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Ah Friday! Sweet Friday! The promises that I’m finally going to kick my flip-flop up and relax. Yes…. Thankfully I don’t have to kick some high heels, flipies are my friend. LOL. Do you know what is my favorite thing to do on Fridays, drive the Pacific highway, Awwwwww…. how pretty is that, all the surfers in the water waiting for a wave, the sun shinning on the sand and the smell of the ocean. Nothing can bit that. It’s lovely…and on the way there is this amazing garden store overlooking the sea.  Its pure awesomeness, moving to California was the best decision we ever made. I can’t say enough how happy we are, the weather so far is unbelievable nice. Not too hot, it feels like spring. We don’t even need air conditioner; the house is always with a nice breeze. Sometimes I even feel cold, I have to put a little cardigan. And my husband laugh hysterically when I tell him I’m cold. Yes… it is his mission in life to mock me. But I don’t hold against him. So Tonight I made this dish that totally says summer I put some candles outside in my balcony and we just had some peaceful lovely dinner sipping some wine. And talking about our day.

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Israeli Couscous with Bacon and Mussels

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of couscous
• 1 pound of mussels
• 3 slices of bacon chopped
• 1 yellow onion chopped
• 2 garlic gloves minced
• 1 teaspoon of red chili flakes
• Cherry tomatoes
• ½ pond of calamari
• 2 tablespoons of parsley chopped
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 2 cups of chicken stock

Directions:

Soak mussels in a large bowl with cold water, changing the water twice, this helps to remove any grits. Scrub the mussels well and pull out the beards. Heat a large pan and fry the bacon until crispy, remove then bacon from the pan and set aside. Add the calamari in the bacon fat toss calamari quickly around and cook only 2-3 minutes until done. Remove calamari and set aside. Add onions, garlic, and the chili flakes. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the tomatoes, parsley, and wine and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium allow to simmer for 2 minutes Cook mussels for 2 more minutes shaking the pan, then remove the open mussels and set aside discard any that didn’t open. Add the Israeli couscous and the chicken stock and return to a simmer, cook until tender. Return the mussels and any juice to the pan and heat through quickly seasoning with sea salt and freshly grounded black pepper.  Serve with some more chopped parsley. Enjoy.

Garlic Bread:

Cut an italian or focaccia bread in half and spread liberally with butter then sprinkle some poppy seeds, sesame seed, salt and minced garlic.

Do you know some of those days when all you try to do backfire’s in your face? Yep! I had one of those yesterday…. I felt like I was running in circles chasing my own tale like a dog. I had so much stuff piled on my to do list (yes, I make lists) that I thought I would need an extra arm. And the whole time I was thinking how people with kids manage to survive? I would pull my hair until I had none left if I had kids today. So at around 5, I just threw my list in the garbage, prepared myself a Caipiroska and tried to have some fun cooking this Spanish dish. And believe me I don’t know if it was the Caipiroska or the fact that I was cooking (probably a combination of both) but everything felt right again. This recipe is on Delicious magazine when I saw it I knew I would love it. I didn’t have the Chorizo sausage, but this recipe is a keeper. It was really yummy.

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Spanish Prawns with Spicy Lentils

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 chorizo sausage, chopped
• 1 tbsp harissa*
• 400 g can chopped tomatoes
• 2 x 400 g cans brown lentils, rinsed, drained
• 220 g jar roasted red capsicums, drained, and sliced
• 1-cup (250 ml) chicken stock or water
• 500 g peeled green prawns (tails intact)
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and chorizo, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes until the onion softens and the chorizo starts to crisp. Stir in harissa and cook for a further minute. Add tomatoes, lentils, capsicum and stock, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the mixture has thickened slightly. Season the prawns with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add to the pan. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the prawns are just cooked through. Stir in the parsley. The rice is just simple rice with black mustard seeds. Enjoy.

*Harissa is a North African chili paste from delis and gourmet food shops.

Yuruuulll my hubby is back; FINNALY…there was plenty of talking to the walls around here. Long conversations with Basil plants, nooo…. Rosemary I didn’t forget you, I know I bugged the hell out of your ears too. If Talking to plants make them flourish I will have the biggest bushes in town. But it’s over now, so to welcome him back I cooked a delicious Spanish meal. We love Spanish flavors, the smoky flavors of  “Pimenton” (smoked Spanish paprika) and some heat from chili powder. It’s a party in your mouth. We had this dish with chunks of peasant bread but it would be wonderful with spaghetti too.

Meatballs and Clams

• 11/2 tablespoons of butter
• 3 small shallots, diced
• 1 heaped tsp smoked Spanish paprika
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• 3 garlic, 2 crushed and 1 sliced
• 2 tbsp dry sherry
• 3 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs
• Half pound pork mince
• 1 egg yolk
• Olive oil, for frying
• Half pound cleaned squid, cut into rings
• 1cup white wine
• 1 can chopped and squashed tomatoes
• Half pound clams
• Handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• Olive oil for drizzle

Melt the butter in a heavy-based casserole soften the shallots for 5 Minutes. Add the paprika and crushed garlic and cook for 1 min until the paprika becomes fragrant. Splash in the Sherry, then pour the whole lot into a bowl with the breadcrumbs. Season and cool.

