The red prawn is the star of the fish market in Vilanova i la Geltrú, a fishing port on the coast of Barcelona. We know the recipes that the sailors cook on board – almost always with more humble ingredients – and some of their updates that are made in the restaurants of this town.
Brothy rice with red Vilanova prawns
The rice prepared by chef David Reig at La Gambarrada (Paseo del Carme, 22) is based on the traditional recipe, adding a couple of secret ingredients.
Ingredients
- 500 grams of cuttlefish.
- 12 large red prawns.
- 360 g of rice.
- 2 tomatoes.
- 1 onion.
- 2 cloves of garlic.
- 1.5 liters of redfish and shrimp broth.
- 2 girls.
- 300 g of mussels.
- Oil.
- Salt.
Instructions
In a saucepan on the heat with a drizzle of oil, brown the chopped garlic, onion and ñora over a low heat until they are well caramelised.
Add the grated tomato and the cleaned and chopped cuttlefish, and cook for about five minutes or until the cuttlefish are tender and the tomato reduced.
Cook the prawns for half a minute on each side and remove them.
Add the rice and mix to make it pearly. Pour in the boiling broth, raise the heat for the first three minutes and then lower it to medium.
When the rice has boiled for 12 minutes, season with salt and add the well-cleaned mussels and prawns. Cook for another five minutes, rest for two and serve.
Tagliatella ‘Rossejat’ with rock fish
A classic of traditional seafood cuisine that we can enrich by filleting the loins of larger fish and placing them on top of the tagliatelle once grilled for a couple of minutes on the skin side.
Ingredients
- 750 grams of whitebait (rock fish, crabs, scorpion fish, galleys, spiders).
- 300 g of tagliatelle number 2.
- 1 onion.
- 6 cloves of garlic.
- 1 ripe tomato.
- Olive oil.
- Waterfall.
- Paprika.
- Salt.
Instructions
Fry the garlic and onion in a pan with a drizzle of oil. When they are golden, add the tomato and a teaspoon of paprika.
Pour about 1.5 liters of water and the whitebait, boil for about 30 minutes and filter the broth.
Pour a drizzle of oil into a pan and fry the tagliatelle until they are golden. Add half the stock and cook the noodles for six minutes or until dry, adding a little more liquid if necessary. Let it rest for three minutes before serving.
‘Tutto cremat’ by Vilanova
The most popular seafood stew in the city (it has its own competition during the festivities of Sant Pere, patron saint of fishermen): at the Miramar Beach Club restaurant (Plaza de Sant Gervasi, s/n) they prepare it with moixin or catfish and squid, but you can change it with turbot, hake, capellani or gurnard.
Ingredients
- 750 grams of dogfish (or other fish).
- 1 large squid.
- About 1 liter of fish broth.
- 1 head of garlic.
- 3 hanging tomatoes.
- 1 kilo of potatoes.
- Olive oil.
- Salt.
Instructions
Peel the potatoes and cut them by clicking them.
Put a pan on the heat with a drizzle of olive oil. When it is hot, brown the whole garlic cloves, stirring so that they do not burn. When they are golden brown, add the grated cherry tomatoes and stir for another three minutes.
Add the potatoes, mix well and pour in 750 ml of fish broth. Bring to the boil over medium-low heat and, taking into account that the potatoes will take about 18 minutes to cook, add the fish about 10 minutes before and the squid cut into 5 slices, so that everything finishes cooking at the same time (if necessary, add more broth to prevent it from drying out, it must be juicy). Rest five minutes before serving.
Octopus with potatoes and aioli sauce
A minimalist recipe – all you need is a pot and mortar – which transfers all the flavor of the octopus to the potatoes through its cooking water.
Ingredients
- 1 large rock octopus.
- 1 kilo of potatoes.
- 4 cloves of garlic.
- Olive oil.
- Salt.
Instructions
Place the clean, whole octopus in a pan with cold water, two cloves of unpeeled garlic and a drizzle of oil and bring to the boil (about an hour, prick it with a toothpick to see when it is tender).
Peel the potatoes, cut them into chunks and boil them for about 18 minutes with half the octopus boiling water.
With the other two cloves of garlic, olive oil and salt, prepare the aioli.
When the potatoes are cooked, drain them and serve them with the octopus cut into pieces and the garlic oil.
Fish and prawn cannelloni
At the Miramar Beach Club restaurant, they version this market recipe with rice pasta, seasoned with grated parmesan and browned with a cooking torch directly on the griddle rather than in the oven.
Ingredients
- 16 sheets of cannelloni.
- 150 g of monkfish meat.
- 150 g of peeled prawn tails.
- 1 onion. 60 g of butter.
- 1 liter of milk.
- 40 grams of flour.
- Pepper. Nutmeg.
- Olive oil.
- Salt.
Instructions
Boil the cannelloni sheets and set them aside.
For the béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, add the peeled and chopped onion and brown it. Add the flour and mix well for a few minutes until it is toasted. Add the milk and stir over low heat until it boils and thickens. Add salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
Chop the monkfish and prawns and put everything in a pan with a little oil and butter. Mash half of it and mix it with the chopped rest in a bowl. Mixing well, add ⅓ of the béchamel.
Fill the cannelloni and bake with the rest of the béchamel for 10 minutes at 180 degrees.
