Spanish Olives with Omar Allibhoy and Foodat52

I was very happy to be invited to cook with the brilliant young Spanish chef, Omar Allibhoy recently along with Olives are It. Omar Allibhoy is a Spanish chef on a mission to bring Spanish food and its culture to the UK. I have cooked with Omar three or four times before and always learn something. He is very knowledgable and good fun.

The evening was held at Foodat52 in Clerkenwell, London, a venue I know well and always love attending cooking classes there. I was the first guest to arrive and because the pudding would need a bit of time to set Omar suggested he and I get on with preparing that one. Private lesson - priceless!

Stawberries and black olives gently poaching

When the other guests turned up we proceded to make the rest of the meal.  There were bowls of olives to nibble on whilst we worked to keep our strengths up!

 

Omar kept a watchful eye on us as we created his recipes offering lots of hints and tips.

 

The meatballs were in the oven so we started on the sauce!

Working in pairs.

Musells cooking with green olives

And on the plate ready to sample

I think my overall favourite recipe was the meatballs but loved all of it!

I am looking forward to the next cooking session with Omar! If you are in Westfield Shopping Centre or BlueWater check out Omar's restaurant Tapas Revolution

 

I was a guest of Olives are It and all opinions and photos are my own.

 

Omar Allibhoy and The Rice House - La Arroceria

I have mentioned before how hard 29 year old Madrid born chef, OmarAllibhoy is working to get Spanish Tapas into every home and I was very pleased to be invited to his pop-up evening meal a ‘La Arroceria’ held at a great place in Chiswick Park (Maggie & Rose a private members’ club) and concentrating on rice the staple of many Spanish villages.

We were given a drink of Sangria (or two!) on arrival and waited in anticipation to see what culinary treats Omar had in store for us!

Omar came out of the kitchen to introduce us to the menu and the significance behind it and then disappeared to produce some really mouth watering and tasty dishes.

 

It is hard to get a photo of Omar in focus as he never stands still!!

Rice is a popular ingredient in Spanish cooking, not just for the traditional Paella.  Arrocerias or Valencian Rice House which are now all over Spain are where you can pre-order rice dishes to take away.  Omar wanted to show us the versatility of rice with different types of rice dishes e.g. dry (arroz seco), brothy (meloso) or soupy (caldoso).  We sampled four rice dishes including Omar's signature Paella from Valencia (Paella Valenciana)

Our starter was delicious featuring a huge grilled, garlicky prawn (Gamba a la plancha) as well as garlic bread, what Omar called a tomato dip (Salmorejo) and thin slices of ham.

 

 

Along with the starter we were offered a black pudding and goats cheese salad (Ensalada de morcilla y questode cabra) - My friend Val loved this but goat's cheese is the only cheese I really don't eat!
 

Omar carried out huge pots and pans of each of the following courses such as this one a squid, prawn and squid ink rice (Arroz negro).

 

I had never tried pasta or rice with squid ink before and probably won't again although I do appreciate the chance to try it.  It was a bit 'inky' for me but was perfectly cooked and elegantly presented!

Seafood Paella (Arroz a banda) was the second dish and this time I really liked it.  I frequently order Paella when we are in Spain and am rarely disappointed and certainly was not with this one!

My favourite Paella of the evening was Lobster Rice (Arros caldoso con bogavantes), this really floated my boat!

And for the grand finale - Valencian chicken & rabbit paella (Paella Valenciana)!

And then to round off an already sumptuous meal we were treated to a sweet surprise indeed.  This dessert was a sort of custard but without any milk or cream and if translated it is called "Fat from Heaven" custard (Tocinillo de cielo)

All that fantastic food came out of a relatively small kitchen!

Check out the size of that paella pan!

I was the guest of La Arroceria with my friend Val and we both thoroughly enjoyed our evening. Good luck for your future Omar!

Restaurant and Book Review - Tapas Revolution

I had a real treat last week. I was invited to a Spanish restaurant in Wesfield Shopping Centre in West London to celebrate Omar Allibhoy's first book, Tapas Revolution, with a selection of tapas and all the dishes we tried are included in the book.

 

Omar Allibhoy is a very talented Spanish chef whose mission is to bring the mysteries of Spanish cooking into your home and encourage you to cook these delicious and tasty treats for your family and friends.  Omar's book includes easy to follow recipes with hints and tips to make using more local ingredients if you cannot locate the authentic Spanish.

