Garlic and hot pepper prawns (Gambas Al Ajillo)

Summer arrived officially. Along with the swimming and diving this means to me a lot of seafood on the table. Shrimps are common guests home, but this is one of my favorite recipes - the taste of fried garlic and hot pepper makes me feel like I am on the Mediterranean coast.

I love to visist the fish markets abroad- I love the smell of the fresh caught fish, the colors and shapes of the different species, all the inviting voices of the vendors. And when they allow me to make a picture of them, I am even happier. 

Bouillabaisse a la Marseillaise

I bet, you could not write the name of this dish if you are not french. Well, if you can, congratulations. I could not. I could not even pronounce it. But I can prepare it, I can enjoy it at lunch time, for dinner or even as a breakfast on early Saturday or Sunday mornings.   

Bouillabaisse is a French seafood stew, which home is supposed to be Marseille, but it is widely served in the coastal little ports of Southern France. It was once a cheap fishermen meal, which seafood ingredients depended on the daily catch. So, different kind of fish could be included, the most important thing is to put at least four varieties, every one of which delivers its own taste. Fish should be lean and fresh. The way I prepared the recipe is based  on the one from here. I added orange peel and wine.
There is a little rule conserning the serving of bouillabaisse - seafood in one dish and soup in another. But it all depends on you and your personal preferences. I like the fish to be hot, so I spoon a ladleful of soup onto it.

Prawns saganaki (Garides saganaki)

I tasted garides saganaki for a first time about eight years ago. On the Halkidiki peninsula, Greece. 
In a restaurant which tables were about 2o meters away from the sea. On the beach. We were barefoot, we ate the dish with fingers, soaking huge pieces of bread into the tasty sauce. We were young and free and happy. I will always remember this feeling. This will always be a dish which makes me feel good. Every time I wish to experience the whole atmosphere from those days, I prepare garides saganaki at home. And it works. 'Saganaki' comes from the Greek word 'σαγάνι which is a two-handled pan or dish. Garides saganaki are shrimps, cooked in a spicy tomato sauce and covered with feta cheese. Greeks serve it right out of the skillet with bread to soak up all the delicious juices.  So do I.

Linguine with shrimps and cherry tomatoes

I have a memory of sitting at a table of a fancy Italian restaurant at the centre of Luxemboug. It is lunchtime in summer and for me it is vacation, but for most of the people around me it is just the lunch-break from work. So, they are wearing elegant suits and women wear pearl necklaces and even teenagers are with Louis Vuitton bags. I spent an hour over a glass of wine and a bowl of linguine with prawns in front of me, watching the people around. And although the sauce for this pasta is rather Mediterranean style, it will always remind me on the lux-life in Luxembourg.

Pizza with Chorizo,prawns and Mozzarella

I often say, if I have lived in Italy I would be very very fat. And the reason for that does not lie in the fact that the food is unhealthy or too rich in calories, not at all. But I would eat too much in this Mecca of food - I adore everything from pizza and spagetti to gelato and all the sweet temptations of Italian cuisine.  So I make pizza often at home and I always use a pizza stone. Putting the stone in the preheated oven an hour before the actual baking makes a pizza with nice golden crust. Neapolitan kind of pizza dough makes thin crust pizzas with a puffy end crust and the filling with prawns and cheese gives the salted taste of sea and joy. My recipe is based on the recipe from here. I like the idea of mixing the flavours of prawns and cheese. Cheese enhances the taste of the prawns and makes them more beautiful.

Chorizo with Prawns - one of the best Spanish tapas

Prawns look a little bit scary watched from too close. 

Crazy eyes, large antennaes and especially - the large sharp rostrum, the part on top of their head which probably helps them to live better lifes, but has caused me a lot of pain while being not attentive during their preparation.  
But nevertheless, although looking scary and kind of ugly, prawns are healthy, low-calory food loaded with protein and containing nearly no fat. 
One of the first times I tasted prawns was about ten years ago when we went to a tapas bar and ordered Chorizo with Prawns. I still remember those tapas. The combination of the rather delicate taste of prawns and the bold, spicy and smoky flavour of Chorizo is hard to forget. And today we are going to talk a little bit more about this.