How do you actually feel about seafood? Unfortunately, Berlin is not located by the sea, even if that would be an additional plus for our beautiful city on some hot summer days... Accordingly, many of us may rarely enjoy these special delicacies. At least in fresh form. How good that there are fine preserves from Ramon Peña from Galicia, Spain. Because indeed: the brand's chipirones, i.e. the small squids, are among the finest canned seafood I've ever eaten. At first I was a bit skeptical, but the first bite completely convinced me and now I always find it difficult not to eat the whole can alone. They're buttery soft, not "fishy" at all, but have their own smooth flavor that's hard to get enough of. These small delicate delicacies are also very versatile: we can imagine them very well with homemade pasta, for example (then maybe with the chipirones in their own ink...). Of course, they are also fantastic on their own as tapas.
Nevertheless, Thomas decided this week to provide the chipirones in olive oil with an accompaniment that really doesn't have to hide! In order not to drift too far apart regionally, he puts a Canarian potato salad next to them and spices it up with a red pepper vinaigrette with fine Banyuls vinegar, which we have fresh in our range.
A sophisticated dish that does not require high chef qualities, but simply fills you up and makes you happy.
Ingredients:
for the salad:
- 400g small potatoes (e.g. La Ratte)
- 2 small onions
- 3 slices of an unwaxed lemon
- 10 allspice corns
- 10 peppercorns
- 3 cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 300g sea salt
- 150g gherkins (we have them fresh in our shop)
- 1-2 red onions
- 1 bunch coriander
- some leaf parsley
for the pepper vinaigrette:
- 2 red peppers
- 1 small onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp tomato paste (we have it in the store)
- Banyuls Vinegar
- olive oil
- Allspice d'Espelette
- salt , pepper, sugar
Preparation:
Wash the potatoes and put them in a saucepan with the spices. Peel the onions, cut them into pieces and add them with the lemon slices. Cover everything with water, add the salt and stir well. The water must be very salty to form a crust around the potatoes. When you try it, it must taste like you've just been in the sea and accidentally swallowed a load of seawater while swimming.
Boil the potatoes until soft, drain and leave to cool.
For the vinaigrette, peel the peppers (using a vegetable peeler), remove the core and cut the peppers into small pieces. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Roast everything together in a pot, add the tomato paste and roast for about 2 minutes. Add some olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Remove the pot from the heat, season with some of the Banyuls vinegar, sugar and Piment d'Espelette. Blend everything with a blender until you get a creamy consistency. Now season everything again to your taste.
Slice the potatoes, peel and halve the red onion and cut into fine strips. Also cut the gherkins into fine strips and mix everything together in a bowl.
Mix in the oil from the chipirones and season again with salt and pepper. Finally fold in the chopped cilantro and parsley. Finished.
Bon Appetit!
Our conclusion:
A colourful, Mediterranean, excitingly fresh and fruity recipe full of different flavors that reinforce and complement each other.
The potatoes taste super flavorful and delicious on their own due to the spicy broth in which they were cooked, the gherkins bring a great acidity that gives the recipe a summery lightness, the herbs conjure up green freshness and the vinaigrette, the absolute i- The icing on the cake in this creation is wonderfully fruity, with its great bright color it brings a nice contrast to the plate and all other aromas shine.
On top of that, the buttery chipirones and the summer can come! Or even the guests! :)
Our wine recommendation:
Depending on your taste, we can recommend a white wine, a rosé or a red wine for this wonderful recipe.
White: the Saumur blanc from Château Villeneuve . This classic Saumur shows aromas of ripe, white fruit and a hint of toast on the nose, aromas of pear, quince and honey on the palate. The finish is long, fresh, mineral and very dry.
Rosé: the Tears of Anima by Herdade do Portocarro made exclusively from Sangiovese grapes of the highest quality. Fresh with a lively acidity, elegant, refined and balanced.
Red: the Marcillac "Lo sang del païs" . This aromatic south-western French smells of small berry fruits such as sloe and mulberry and of Assam tea. Star fruit and laurel, soft tannins, a very subtle sweetness and mineral notes unfold in the mouth, giving the wine an interesting, exciting character. Overall, it is pure and clear, medium-weight and dynamic.
