La Boqueria, Barcelona Spain

La Boqueria, Barcelona Spain

I enjoyed eating fresh seafood in Barcelona. Not only they have many choices but also they were very fresh. Spanish people, like French and Italian, are very passionate about food. I have visited a hole in a wall bar for tapas to a high end beach-side Asian fusion restaurant in Barcelona and food tasted very fresh and tasty everywhere. Almost all of the restaurant had variety of seafood dishes.

I've realized they uses a lot of cuttlefish and squid. I love them so much. Only miner problem I found was that they don't pull off the thin skin like we Japanese do. Also I don't think they eat cuttlefish / squid raw. My favorite way to eat them are raw (sashimi) with soy sauce with fresh wasabi. Spanish people also uses cuttlefish / squid ink just like Japanese to flavor dishes. I think squid ink make a dish richer and more rounded.

One of most popular Spanish dish using squid ink is called Arrozo Negro (Black Rice) since the color of Paella turns completely black.

Recipi for ARROZ NEGRO - provided by Cook and Taste

Ingredients (4 serves)

600 gr of squid

1 big onion, peeled and chopped

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

2 tomatoes, peeled and minced

6 tablespoons of olive oil

400 gr of rice (1 pound / 14 oz)

1,1 l of fish stock (4.4 cups)

8-10 saffron threats or colouring

Clean the squid and cut them in rings. Get the ink from their ink bags and set aside.Heat the oil in the pan and fry the squid rings over medium heat. Take them out when they begin to curl and then add the onion into the pan. Cook it over medium heat for some minutes. Then add the tomato and fry slightly. After some more minutes, add the chopped garlic and fry over medium heat.When the tomato starts to burn, stir in the rice and the squid ink and mix well.In the meanwhile, heat up the stock. Incorporate it into the pan when it boils.Increase the heat to medium-high and cook for (+/-) 8 minutes, rotating and swirling the pan to distribute the heat evenly. Reduce heat to minimum and cook (+/-) 10 more minutes.Let it stand for about 5 minutes before serving.