Add the pork mince and the egg yolk to the bowl mix well. Shape into 18 small meatballs. Wipe the pan, put on a medium-high heat, and add the oil. Fry the meatballs for 5 minutes, just to color, then lift onto a plate, but keep the oil in the pan, fry the sliced garlic. Add the squid and fry to give a little color. Now tip in the white wine and bring to the boil, scraping the bottom. Stir in the pulped tomatoes, bring to the boil, and add the meatballs and the clams. Cover and cook for 5 minutes until the clamshells open. Discard any that stay shut. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley, drizzle with the extra virgin oil, and then serve with crusty bread.

I never drink coffee (I Know, what kind of Brazilian don’t like coffee?) But yesterday I had the brilliant idea to drink a cup of coffee, while buying some seafood at Chelsea Market. Oh! Dear, I was like the Duracell bunny moving so fast my husband felt scared for his life. If you have being reading my blog you probably know I’m a clean freak, and powered by coffee good things wouldn’t come out of it. I decided to clean my books, I felt like I had super powers and I could lift an elephant. Who knew that with just one little cup of coffee you could get that strong, I guess most of the people know that right? So I kept cleaning, scrubbing, tossing and decluttering my life for the rest of the day. I confess I have an addiction for cookbooks, I love them and I’m extremely careful when handling them, so when I saw “S” Throwing them in a pile on the floor I almost had a heart attack. What part of I reeeeeeeally love my books he didn’t get? So I told him in a very low and sweet voice: “ Honey I love you, but if I see you throwing one more book on the floor I will turn into Godzilla and bite your head off.” Thankfully he is a good sport and nonchalantly decided to make himself useful in another area, like in the laundry room. In the end of the day we were starving, so I checked if my mussels were okay, you know, breathing? And they were, so I started my Thai sauce, witch was really a breeze just blend everything together, and mix with coconut milk. Grilled the shrimp and the squid, and put the mussels in the sauce and Voila! Dinner was ready.

Seafood Salad

INGREDIENTS

• 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 2 Thai chilies, thickly sliced
• One 1 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 cup cilantro leaves
• Finely grated zest of 1 lime
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• one 13 1/2-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
• Juice of 1 lime
• Salt
• 1 pound mussels, scrubbed

DIRECTIONS

In a food processor, combine the garlic, chilies, ginger, cilantro, lime zest and olive oil and process to a paste; transfer to a large bowl. Whisk in the coconut milk and lime juice and season with salt. Grill the shrimp and the squid, reserve. Bring the sauce to a boil and add the mussels, cover and cook, shaking the pot a few times, until the mussels just begin to open, about 4 minutes.

This weekend I got a new toy, my cooking gadgets are by far better than any toys I had when I was a kid. And I had a lot. I absolutely love gadgets. They make your life so much easier (and yummier).

So I got this smoking tray and since Friday I’m looking for things to smoke. I open the fridge and go: Mmmm what can I smoke today? Then I hear my hubby yelling from the living room:

Him- Are you looking for things to smoke again?

Me- Noooooo.

Him- Are you sure?

Me- Well…. Dammit.

But things just taste awesome when smoked, don’t they?

I cooked this risotto with smoked mussels and it was really yummy.

I have cooked a lot of seafood lately (I know), but bare with me I’m going through “I’d like to live close to the beach phase”.

The closest beaches around Manhattan are at least  a few miles away. So at least I can have the taste of it through cooking seafood. Mussels are so inexpensive and luscious, that I just can’t resist it.  So here you go:

Smoked Mussels Risotto 

• About 6 cups hot vegetable broth
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 large leek finely sliced
• 1 celery stalk finely chopped
• 2 cups risotto rice (Arborio or Carnaroli)
• 1/3 cup of with wine
• 1tsp chopped tarragon
• 1Lb of mussels
• ½ cup of Parmesan cheese
• Sea salt and freshly grounded black pepper

First get yourself a smoking tray, (I got mine at Chelsea Market) the kitchen equipment store at the end of the corridor (they have everything). If you want you can get it online also, www.cameronsproducts.com it’s not so expensive. I bought the mini one. They came with two options of wood chips already.  Then prepare the smoking tray and get it ready to go, following the product instructions. Wash and discard any mussels with broken shells, or any that are open, scrub them thoroughly, pulling of any beards. Leave them in cold water until you are ready. The wood chips are to be placed at the bottom of the pan under the drip tray. (I’ve used “Alder” because it creates a delicate smoky flavor). When the tray is hot drain the mussels and distribute them on the dripping tray, close it and let them cook for 15-20 minutes. 

Put the broth in a saucepan and keep at a gentle simmer. Melt half of the butter in a large, heavy saucepan and when foaming, add the sliced leeks and celery and cook gently (lowering the heat) for 5 minutes until softened but not browned. Add the rice and stir until well coated with the butter (this step is very important it’s how you seal the rice) Pour the wine and boil until reduced and almost disappearing, then add the tarragon. Begin adding the broth, a large ladle at time, stirring gently until the rice has almost absorbed each ladle. The risotto should be kept to a bare simmer throughout cooking, so don’t let the rice dry out add more broth as necessary. Continue until the rice is tender and creamy, but the grains still firm (this should take 15-20 min.) Taste and season well with salt and pepper. Now combine the rest of the butter, mussels and the Parmesan cheese and stir gently. Enjoy.