David de Jorge the last Robin Food

David de Jorge

David de Jorge is a controversial Basque Country chef, his books are between one of the best and innovative cooking books in the last years some have been recognised by the Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards, also have a close relationship with some of the best Basque Country chef like Michelin Star Martin Berasategui and some years ago the same David de Jorge was pronounced best young Spanish chef. Today he is becoming very popular for his T.V program in ETB (Basque Country T.V), this fat morbid chef swear and curse three time more than Gordon Ramsay and makes Jaime Oliver look like a posh kid every time that him taste a stew with his finger or lick a spoon
Their dishes can be sometimes heavy and a nightmare for any nutritionist but once you are in their style of cooking without foolishness, in a natural way without mysteries or complicated skills you will do the next step, try to cook like him or cook from their TV program or David de Jorge blog recipes.

Earl Grey Tea

In my Google Chrome favourites at the moment I have more than 100 recipes to try for different blogs around the world and at the moment David de Jorge recipes are having all my attention since I cooked last week his Earl Grey Tea Cake a little masterpiece of flavours, perhaps too simple but with a real Michelin start touch, no surprise that Martin Berasategui restaurant is around the block of the T.V studio and his team is giving him some extra tips.
Spain is in a moment that needs a generational change and any aspect of their social society and David de Jorge is showing the way to the new Spanish chef generation, back to the simple and natural roots of the Spanish cooking, and he is not afraid of the critics

Cod fillets with potatoes and raisins.

Cod with potatoes and raisins

You need: 500g floury potatoes (peeled and  sliced in 0,5 cm – ½ cube of fish stock – 30g raisins – ½ liter fresh water  - 125g butter (cubed) – 4 cod fillets (skin on) – 10g chopped chives for garnish

1. In a shallow and wide saucepan with enough room place the potatoes so that they don’t  pile up on each other.
2. Pour in the water, spread all over the butter and put in the fish stock (or vegetable stock) and raisins. Try to get those raisins that still have a bit of flesh for a better result. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer in a slow heat until the water reduces and the potatoes are tender cover for a bright medium thick sauce.
3. Three minutes before the potatoes are done, introduce the cod fillets, cover for the first minute, check if the cod fillets are done and sprinkle over the chives.
4. Serve in individual dishes and sprinkle a little of olive oil over each dish

Earl Grey Tea Cake

You need: 20g of earl grey tea (Darjeeling or English breakfast are very good as well) 240g  caster sugar – 250g eggs – 150g of fresh cream – 2tsp orange blossom water – ½ vanilla pod seeds – 260g flour (sieved) – 6g baking powder – 100g butter (softened) – 1g salt -Oven at 180ºC

Earl Grey mixed with sugar

1. If your tea is a leaf tea you need first to mill the tea in a pestle & mortar or a ground coffee machine can be useful as well. Then mix the tea with the sugar, set aside.
2. Now in a big bowl roughly beat the eggs, add the vanilla pods, salt and finely the sugar with the tea. Mix everything using a hand blender for about 3 minutes.
3. Then add the cream and blossom water, mix just a bit and the butter.
4. Still mixing and slowly start to incorporate the flour and the baking powder to the mix, always using the blender. When you poured in all the flour blend the mix for an extra couple of minutes
5. Transfer the mix to a greased cake tin. Let rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
6. Bake for 40 minutes. In my experience after 25 minutes the top of the cake for me is brown enough so I covered the top with foil paper and continue baking until the cake is done. For check the cake is done introduce a skewer or cocktail stick (or even a uncooked spaghetti noodle). If come out clean the cake is done. If comes out with crumbs, or clearly shows wet cake batter, the cake is not finished cooking. Don’t use a knife to test the cake as this can deflate a cake.
7. Let cool down in a rack and serve the cake with a perfect cup of tea!

Notes:
a) David de Jorge original recipe uses double amount of ingredients.
b) I use orange blossom water a leftover from another cake recipe, David de Jorge use 1 grated orange peel and 1 grated lemon peel.
c) The cake will keep moist for almost a week in a cake tin.


David De Jorge in The Guardian

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David de Jorge the last Robin Food