Sangria and surf & turf

Sun is shining, birds are singing, it's safe to go outside without a parka, asparagus has  made its triumphant arrival at the shops and in the evenings seductive scent of meat sizzling on the barbecue wafts out of the restaurants. There's promise and headiness in the air: Summer is finally on its way!

But even that isn't enough for greedy yours truly: my thoughts are already under that Andalusian sun where I'll be in just a couple of weeks.

A little while back I celebrated my birthday and for the above mentioned reasons (as if I actually needed any...) the fiesta had some decicedly Spanish tones.

I might have gotten older, but I sure haven't gotten any wiser. Sure my brain keeps telling me that I should make sure to get that 5-a-day. But it also tells me that the best way to do that is with... SANGRIA!

But, in a sunny summer's day (something we didn't have...) it does rock.

Sangria

1 bottle red wine

1,5 l Sprite

4 cl vodka

4 cl Cointreau or Triple Sec

In addition fruits of your desired quantity and quality. Sliced oranges, strawberries and grapes are a classic choice, but I like to add some cucumber too.

Accompany with ice and good friends. For a finishing touch add a mint leaf into each compartment of the ice cube tray when making ice cubes.

And of course I had to make some food as well. Something small, stress-free and served in a stick. The chosen theme was surf & turf and the joyous marriage between meat and shellfish. Firts there was chorizo prawns. let's face it- there are very few things that chorizo wouldn't compliment... My prawns were uncooked, but in case you use cooked ones, you might want to let them marinate for 1/2 h -1 h anyway to infuse them with some flavour.

Chorizo prawns (makes 18)

appr. 150 g chorizo (mine was the cooked variety)

18 king prawns

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 garlic cloves

1 chilli, finely chopped

salt, pepper

Peel the prawns and. Mix the marinade and let the prawns marinate for half an hour. Pat dry, season and cook until done either in a grill or in a pan. Cut the chorizo to slices of about 1 cm thick and fry quickly in a pan or in the grill to get that lovely crust. Combine with a tooth pick and serve. 

And can you believe: there is shellfish I haven't yet dabbled with in this blog! Such as scallops, one of my all time favourites. These were so big, meaty, juicy and in their oceaniness downright sweet that all I did was to wrap them in serrano ham and grill them in the oven. Simple but so sublime... Another classic surf & turf combination for scallops would be morcilla - Spanish blood sausage, which apparently is particularly typical for Basque cuinsine.

Serrano-scallops (makes 18)

18 scallops

9 slices of Serrano ham (or prosciutto or parma or bacon)

lemon juice

salt, pepper

Pat the scallops dry. Cut the ham lenghthways in 2. Wrap each half around a scallop and secure with a toothpick. Sprinkle some lemon juice on top and season on both sides. Bake in the oven (225 °)  or in the grill until the scallops are cooked and the ham has crispened - depending on the size 5-10 minutes. Turn halfway through.