Cooking à la Twitter

When I first started using Twitter I admit I was a bit of a skeptic. I imagined I could see uses for businesses to increase market visibility but for personal use I was doubtful. Well I now know better. While Twitter is useful for businesses, direct or blatant advertising is the quickest way to get ‘unfollowed’. Because Twitter is about giving. Giving information, giving advice, giving recommendations. It’s about finding like-minded souls with similar interests, sharing and helping. Yes, there can be a lot of drivel out there but one woman’s drivel is another woman’s gold dust. And with Twitter you can chose to tweet like a canary or just drop in and out. No pressure. I started on Twitter end of last year and since then I’ve found it a fount of information. Yes, I’m a Twitter fan and I often tweet drivel, O the shame!

However last month I had a new experience on Twitter. A ‘cookalong’. Rachel McCormack of Catalan Cooking holds cooking classes where she shares some of her vast knowledge of cooking from this special region of Spain. Catalonia, in case some are not aware, is a region in the east of Spain bordering the southern French Pyrenees. One of Spain’s seventeen autonomous communities, it has its own distinct culture and language. Rachel, a scottish whirlwind, lived there for some years and has brought her love of the local Catalan culinary culture here to London. She holds cooking classes with limited student numbers to ensure individual attention. And she has now started to host cookalongs on Twitter.

I joined in on the first cookalong on September 15th and at the appointed hour of 19.00 was standing in my home kitchen with Twitter live on my phone and computer. Rachel had already posted our shopping list a few days before so we could be sure of having all at hand. To see the Twitter running commentary over the following hour or so click here. Goodness knows how Rachel managed to guide all of her tweetie home cooks as we chatted away and asked questions and shared photos of our efforts. But manage us she did and slowly, kitchens all over the land began to fill with the delicious aroma of Chicken Escabeche.

Simple, fresh ingredients are all you need

Escabeche is a way of cooking pork, chicken or fish with vinegar, oil and sherry. Often served cold I ate mine while it was still warm with boiled potatoes and reheated leftovers a few days later when it tasted even more delicious. In future I might try adding a bit less vinegar or perhaps add it in two stages. Rachel explained that sherry vinegar was stronger than red wine vinegar and I had made a mix of both vinegars at the full quantity of 125 ml which almost proved too astringent. But, following Rachel’s expert advice, I just added some olive oil to balance the dish at the end so it worked out perfectly balanced when finished. In fact, on the second eating the sauce had mellowed considerably so this is a dish that only keeps getting better over time and definitely is a winner when looking for a cook-in-advance meal. Next time I’ll experiment with red wine vinegar on its own, because there will be a next time for this simple but scrummy dish.

The finished dish which I served with plain boiled potatoes

Chicken Escabeche from Catalan Cooking’s #cookalong

Serves 4

4 quarters of chicken, skin on (you can also substitute fish or pork)
1 large white onion
2 stalks of celery
2 medium carrots
2 – 4 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
Thyme
1 clove
A few black peppercorns (around 5 or 6)
Salt
250 mls of olive oil
125 mls red wine vinegar (or sherry vinegar)
150 mls of sherry (fino)

Brown the chicken pieces in Half (125ml) of the olive oil. Remove chicken and set aside on a plate to gather any juices.
Slice onion lengthways into fine slithers and add to the o.oil in pan and gently cook till soft.
Slice the carrot into batons and add to pan.
Cut celery into 3 sections and slice lengthways before adding to pan.

I've always loved celery, raw or cooked

Add spices to the pan, leave the garlic cloves whole. Add bay leaves.
Now replace the chicken and any juices back into the pan. Add the vinegar and stir. Add thyme. Stir and add the sherry. Simmer till chicken is cooked through.
If the sauce is too sharp add more of the remaining olive oil.
Serve with crusty bread or rice or boiled potatoes.

If leaving to serve cold add more oil. If covered with the oil to seal it it can last for a week or so.

Print version here

By the way, as I cooked, tweeted and sipped some fino sherry I also did some quick sketches of my progress which I’ve used on this post.

Rachel will be holding cookalongs on Twitter on a monthly basis so get on over to Catalan Cooking and register your interest. Not only is it a great fun way to learn new dishes, with your own personal guide at the end of a tweet, you get to eat some great food! Plus your kitchen will smell fantastic. Her next cookalong will be on Thurs 28th October so you’ve got a few days to get your ingredients in, full details here.

Tagged as: #cookalong, Catalan, Catalan Cooking, Escabeche