It is very hard to get a photo in focus of Omar because this dedicated 29 year old never stands still.  He and his team were constantly on the go serving us freshly prepared morsels.  Each plateful garnered sighs and mmmmm's as we struggled to pick our favourite.

My favourite was and always is the Calamares fritos - deep fried squid. Crispy and tender with loads of taste. I could eat a huge plateful of this, served simply with a home made ailoi and slice of lemon.  Omar includes three recipes for the ailoi, two traditional and one of his own (which we sampled).
 

The delicate tapas that we were served included the following:

Boquerones - marinated anchovies and Tortilla Espanol - I didn't have time to photograph these two, they just flew off the plates.

Jamon Iberico - a rich, nutty flavoured jamon (ham) made from pigs that were allowed to roam freely and feast on acorns and herbs.

Pimentos De Padron - fried padron peppers. These little green jems are a game of Russian Roulette but with peppers instead of a gun.  Every now and then you get one that will blow your head off.  Guess what? The second one I had did just that. Eyes watered, nose cleared and my mouth felt like it was swollen!  Didn't last long though and normality returned so I could appreciate the next offerings.

Pulpoa la Gallega - steamed octopus with potato and pimenton.

Pinchos Morunes con Mojo Picon - marinated beef skewers and a spicy dipping sauce.

 

 

Papas Arrugadas con Nojos - wrinkled potatoes with mojo (a dip with corriander).

Pollo en Pepiturla - moorish chicken with almonds.

Croquetas de Jamon - deep fried Iberico jamon croquettes. Omar states these are the best ever outside of Spain!

Time for something sweet:

Crema Catalan - a sweet milky pudding with a touch of nutmeg.

Chouros with hot chocolate dip.

At the end of the evening I got Omar to sign my copy of his forthcoming book.  I was sent this from the publishers for early review.  The book - Tapas Revolution - will be published on 15th August, 2013 at rrp £20.00.

Olives from Spain and Cooking with Omar Abilhoy

Olives from Spain recently arranged an event in conjunction with Friday Food Club at The Balham Lounge Tapas Restaurant in Balham. Olives are a vital part of the Spanish diet and we should incorporate them more in ours. They are antioxident and high in vitamins.

One of the highlights of the evening was cooking with chef and resturanteur Omar Allibhoy of Tapas Revolution in London who took time out to spend the evening with a bunch of food bloggers and give us some great hints and tips for spanish olives.

Omar began the event by giving us a quick lesson on the place olives have in the food of Spain and how a day without olives just doesn't happen.  He explained that he would be showing us some quick ways to add flavour to olives which all start tasting the same. 

 

When Omar was ready to begin cooking he asked for an assistant. So I donned an apron and went to the other side of the table to await instructions!



 

 

 

 

This was the point when I wished I had my own set of knives with me!!

 



Helping Omar with the difficult task of onion and potato chopping!

 I loved learning the proper way to make a Spanish tortilla.

Sliced potatoes and onion cooking for the tortilla

 

The olives that Omar had prepared with different flavourings such as pomegranate, harissa paste and fennel seeds or sesame seeds, lemon juice and mint.

Spot the Masterchef contestants!! Shelina Permalloo and Andrew Kojima (and ME!)

 

We all sat down to a fantastic meal and plenty of Spanish wines



 

Salad with Sardines, olives, endive lettuce

 

Tortilla espanol!

 

Chicken with olives

 

Pan fried sea bass

 

Chocolate truffles made with chocolate, orange zest and OLIVES!!

Throughout the evening we had loads of Spanish wines, Tio Pepe Fino (Gonzalez Byass) as we arrived, a dry white, dry red and dry rose during the meal but what really left an impression on me was the dessert wines.  Finca Antigua Moscatel (a sweet dessert wine) was like sipping sweet silk. I have had different Moscatel wines before but a new one for me was the sweet red, Gran Barquero Pedro Ximenez.  This was one of the nicest dessert wines I have ever tasted, sweet, silky and smooth.

 

A goodie bag to take home and I made my way to the underground station and onward to my train.  Thanks Olives from Spain and Friday Food Club for a lovely evening of food and fellow bloggers!