Canal Sur Cometelo and Murtas

 

Stuffed calamari with mushrooms and asparagus and a visit to our village of Murtas – for the wine, of course!
http://alacarta.canalsur.es/television/video/calamares-rellenos-de-champinones-y-esparragos/630499/17

Old Mother Hubbard’s pasta

I’ve looked, and looked, there’s nothing there…

Not a fairy tale, but the reality of the plaintive cry from the nearly 18 yr old son with no brain.  Honestly, that’s a bit harsh, but just a bit.

There’s always something in my cupboards, after nearly 7 years on my Alpujarras mountain I have learned to keep basics in, to remember that the M&S food hall is not 5 mins walk away like it used to be, and to regret that the take away will not deliver 1114 metres up the mountain.

But, it has made me a better cook, and I throw away nada. Ever.  I can make a bolognaise into a lasagne, or a chilli, and even carry on with empanadas if there’s anything left.  Stews and casseroles morph into pies, mash becomes fishcakes, stuffing gets rolled up in pastry with any cooked meat to make a sausage roll with a difference.

There’s usually a plated up meal or two in the freezer, but the pop-it-y-ping (microwave to you) went bang over Christmas and I can’t afford to replace it just yet…

So, lesson 1 and 2 for can’t cook- won’t cook son.

Fishy pasta

Boil the pasta – doh.

Sauté garlic, onions, halved cherry tomatoes, add a splash of the undrinkable vino from the butcher – don’t ask, it’s a long story –  I only sent Isobel for firelighters.

Add tomato frito, mixed herbs, salt and pepper, a few black olives to be pushed to the side of the plate, a tin of tuna, or those tasty mackerel fillets that sound like horse or onion or something in Spanish – stir it together. Grate over Parmesan.  Eat.

Ask your mum to put the plate into the dishwasher.

Bacon creamy pasta.

Boil the pasta.  Sauté the onion and garlic again, add bacon bits, lardons or a few rashers of bacon snipped into small pieces.

Add a little frito, a tub of cooking cream – nata para cocinar – herbs, black pepper, no salt as the bacon is salty enough.  Stir the pasta through the hot sauce and serve.

Repeat the steps with the mother and the dishwasher.