Taljatele sa gamborima i školjkama

Kada sam u inostranstvu, pokušavam da kupujem što egzotičniju hranu, koje nema kod nas. Samim tim mi se jako posrećilo što sam u zadnje vreme jako puno boravila u Londonu. Zašto? Pa, London je toliko veliki grad da u njemu stvarno možete da nađete svaku vrstu hrane koju zamislite.

Moram reći da sam gledala kako Britanci kuvaju i sve je to ok. Obožavam da gledam kulinarske emisije na TV-u, ali ne da bih kopirala recepte već više radi ideja. Tamo sam dosta puta videla da spremaju jakobove kapice (scallops na engleskom), pa sam odlučila da ih i ja probam. Sada, ove školjkice stvarno jesu skupe ali pošto ih nikada nisam videla u prodaji u Beogradu, odlučila sam da se častim. Ipak sam bila na odmoru. Ali sam ipak upozorila svoju sestru da stvarno počne da troši naš londonski džeparac i na druge stvari da ja ne bih pojela sve pare koje smo ponele!

Dakle, jakobove kapice... Šta raditi sa njima? Kako ih spremiti? Ove koje sam ja kupila su bile dosta male i nije ih bilo puno pa sam odlučila da ih spremim zajedno sa gamborima. Ovo sigurno zvuči vrlo buržujski svima koji ne žive u blizini mora i imaju tu sreću da stalno jedu sveže morske plodove na čemu im ja lično jako zavidim. I koliko god ova moja avantura zvučala skupo, ja gambore stvarno obožavam i jako im teško mogu odoleti. A pošto su u radnjama nekako uvek školjke pored gambora, pretpostavila sam da će mi se i one jednako svideti. I jesu mi se svidele. Jakobove kapice su odlična i zdrava hrana. Ali šta da radim, ipak nisu gambori. Možda bi sada bio pravi trenutak da vam objasnim odakle dolazi moja ljubav prema gamborima. Naime, prvi put sam ih probala u jednom bagdadskom restoranu koji se zvao Babiš i u koji sam često išla kao dete. Sećam ga se vrlo dobro: prelepa zgrada na Hindiji koja je bila na jednom ćošku ako se ne varam. Pod je bio od belog mermera,  a stoljnjaci su bili bordo boje. Sto je bio savršeno postavljen, pred svakom osobom nekoliko čaša, svaka sa svojom namenom (kad malo bolje razmislim možda ne bi bilo loše da u jednom trenutku napišem i ovde nešto o postavljanju stolova) i konobar je uvek bio u blizini ne bi li dopunio čašu vodom posle svakog gutljaja. Zvuči malo čudno, ali na neki način slatko. Jedino je malo tužno što je to ipak bilo devetesetih u Iraku tako da nije baš bilo za očekivati da restoran stalno bude pun. Ali Babiš će za mene uvek predstavljati ono savršeno mesto gde sam prvi put jela gambore. Bili su savršeno pohovani i servirani sa koktel sosom u paprici. Izgledalo je preslatko! Pošto je to bilo pre oko 15 godina, nažalost nisam imala Instagram da zabeliži tako lep tanjir, pa ćete morati da mi verujete na reč.

Otkako sam se tada zaljubila u gambore, počela sam da ih spremam na razne načine. Taljatele sa gamborima i jakobovim kapicama su samo jedan od tih načina. Ovo je tipičan primer brzog i lakog recepta koji je toliko ukusan da ćete se pitati zašto iko ikada provodi sate u kuhinji spremajući hranu (mada čak i ja to nekad radim). Ja sam pojela dva tanjira ovog jela (dobro, tri ali nemojte nikome da kažete). A ako baš mrzite morsku hranu, uvek možete da je zamenite piletinom, mada bih ja preporučila da je probate. J

Taljatele sa gamborima i jakobovim kapicama

150g gambora

150g jakobovih kapica

2 velike pečurke

1 kukuruz

Šaka svežeg spanaća (sitno iseckana)

3 mlada luka (beli deo za prženje, zeleni ostavite po strain za kasnije)

1 šargarepa (iseckana na kockice)

Peršun

Kašika putera

Kurkuma

Med

Slatki čili sos

Riblji sos

Gustin (1 kašičica rastvorena u 50ml vode)

200g taljatela

Pržiti šargarepu i mladi luk na kratko pa dodati pečurke i pržiti dok ne porumene blago sa obe strane pre nego što dodate gambore, jakobove kapice i zrna kukuruza. 

