My AMAZING night with Omar Allibhoy!
As regular readers will know, a couple of weeks ago I entered Fragata's tapas competition to win a masterclass with Omar Allibhoy, a chef trained by the godfather of Spanish cooking, Ferran Adrià, at his tapas bar, Tapas Revolution. My entry was a take on Patatas Bravas (recipe here) and, well, I only went and won it! So on Saturday I headed off to Shepherd's Bush and had what can only be described as one of the best culinary experiences of my life!
On arrival, Omar asked us, the other winner and me, to choose what we wanted to cook together before taking us to the local supermarket to buy all the ingredients. We flicked through his book, which, being a bit of fan, I'd brought with me to get signed, and chose a couple of tapas dishes and a dessert to make. We went for bacalao al pil pil (cod with garlic and chilli sauce), chorizo in cider, garlic and white wine chicken and tocinillo de cielo (literally translates to 'fat from heaven' but in reality it's a set custard with a caramel syrup).
Having bought our ingredients, we went down into his kitchen and began to cook. We started with the dessert so that it would have time to cool but if I'm being totally honest we managed to slightly over cook it since the power of the industrial oven was so strong! It still tasted really good and I'm definitely going to make it again for my family.
We moved onto Omar's favourite dish, the cod, and I was given the task of portioning up the fillets. The sauce is made from olive oil, garlic, chilli and the fat from the skin of the fish, which all combine to make a sort of hot mayonnaise. This was the tastiest dish of the day for me and I've included the recipe below so you can give it a go for yourself!
We also made the chorizo in cider which was super simple and super tasty. You basically put four good quality fresh chorizo sausages in a saucepan with 500ml of still and dry vintage cider over a high heat. Let the cider reduce to a sticky syrup - this should take around 30 minutes - and serve hot with good bread.
Finally, we made pollo al ajillo (garlic chicken). Omar jointed up a whole chicken, something that was really cool to see up close as I've only ever seen it done on TV or on YouTube, and he did it slightly different to me so I definitely learnt a few tricks. The dish itself was, again, really simple. A good glug of olive oil was heated in a large pan over a medium heat, the chicken was then added, having been really well seasoned with salt and pepper all over, it was placed into the pan skin side down and was allowed to brown.
It's important not to move the chicken until a golden brown crust has formed, then you can turn it over and do the same on the other side. Then we added a whole bulb of garlic, broken up into cloves and lightly bashed, along with 10 sprigs of thyme and a couple of sprigs of rosemary. The chicken was left to cook for about 10 minutes before half a bottle of white wine was added. We tossed the pan, let the wine reduce for five minutes, seasoned thoroughly and it was ready to serve.
All the food we made tasted absolutely delicious - as expected! - and Omar himself was just as charming and friendly as I had hoped! I feel like I learnt an awful lot from a great chef and I'll definitely be making all the dishes we learnt again and again. We cooked, chatted and drank into the night and I'll remember it for a long time to come!
Bacalao al Pil Pil (Cod with Garlic and Chilli Sauce)
Serves 6 as a main or 10 as a tapa
2x 600g cod fillets, skin on and each cut into 3 portions
400ml olive oil
8 garlic cloves, sliced
4-6 dried cayenne chillies
salt
fresh bread, to serve
Season the cod fillets with salt and set aside.
Traditionally for this recipe you would use a terracotta pot but a large pan is perfectly fine. So add the olive oil to a pan big enough to hold all the cod in one layer. Add the sliced garlic and dried cayenne chillies and start frying from cold. When the garlic turns golden, remove the pan from the heat to let the oil cool slightly for 2 minutes.
Add the cod fillets to the pan, still off the heat - they will fry at the beginning but will very quickly stop bubbling. The idea is to cook the fish low and slow, like a confit and the liquid that is released from the fish will form the base of the sauce. After 10 minutes, reduce the heat to as low as possible, return the pan to the heat and let the cod cook, without letting it bubble, for 25 minutes.
