Cook and Drink

Saffron Milk Cap with Chorizo and roasted Bell Pepper is one of our favourites. More recently we followed a recipe by Antonio Carluccio for a combination with Halibut. Another great combination. They can also be combined with Squid, with gamba and with Potatoes and Eggplant.
Saffron Milk Caps (Rovelló de Botó) are very popular in Spain. The picture below shows fresh Saffron Milk Caps on the Mercado Central in Valencia. Thinking about Spain we came up with the idea of combining the mushroom with octopus.

Wine Pairing

We opened a bottle of Domaine Font-Mars Picpoul de Pinet. Picpoul de Pinet (Son terroir c’est la mer) is a white wine from the South of France between Narbonne and Montpellier. The terroir (think calcareous soil) is influenced by the sea, which is reflected in the mineral taste of the wine. The story is that Picpoul could be read as pique poul which translates into something like ‘stings the lip’; a nice reflection of the high acidity of the grapes. This acidity guarantees a refreshing white wine, which is exceptional given the warm climate. The wine is bright yellow with a very subtle touch of green. It’s aromatic, floral and fruity. The taste has notes of citrus and apple.
In general we suggest drinking a refreshing, unoaked white wine that goes well with seafood.

What You Need

• For the Sauce
  • 4 Tomatoes
  • 1 Shallot
  • 1 Garlic Clove
  • Red Wine
  • Thyme
  • Olive Oil
• 150 grams of Saffron Milk Cap
• 200 grams of pre-cooked Octopus Tentacles
• Parsley
• Cayenne Pepper
• Olive Oil

What You Do

1. Peel, seed and dice the tomatoes.
2. Don’t discard the skin and the seeds: use a strainer to get as much tomato juice as possible
3. Chop the shallot
4. Chop the garlic finely
5. Heat a skillet, add olive oil and add the shallot.
6. Fry for a few minutes
7. Add garlic and tomatoes
8. Reduce heat
9. After a few minutes add the tomato juice, half a glass of red wine and thyme
10. Leave to simmer on low heat for 2 hours or until the sauce is ready both in flavour and texture
11. Cool and transfer to the refrigerator
12. The next day clean the mushrooms and slice (not too thin)
13. Chop the parsley
14. Heat a skillet, add olive oil
15. Add the sliced mushroom
16. Fry for one minute
17. Reduce heat
18. In parallel grill the pre-cooked octopus tentacles (4-6 minutes)
19. Add the tomato mixture to the pan with mushrooms and cook for a few minutes
20. Taste and add cayenne pepper. You’re looking for a fairly sharp, spicy taste
21. Add parsley to the mixture and combine
22. Slice the octopus
23. After a few minutes add octopus to the mixture without combining,