Original subtitles

♪

On the Cantabrian coast of Spain,

inlays the Basque Country.

Rich region full of heritage.

I'm making pinxtos.

The pinxtos are basically like tapas.

The difference is that tapas are free, pinxtos, you pay for them.

The pinxtos I'm about to make is called arraultza.

And, it's basically an open faced sandwich with chorizo,

onion, caramelized, and an egg.

I love chorizo so much.

They have a great texture, great perfume and they remind me

so much of chorizo that my Father used to make at the farm.

Onions ready, chorizo's ready,

bread is ready.

And the egg was ready a long time ago.

♪

Basque Country is one of my favourite regions in Spain.

Life in there is so easy,

so relaxed, no stress. Zero.

This time I'm going to start the onions, I want to caramelize.

Nice, nice, nice, nice.

Because the onion, if you go slower, it's going to

release the juices, it's going to poach, but this is more

like a-- for a long stew.

See, the colour is taking the onions.

Now, it's time to put the chorizo.

The chorizo, although it's already cured,

it's going to release the fat and the flavour with the onion,

and that's going to be awesome.

♪

What's better for a pinxtos than a beer?

Salute.

Everybody likes beer, even the chorizo.

And, if you get some flames to burn this alcohol,

that's cooking, baby.

So, I'm on the final lap. Let me show you my trick.

Check it out.

♪

Uno.

Y dos.

I'm going to fry the bread a little bit

with the rest of the ingredients.

Not too much. Just a little bit.

Get my magic plate.

(Sizzling)

This is ready.

I'm going to try to save a little bit of this fat

to fry the eggs in it.

This pan is so full of flavour.

Check it out. I also have juice

from the chorizo and the onion.

And now, los huevos, the eggs.

♪

I'm going to add a little bit more of oil,

'cause in Spain we love oil.

And, normally the eggs,

we fry them in lots of oil.

♪

I'm going to add a little bit of green, a little parsley

'cause it got perfume and it gives colour.

And I can't wait to eat this.

But, hold on, it wouldn't be a pinxtos without a skewer.

So, uno,

y dos.

Can't wait to try this.

Huevos con pan y chorizo.

It's hard to go more Spanish than this.

Eggs, chorizo, bread.

See the egg yolk?

Oh my god.

Mm.

I know it looks heavy,

but even for brunch or breakfast it's an optional choice.

Look at that.

Ha-ha! Got ya!

Mm.

And, you know what?

I want to make some gilda's.

This is going to blow your mind.

Let me introduce you to the piparras.

Piparras o guindillas.

And, I'm making gilda's.

These piparras, I grew them this summer in my garden in Montreal

and I pickled them for 45 days.

So, I have the gilda, I have the anchovy, anchoas.

Now, pierce it again.

Another anchovy.

And, an olive.

The olive is going to close the deal

and also, it's going to give some texture.

See, so simple,

So easy, so tasty.

♪

♪

This is a piquillo pepper. It's not hot. Sweet.

The Basque, they love it and they love to stuff it.

I'm about to make pimientos de piquillo

rellenos de brandade de bacalao.

Which is basically piquillo peppers stuffed with

with cod fish brandade.

So, I'm going to start this dish by infusing the oil in garlic.

Ajo.

Olive oil extra virgin.

Don't be afraid to put a lot.

So, while the garlic cooks and infuse the oil,

let me introduce you to the salted cod.

The Basque, they've been doing this for hundreds of years.

And, it's basically cod preserved in salt.

So, basically, you're not going to be able

to eat this salted cod like this.

You need to rinse it in cold water.

Every six hours, you put cold water.

Every six hours, you change for new cold water.

So, let's say that you're going to do 4 different waters

in 24 hours.

And, since I didn't waste no time for this recipe,

guess what?

Yesterday night I put this salted cod to de-salt

in cold water.

Cold water, cold water, cold water.

And now,

this is the result. Check it out.

♪

So, the garlic is ready.

Look at that. Look at the beautiful, beautiful colour.

Nice golden brown. My next step,

leche.

A little bit of milk is going to help to blend

all the spices, all the flavours together.

Bit of milk.

Nuez moscada, nutmeg.

And, a little bit of...

pimienta negra, black pepper.

And, simmer down.

You just want it to warm up the milk a little bit,

so infuse the flavours.

Meanwhile, in the other pot,

el bacalao salado,

the salted cod.

Check this out.

I'm poaching the salted cod in oil

very gently, 'cause I want to extract all the flavour

and why not in boiling water?

Because after when I...

(Whistling)

it's going to have that creamy, beautiful texture.

So, the cod fish is ready.

Now, I'm going to blitz the garlic with the cod fish...

(Whistling)

And that's going to be the stuffing for my peppers.

♪

Oh my god. This looks so good.

And now, I'm going to stuff those peppers.

So, here's my trick to improvise a...

(Whistling)

piping bag in two seconds.

Get a plastic bag, fold it twice.

And let's go with this lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely

cod fish brandade.

Pew, pew, pew, pew.

The hole, little, little.

Piquillo pepper, little bit sweet, not hot. Brandade.

♪

Huh?

♪

I'm so happy with the result.

And this is my trick.

This is super cool. Check it out.

♪

See? It even looks like a little ice cream. It's so cute.

A little bit of parsley on top.

And...

here you have Basque Country in its colours

and in its taste.

Mm.

You see all the oil that I put for the brandade

it feels nothing because of the piquillo.

That sweetness..

(Whistling)

it wipes down all the fat and it just marinade perfect.

