“Young people seem to be afraid of going into a fishmonger and buying fish.”

GironaThe half-full fridge (Planeta Gastro) is the book to give if the teenager at home is moving into a student apartment or if the young people are moving out of the family home. "Especially the first option because the two of us, Martí and I, thought, while writing it, about our early days as students in Barcelona, ​​when each of us studied away from home," explains Marc Roca (28), son of chef Joan Roca. Martí (25) is his first cousin, son of sommelier Josep Roca. I interview them on a Friday afternoon at El Celler de Can Roca as the last tables are getting ready for dessert. The Ferris wheel hiding chocolates and sweets in each seat is wheeled up and down by waiters with strong arms and hands, and at another round table, the diners have put on virtual glasses, which take them to another world.

We return to the book. "Perhaps there isn't one on the market that has ever thought of young people, and hence our proposal with recipes designed to take advantage of and create everything a student apartment might have at home," says Marc. And what could there be? Bags of Doritos chips, which may not be finished once opened but shouldn't be thrown away, because Roca Junior and Jordi Roca propose two excellent recipes for recycling leftover Doritos. On the one hand, a potato omelet. On the other, breaded broccoli with these chips. "I wouldn't say the book is about healthy cooking, but I do maintain that there are recipes that are healthy, like the Caesar salad, chicken with aromatic herbs, or all the ones we propose in the canned food section, which are easy to prepare at home," and are always a good resource for having food ready, says Jordi Roca.

The Doritos and chips omelet is prepared, first, with a mixture of 9 eggs, 70 grams of potato chips, 80 grams of Doritos, and 25 ml of olive oil, and served on a plate with crushed chips on top. To cook it, however, they don't crumble the potatoes. Now, it's the fastest omelet in the world to make because the potatoes only rest in the pan for a minute. To continue, the fried broccoli, also coated in Doritos, is prepared by blanching the broccoli sprouts for three minutes. When they're cold, they dip them in beaten egg and cover them with crushed Doritos. They then fry them in a pan with sunflower oil at 180°C. Once golden, they remove them from the pan and drain them on a plate lined with absorbent paper. And they're ready to eat.

However, potato chips aren't the only stars of the book; canned goods are also a favorite, and this chapter contains a handful of very good ideas. To start with, canned sardines, which the Roca brothers propose coating, frying, and piercing with a stick so they can be eaten by biting off the pallet. "It's a presentation idea; they can also be eaten with a fork and knife," they comment. And Marc adds that the topic of fish and young people is worthy of study. "I talk to my friends, who are of a similar age, and I'd tell you that we seem to be afraid of going into a fishmonger and buying fish, and it's a shame because we have to eat fish." In a fishing country with leading ports, Jordi, his uncle, agrees completely.

Canned goods, the solution

As long as young people don't go to the fishmongers, canned fish and seafood are an alternative. Aside from the battered canned sardines, there's another suggestion in the book: the cockle, clam, and mussel cocktail. They suggest serving them all together in a glass with red apple sticks, julienned lettuce, and pink sauce. They explain how to make the sauce: with mayonnaise, ketchup, cognac, lemon juice, orange juice, and a touch of salt. The final touch is to garnish the glasses with a slice of lemon or a sprig of parsley.

In the section on homemade preserves, the cousins and their uncle reveal their recipe for spicing olives, perhaps one of the most popular vegetable appetizers among all ages, young and old. They combine different varieties of olives—Kalamata, Arbequina, Manzanilla, Hojiblanca—and place them in a pre-sterilized glass jar with olive oil, cayenne pepper, dried oregano, black peppercorns, dried rosemary, honey, orange juice, a sliced lemon, a sprig of fresh thyme, and a sprig of fresh rosemary. They emphasize that the entire preparation should be refrigerated for at least 24 hours. After that time, they can be eaten. Another wonderful recipe is red onion confit, which they prepare by placing a large red onion cut into thin slices along with apple cider vinegar, mineral water, salt, and sugar, all of which have been previously boiled. When the liquid is hot, they pour it over the sliced red onion. Next, they finish with a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, and black peppercorns. They then seal the glass jar and let it cool to room temperature. Once it's cold, they place it in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours before eating. "Pickles are easy to prepare," explain the uncle and nephew, but there are a few steps to be careful with. They add: "When we open the jars, we must remove the ingredients with a spoon or a fork, but not with our hands, and then we have to reseal them and put them in order."

Finally, pastry chef Jordi Roca confesses the good times the three of them had making the book. "But the two cousins are very serious, they don't let loose; they've even told me that there are too many videos I post on my Instagram account, and that I should take them down." Of course, Jordi Roca ignores them, and repeats that the two cousins, Marc and Martí, "are very serious." Be that as it may, the book promises fun and enjoyment with all the recipes described. The volume is published by Planeta Gastro (€20.80) and is also available digitally (€10.44). What's new is that e-readers from brands like Rakuten Kobo allow you to read the recipes with full-color photographs.