Skuvati taljatele u vodi. Najbolje je kupiti sveže, jer se brže skuvaju a i ukusnije su.

Dodati pola kašičice meda, kašiku čili sosa, ribljeg sosa i pola kašičice kurkume rakovima i školjkama. Sve brzo promešati pa dodati gustin i brzo ga umešati (prvo ga rastvoriti u vodi, kako bi ste sebi olakšali život).

Isključiti vatru. Taljetele bi trebalo da budu spremne sada. Procedite ih i dodajte ih ostalim sastojcima. Lepo sve promešajte kako bi taljatele bile pokrivene sosom pa zatim dodajte svež spanać i zeleni deo mladog luka kako bi ste uživali u hrskavom povrću. Servirajte odmah.

Prawn and scallop tagliatelle

When away from home, I try to shop for food as exotic as possible. In this context I have been very lucky to visit London quite a bit lately. Why? Well, such a huge city has almost any kind of food you wish for.

I must say, I have been looking at how the British cook and it’s alright. I love watching cooking shows on TV, not to copy recipes but to get ideas. Having seen quite a few people make scallops, I decided that I wanted to try them. Quite expensive little things they are, but I can’t seem to find them anywhere in Belgrade so I treated myself. This was around the time I also advised my sister to start going on shopping sprees and buy herself some clothes before I ate all of our London money!

So, scallops…. What to do with them? How to prepare them... Now the ones I bought had no shells and were quite small, so I decided to add some prawns to the mix. Unless you live in a beautiful place by the sea and get to binge eat seafood all the time, this idea of mine must sound awfully posh. I admit to that. However, I must admit right away that I just love prawns! Somehow they were always close to the scallops in the shops, so I assumed I would love the scallops too. Honestly, I did. Scallops are great food. My dear friends, they are not prawn. My prawn-love stems from a beautiful restaurant in Baghdad that I frequented with my family as a kid. It was called Babeesh. I remember it to this day: a beautiful place on Hindiya, on a corner of two streets if I am not mistaken. It had marble flooring and burgundy tablecloths. Your table was set perfectly with two or three glasses, all having their own purpose (come to think of it, I might get to how to set a table on the blog) and a waiter would always be standing not too far away to refill your glass of water every time you had a sip. Seems a bit odd maybe and the only sad thing about it was that it was in 1990s Iraq meaning that it wouldn’t really be full all of the time. Babeesh was this amazing place I tasted prawns for the first time in. They were battered to perfection and served with cocktail sauce in a pepper. How cute was that! Now, that was years ago so I did not have a phone to take a picture of the plate as we all do on Instagram nowadays, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Throughout the years, I have been rediscovering prawn and reinventing it in many ways. The prawn and scallop tagliatelle are one attempt. This is a classic example of a quick recipe that is so yummy, you will wonder why anyone ever spends hours in the kitchen making food. I know, I came back for seconds (and thirds, but don’t tell). And if you really hate seafood, feel free to use chicken instead. Though, I am one to say that you should always try new things. You never know what might soon become your favourite food! So, keep exploring J

Prawn and scallop tagliatelle

150g prawns

150g scallops

2 large mushrooms

1 corn

A handful of fresh spinach (cut finely)

3 leeks (whites to fry, greens to set aside)

1 carrot, cut into cubes

Parsley

A spoonful of butter

Turmeric

Honey

Sweet chilli sauce

Fish sauce

Cornstarch (a teaspoon dissolved in 50ml of water)

200g tagliatelle

Sauté carrots and leek for a minute, then add mushrooms and make sure they are brown on both sides before adding prawns, scallops and corn to the mix.

Boil the tagliatelle in water. Fresh tagliatelle are the best, it’s worth it in the end.

Add half a teaspoon of honey, a spoonful of chilli sauce, fish sauce and a half a teaspoon of turmeric to the prawns and scallops... Mix it all together and add the cornstarch and mix in quickly (first dissolve cornstarch in a tiny bit of water of course, just to make your life easier).

Turn off the heat. By now your tagliatelle should be done, drain them and mix them with the prawn and scallop mix first then adding the fresh leek and spinach just to give it an exciting crispy texture.