **^ ! * borne! How could I let ‘My M’ know that this was NOT what I had known it would be?! Nevertheless, we tentatively sample a chilli each , and to our utter surprise, no grilled chilli was at all hot, but rather giddily more-ish!

And so it was, at that very same bar counter, in that very same tapas place, in Barcelona , that the very eloquent multi-lingual local guy, standing next to me, got chatting and proffered us some of Their CUTTLEFISH!!!!!...and Me having a +#* vision*#+ of what we in Cape Town…..yes!....what We see washed-up on our beaches…what We know as “cuttlefish” - being no more than a hard, oval-shaped, light calcium-type thingy …. who’s to know that THAT “oval thingy” is just the skeleton of a sea creature served up as a delicious delicacy on a Catalan tapas menu!

Ohmygosh !!!!!!, gulp, how could I refuse such profferings?

Me, who won’t sample Ostrich meat in ANY ! form, nor Kudu steaks, nor raw oysters!

Attack of cold sweat, and discomfort, and a VERY friendly, aesthetic “Profferor” he was too....how could I refuse?…and glancing at My M’, I summoned all Epicurean Strength to sample the Handsome Stranger’s cuttlefish ….and bluddyhell !...it was just like squid/ calamari/ octopus..and much nicer!

Best of all, years later, that evening over our comfortable dinner , when I recall this story to our “ Travellers-to-be” , “ He-who-is-destined- to- travel-direction-Barcelona ” , turns to Me and *splurts*#+*:

“Cuttlefish! ”…

“Yeh……isn’t that what birds sharpen their teeth with ? ”…..

And so to recipes…..

A compote of Stewed Plums…

with star anise & cinnamon sticks,

lemon rind and fresh ginger.

It’s change of season …well , at least for some of us!

I can’t say I intimately know the weather patterns and the seasons in Russia, Latvia, Honduras, Brazil, Japan, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, All of Western Europe - and so many of the other amazing far-reaches of the world that ‘cookingwithmavis’ is read, but here, us leaving Summer abruptly, it is the tale-end of our summer fruit, and plums, red-skinned and sweet, are still available at my favourite fresh produce supplier - Fruit-and-Veg City

…so what better way than to stew them with exotic spices!

And if you can’t find red plums, then a perfect substitute as a similar ‘palate-tickler’ would be to use an assortment of dried fruit, such as prunes, pears, apricots, peaches and apple rings – just reconstitute them before cooking, in boiling water for an hour, using the same water to stew them later…and follow this recipe too!

INGREDIENTS:

1kg red-skinned plums

3 whole star anise

3 to 4 shards of cinnamon sticks

8 thinly sliced pieces of fresh ginger

Lemon rind – I use 3 pieces peeled with a potato peeler

¼ cup sugar

1 cup water

METHOD:

1) Wash fruit well.

2) With a small sharp knife, score the plums, making 2 to 3 incisions down the sides of each plum

3) Put all the ingredients into a large pot, stew gently for 30 minutes, simmering on a low heat with the lid on. (To keep then whole)

4) Leave to cool completely in the pot, allowing the flavours to infuse well, then chill, and serve cold.

***If making this with the dried fruit instead, add another cup of water, and DON’T put a lid on when stewing, nor when cooling.(Usually these dried fruits are cured with a sulphur product )

Serve with plain yoghurt, or sourcream, or warm vanilla custard.

Enjoy the simplicity of this easy dish…with breakfast, or as a special dessert!

Note:

This will remain fresh, up to a week, if kept in a sealed container, in the fridge.