There are two ways to make the sauce. Either continually shake and swirl the pan as the cod is cooking or, once the cod is cooked, remove it from the pan, and then whisk the sauce until it begins to resemble a mayonnaise.
Serve the cod with the sauce and top with the fried garlic and chillies. Dip the bread in the sauce - it's bloody delicious!
On arrival, Omar asked us, the other winner and me, to choose what we wanted to cook together before taking us to the local supermarket to buy all the ingredients. We flicked through his book, which, being a bit of fan, I'd brought with me to get signed, and chose a couple of tapas dishes and a dessert to make. We went for bacalao al pil pil (cod with garlic and chilli sauce), chorizo in cider, garlic and white wine chicken and tocinillo de cielo (literally translates to 'fat from heaven' but in reality it's a set custard with a caramel syrup).
Having bought our ingredients, we went down into his kitchen and began to cook. We started with the dessert so that it would have time to cool but if I'm being totally honest we managed to slightly over cook it since the power of the industrial oven was so strong! It still tasted really good and I'm definitely going to make it again for my family.
We moved onto Omar's favourite dish, the cod, and I was given the task of portioning up the fillets. The sauce is made from olive oil, garlic, chilli and the fat from the skin of the fish, which all combine to make a sort of hot mayonnaise. This was the tastiest dish of the day for me and I've included the recipe below so you can give it a go for yourself!
We also made the chorizo in cider which was super simple and super tasty. You basically put four good quality fresh chorizo sausages in a saucepan with 500ml of still and dry vintage cider over a high heat. Let the cider reduce to a sticky syrup - this should take around 30 minutes - and serve hot with good bread.
Finally, we made pollo al ajillo (garlic chicken). Omar jointed up a whole chicken, something that was really cool to see up close as I've only ever seen it done on TV or on YouTube, and he did it slightly different to me so I definitely learnt a few tricks. The dish itself was, again, really simple. A good glug of olive oil was heated in a large pan over a medium heat, the chicken was then added, having been really well seasoned with salt and pepper all over, it was placed into the pan skin side down and was allowed to brown.
It's important not to move the chicken until a golden brown crust has formed, then you can turn it over and do the same on the other side. Then we added a whole bulb of garlic, broken up into cloves and lightly bashed, along with 10 sprigs of thyme and a couple of sprigs of rosemary. The chicken was left to cook for about 10 minutes before half a bottle of white wine was added. We tossed the pan, let the wine reduce for five minutes, seasoned thoroughly and it was ready to serve.
All the food we made tasted absolutely delicious - as expected! - and Omar himself was just as charming and friendly as I had hoped! I feel like I learnt an awful lot from a great chef and I'll definitely be making all the dishes we learnt again and again. We cooked, chatted and drank into the night and I'll remember it for a long time to come!
Bacalao al Pil Pil (Cod with Garlic and Chilli Sauce)
Serves 6 as a main or 10 as a tapa
2x 600g cod fillets, skin on and each cut into 3 portions
400ml olive oil8 garlic cloves, sliced
4-6 dried cayenne chillies
salt
fresh bread, to serve
Season the cod fillets with salt and set aside.
Traditionally for this recipe you would use a terracotta pot but a large pan is perfectly fine. So add the olive oil to a pan big enough to hold all the cod in one layer. Add the sliced garlic and dried cayenne chillies and start frying from cold. When the garlic turns golden, remove the pan from the heat to let the oil cool slightly for 2 minutes.
Add the cod fillets to the pan, still off the heat - they will fry at the beginning but will very quickly stop bubbling. The idea is to cook the fish low and slow, like a confit and the liquid that is released from the fish will form the base of the sauce. After 10 minutes, reduce the heat to as low as possible, return the pan to the heat and let the cod cook, without letting it bubble, for 25 minutes.
There are two ways to make the sauce. Either continually shake and swirl the pan as the cod is cooking or, once the cod is cooked, remove it from the pan, and then whisk the sauce until it begins to resemble a mayonnaise.
Serve the cod with the sauce and top with the fried garlic and chillies. Dip the bread in the sauce - it's bloody delicious!
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