El Bulli was one of the most famous 3 Michelin star restaurants in the world. I don’t claim this was what they served their customers, but apparently they would provide a 3 course meal for staff each day, and this is one of those dishes.
Anyone who’s ever worked in fancy restaurants will you the traditional staff meal can often be a bit ropey to say the least (I worked in a place once that only ever fed us cheap and nasty chicken nuggets). A cook book based around El Bulli’s staff meals has actually been published called The Family Meal (dropping hints ahead of Christmas, just in case Santa is reading this)
It’s good to see El Bulli fed their staff well, and while it isn’t an extravagant dish, it’s delicious. The thing that takes it to another level is the Picada (a Catalan version of pesto, made with hazelnuts and parsley).
Ingredients
For the soup
1 Onion (finely chopped)
1 Tbsp Oil
1 Clove garlic (finely chopped)
2 x 400 Gram Tins of cannellini beans
1 Litre Vegetable Stock (I used a 2 x stock cubes)
400 Mil Carton of Passata
1 Tsp Rosemary (Finely chopped)
1 Sprig of Thyme (or 1/2 Tsp of dried Thyme)
Salt and Pepper to taste
For the Picada
1 x Large punch of parsley or couple of handfuls (roughly chopped)
1-2 Cloves of garlic
75 Grams Hazelnuts (try to buy the pre-blanched one, as removing the skins is a pain in the a*se)
50-75 Mil Olive oil, (or more if you want the Picada to be looser)
1/2 Tsp Salt
Serves 4
Method
- For the soup, heat the oil in a large pot, and add the onion and cook over a medium heat until it becomes translucent, add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes before adding the rest of the soup ingredients to the pot. Simmer for over a low heat for 20 minutes.
- While the soup is cooking you can make the picada. If you haven’t been able to find ready blanched hazelnuts, heat the nuts in a frying pan until they smell nutty (I know this sounds weird but when you can smell the nut smell it means they are ready), Transfer the toasted nuts onto the centre of a clean tea towel, bring the edges together and roll the nuts within the towel until the papery outer layer comes away
- If you have more sense than I did and have bought hazelnuts without skins, add these to a food processer and pulse a couple of times until the nuts have broken up. Add the rest of the picada ingredients to the food processer and blitz until you have a bright green paste. I like mine quite chunky and rustic, but you can whizz it up until you get a super smooth paste if that’s your thing.
- Transfer the picada to a bowl and wipe the food processer, and you will be ready to transfer half the soup to the food processer and whizz until smooth before returning to the pot and stirring well. This helps to thicken the soup
- Add half the picada to the soup and stir well, before serving in large bowls. Spoon a dollop of the picada in the centre of each bowl, serve crusty bread for a simple but delicious meal.
Seaneen's Sunnyside Kitchen 