Cuttlefish with peas by Montse and Júlia: "Making traditional recipes, yes. Cooking like a hundred years ago, no need"

In this chapter, there is not one wise woman. There are two. Two wise women who, like all the food lovers who stroll through Mengem, have set themselves the duty (a most delightful duty) of recovering and disseminating Catalan cuisine. Montse and Julia have an essential blog, Mengem, where they disseminate recipes, so it will be us, this time, who will disseminate the blog. Both of them, jokingly, say, because they have been cooking together for a long time, that they are "half a kilometer each."

Kilòmetre0.cat, where they disseminate recipes, so it will be us, this time, who will disseminate the blog. Both of them, jokingly, say, because they have been cooking together for a long time, that they are “half a kilometer each.”

The cuttlefish with peas that they cook for us – from an open kitchen that shows us the Mediterranean – is conceived long before the recipe begins. Both know that cooking without good produce is nothing. And that is why this cuttlefish has been ordered from the "trusted" fishmonger and chosen consciously. The peas, the same. They are bought from the "trusted farmer's wife" (we all must have trusted suppliers), peeled a while ago and separated by measures. It is a recipe, they say, that "should be in all restaurants."

The recipe for Blanes cuttlefish with peas from Montse and Julia.

-Two kilos of peas from Blanes, which we will peel and separate by size (as they will need different cooking times). It is very worthwhile to buy them fresh when in season and freeze them if necessary. They are in no way the same as those we could buy industrially frozen.

-Three Figueras onions.

-Nuts for the picada.

-A fresh cuttlefish, in this case one kilo, one hundred grams. "We will know it is fresh because when we touch it (watch the video!) it shrinks and because it doesn't smell; at most, it smells of the sea. Yesterday it was still swimming."

-For the picada: almonds and hazelnuts, one clove of garlic.

-Blanes tomatoes in homemade preserves. "We make them when the tomato season ends, using the ripest ones or those that are not sold because they are ugly".

-Jaerla variety potatoes, "which are more consistent and do not fall apart", but a Monalisa could also be used.

-Mineral water and seawater. "We will not use fish stock, because the cuttlefish already has the bile, which will give a very good flavor."

-A splash of rancio or brandy.

-Salt, oil, pepper.

We peel the potatoes and don't cut them, but rather crumble them. It's a method that I'm sure you've seen chefs use. The act of "cutting" causes them to release starch, which we want to thicken the sauce. There's no flour in this recipe. And as our wise elders say: "If it's not thick... add more of everything!". Then we peel and chop the onion. Next, we open the cuttlefish to extract the ink (which we won't use), and reserve the roe. We can ask our trusted fishmonger ( 👨‍🍳👩‍🍳!) to do this for us. If we dare to do it at home, let's get to it, because ink is tricky. Our wise elders open it "from the front," because Carme Ruscalleda (our beacon and culinary guide) says it's easier to get the ink out if we do it this way. We cut it. We remove the tendons, if any. We wash it with seawater and drain it.

We heat the pot and add a splash of oil. We add the cuttlefish pieces. "Cuttlefish needs to be cooked either very little or a lot." Some people freeze it. This is to break down the fibers. We monitor the cooking and if we think it needs water, we add some. It will "drink" it. We pierce it to see if it's done. We add pepper. No salt yet, as we always have time for that. When we see it starting to "stick" to the bottom of the pot, we add the onion "which will pick it all up."

Now, we salt the onion, "to make it sweat." When a while has passed and we see that the onion is half-cooked, we add the roe (whole; it will break down). We add the brandy, in this case, and when it has "drunk" it, we add the grated tomato. If we don't use the whole jar, we have two options: add a splash of oil on top, which will keep it good for a week in the fridge, or freeze it. This is the moment for the potatoes. We cover it with water. "It will boil again now." And we wait, while we do other things. When there's very little time left, we add the peas.

The difficulty of daring

“Does it have any difficulty?”, the two wise women ask us. And really, the difficulty is daring to make proximity and conversation with the shopkeepers a religion. The entire team that went to record this “Wise Kitchen” suffered, as never before, because the smell, the perfume, opened our appetite so much...

These two women look at the kitchen from very high up and at the same time with their noses very close to the pot. They know how to read the culinary moment we have at hand, and they have kind solutions. They are two cooks who, while cooking, kept making us proposals for other dishes to make use of leftovers.

“Making traditional recipes, yes. Cooking like a hundred years ago, no need. We have fantastic appliances that make our lives easier”, is one of their mottos. And it is a motto born from the love of cooking, which is love for others. I dare to suggest to our director that we “order” them again. It will do us a lot of good to go shopping with them.