Tapas time! Ole!

As I have been living up to my name a bit too literally lately, and been a right little Fräulein and letting Mama SoulFood do all the cooking, I decided it was time to return the favour. Plus, it meant I got to cook what I felt like. So really I was still being a Fräulein, just disguised as a considerate and loving daughter. Win-win! 

I had a clear vision in my mind of the dish I would cook. A combination of flavors I had had on my last trip to Barcelona at Fishop. As I was traveling on a student backpackers budget at the time, I really shouldn't have been going to places like Fishop...but obviously a highlight of experiencing different cultures is the food, for Fräulein SoulFood anyway. My travel companion and I had therefore made a pact; that to every new place we went, we would allow ourselves one food "treat". Not as in calories (that pact had long gone out the window...) but a "treat" that would break the daily food budget. The night we ended up in Fishop (for you non seafood lovers, there is also a Beefshop!) after stumbling across it on our way to some other place, was the night we made this pact. I had ordered a Catalan style octopus, which was essentially "just" rings of octopus tentacles atop slices of potatoes that had been fried crisp on the outside (waxy on the inside) rounded off with some smokey spice I was unable to identify at the time. This dish encapsulated the flavour of Barcelona for me. And obviously still does as I remember it two years later, so definitely worth the "treat"! So this was the dish I wished to recreate, but it wasn't until recently that I recognised the smokey spice as smoked paprika! So obvious in hindsight...Armed with my mental ingredient list of fresh octopus (potatoes and smoked paprika are a staple in our household), I headed to the Auckland Fish Market. To my disappointment...no octopus!! What kind of fish market does not sell octopus?! 

Cause for Fräulein SoulFood to regroup, tapas would be the next best thing. I could still recreate the smoked paprika and potato component of the dish, so to make it into a meal, I chucked together some other "little" dishes. It ended up being far too much food for the three of us, as they ended up as not so little portions, more like a collection of obese tapas. But they were delicious nonetheless:

The feast!

Berenjenas fritas con queso y miel (Fried aubergines with goat cheese and honey)

Gambas aioli con chile (perhaps a tad too much chill...)

Patatas Catalanas -sans octopus :( 

We like our greens so I also made some Espinacas a la Catalana con  piñóns (but without raisins, not a fan of those in my savories...)

I have to admit, as much as I enjoyed preparing this feast, I spent a good half day in the kitchen prepping (although I don't like to rush these things, so that is super-long!), and ended up having to cook three of the dishes simultaneously (gambas, berenjenas and patatas) as I wanted them to be served warm. But I like a challenge so it all worked out! 

It all got washed down with my personal concoction of Rose Sangria, or rather Tinto de Verano (shade of summer) as the locals taught us in Madrid. Sounds much more appealing 
than blood doesn't it?

If anybody has a tip as to where I may be able to find fresh octopus in Auckland, please let me know!

Yours truly,

Fräulein SoulFood x