♪

♪

The Basque, they're pretty strong in stews

and I'm making zancarron, which I basically

a beef shank stew.

And, even cooking it with the bone 'cause it has

the bone marrow, all the flavour is going to get into the stew.

It's always better to season your meat

a few minutes before cooking it, so it's going to

absorb all the salt, release the juices

and by passing the meat in the salt,

after,

my sauce is going to be a little more thickened.

It's a thickener.

♪

(Sizzling)

I love that sound.

That means that I have the right temperature

to start caramelizing the meat.

(Sizzling)

The meat is seasoned all around,

it's golden all around.

Time to take a break.

(Sizzling)

But, see all these flour left overs and the juices?

With the oil?

Let me show you how to clean the pan

and absorb all the flavours.

(Sizzling)

Half of it.

The other half, I'm keeping it for later.

(Sizzling)

♪

So, see all these veggies in the pan?

The onion is going to get sweet, but I would like to have

a little more sweetness.

And, guess what?

I have my piquillo peppers.

I'm going to use half now, the other half with this baby.

♪

And, what's Spanish food without sofrito?

♪

What's Spanish cooking without wine?

♪

This, we will save it for later.

Now, let it reduce.

(Whispering) Reduce, reduce, reduce.

See all the creaminess?

The sauce is getting into it with the wine and everything.

The trick, my friend--

(Whispering) The flour.

Every time you're going to braze something...

(Whistling) Is light it with a little bit of flour

before pan frying and you're going to see the difference.

See how all the juices have reduced?

I have the right consistency now... (Clicking tongue)

to go with this baby inside.

I have beef broth, 'cause I'm doing a beef stew.

Look at that, look at that, look at that.

The role of the broth in this dish?

To moisturize that meat and also getting communion with

the (Speaking in Spanish), which is the bone marrow,

and that's going to give all the flavour.

The little touch of...

(Sniffing) tomillo. Tomillo.

You can find fine tomillo almost everywhere in Spain.

Remember, when you do this kind of cooking,

as lower the temperature, as longer the timing,

as better the result.

♪

Look. The meat is so tender, falling apart.

Take it very, very, very careful.

But, I'm saving all the veggies inside of the pan

because I'm going to show you some magic.

I'm going to blend all together and then I'm going to

correct the sauce and this is going to be just beautiful.

♪

(Sizzling)

♪

See the colour of the sauce?

The piquillo peppers is going to give a little more sweet

and the parsley is going to give some perfume.

♪

Now we're talking.

(Speaking in Spanish). I'm hungry.

Well, this is the result of my hard work of the day.

Mm.

The meat is perfectly cooked, it just falls off the bone.

The bone marrow,

check it out.

Whatever part of the bone marrow is not in the sauce

is about to be in my mouth.

♪

♪

I'm making flan de yema with cerezas de Itxassou,

which is basically flan with cherries from the province of

Itxassou, in Basque Country.

I made these babies two months ago, put them to marinade

in porto wine.

And, can taste a hint of the alcohol, taste the sugar,

you have the texture. They're beautiful.

If you don't have those too because you didn't get in time

for the recipe, don't worry.

Here is a short cut which is going to give you

the same result, but with frozen cherries instead.

We have cherries, a porto,

a few spices. Hold a sec.

♪

Port, it goes super well with clove, with cinnamon,

and with cherries. And, also, I'm going to add a hint--

one star anise

'cause it's going to give this Arabic influence.

Check it out.

Now, by burning the alcohol, I'm reducing that punch

and also getting all the flavour together.

But, at the same time,

my cherries.

And lemon skin,

the keystone of a Spanish bakery.

See you in a bit.

I'm going to make the sugar, the caramel for the flan.

Check it out.

♪

This is the moment of truth.

See? Put a little bit of caramel at the base of the ramekin.

Be very, very, very, very careful my friend,

because the caramel it can be a nasty burn.

The caramel, it looks perfect. It's firm

and it has the beautiful amber colour that I was looking for.

I'm going to let it cool down.

Meanwhile, let's focus on those cherries.

You see? They're getting boiled.

They're getting bigger and bigger than before because...

(Whistling)

they're sucking all this port.

Mm. It miss a little bit of sweetness

and since we're in Canada, maple syrup all the way.

I love maple syrup.

Those guys are almost ready.

Couple of minutes more.

Let's go with the custard.

♪

So now, it's time to infuse the milk

with a little bit of fresh cream.

That's going to give a very moist texture to the flan.

♪

So, I infuse the milk with the cream very slowly

and now it's ready to go and meet the eggs.

Just a little bit.

So both the temperatures, they get together and the egg

doesn't curdle.

♪

Always remember, the key of a good custard,

it has to be silky and firm.

Now I'm going to my ramekins.

♪

I love the colour. It looks so good.

♪

So, I got my flan inside, a little bit of warm water,

tin foil, it's going to do the trick.

Into the oven.

Once they're cooked they will go straight into the fridge

to cool down.

♪

Those babies, they have cooled down.

See how firm they are?

Now, check it out.

This is so cool.

♪

See?

Got my lovely, lovely, lovely cherries.

The cherries, they've been cooking in porto and spices.

They're going to go so well with the flan.

This is a dessert I need to eat.

This is what I've been waiting for.

Cherries, like my Aunty used to do, and the flan,

which is such a traditional dessert.

Mm. Mm, mm, mm.

The cherries, they're still a little bit warm,

they have all the perfume.

And the flan is so silky,

so soft and the caramel

is just beautiful.

♪

From ocean to orchard, Basque cuisine is simple and rustic.

♪