Squid with peppers, wine tomatoes - Spanish

Ingredients

• 120g/ 4oz oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 green peppers, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 900g/ 2lb squid, cleaned and cut into rings, the feet chopped
• 120g/ 4oz red wine
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 teaspoons paprika

Method

Heat the oil in a large, wide frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and let them soften.

Add the peppers and 5 minutes later the tomatoes, and cook until they too have softened.

Add the squid and stir until it changes colour. Pour in the wine and sprinkle in the parsley and paprika. Season and simmer for about 30 minutes – the whole thing should be thick, with no watery juices.

Spinach with anchovies, raisins and pine nuts

Ingredients

• 60g/ 2oz seedless raisins
• 900g/ 2lb spinach
• salt
• 4 tablespoons oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 anchovy fillets, chopped
• 60g/ 2oz pine-nuts

Method

Pour boiling water over the raisins and leave them to soak.

Wash the spinach thoroughly, sprinkle it with salt and pack it into a large saucepan. Cover it and leave it over a medium heat for a few minutes. Remove the lid and you’ll now see that the spinach has collapsed dramatically. Drain it in a colander and leave until cool enough to handle (longer than you think). Press out all the water and slice it up.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Gently sauté the crushed garlic and the anchovies for a few minutes. Add the pine-nuts and drained raisins and leave to sizzle for a couple of minutes.

Add the spinach and stir it over a low heat until heated through. Serve at once.