The best bowl in Barcelona: Escudella i carn d'olla

Serves 4 · 1 hr 30 min · Medium

The flavor comes from the shells and heads, browned hard. Ask the fishmonger for frames and heads: they're usually free.

You need

• 2 lb (900 g) fish frames and heads (rockfish, monkfish, hake), gills removed
• 8 large shell-on prawns, peeled, shells and heads kept
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped, 1 leek, sliced
• 2 ripe tomatoes, grated
• 1 tsp sweet pimentón
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) dry white wine
• 2 quarts (1.9 l) water
• Picada: 1 slice bread fried in olive oil, 12 toasted almonds, 2 garlic cloves, small handful parsley, a pinch of saffron
• 8 oz (225 g) monkfish or hake fillet, cubed
• Salt

How to make it

1. Heat the oil in a wide pot and fry the prawn shells and heads 5 minutes, pressing them, until deep red. Add the fish frames and cook 5 minutes more.
2. Add the onion and leek and cook 10 minutes, then the tomato and pimentón for 5. Pour in the wine, let it bubble off, then add the water. Simmer 35 minutes.
3. Strain through a sieve, pressing hard on the solids. Return the broth to the pot.
4. Pound or blend the picada ingredients with a little broth to a paste and stir it into the soup. Simmer 5 minutes.
5. Add the fish cubes and prawns and cook 3 to 4 minutes until just done. Season and serve with toast.

Chef's tips

• A food mill instead of a sieve gives a thicker, rustier soup.

Contains: fish, shellfish, tree nuts, wheat.

Chef Amazing's own recipe, written for a home kitchen. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.

Serves 4 · 1 hr 15 min · Medium

Unlike paella, this is served at once, swimming in broth, while the rice still has a little bite.

You need

• 2 live lobsters (about 1 1/4 lb / 570 g each), or 4 lobster tails
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped, 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 ripe tomatoes, grated
• 1 tsp sweet pimentón, a pinch of saffron
• 2 quarts (1.9 l) fish stock, hot
• 1 1/2 cups (300 g) short-grain rice (bomba)
• Salt, chopped parsley

How to make it

1. Chill the lobsters 30 minutes in the freezer, then split them, cut the tails in pieces and crack the claws. Keep any juices.
2. Heat the oil in a wide casserole and sear the lobster pieces 2 minutes; lift out.
3. In the same oil, cook the onion and pepper 12 minutes until soft and sweet, then the garlic, tomato and pimentón for 8 minutes more, until jammy.
4. Add the rice, stir 1 minute, then pour in the hot stock and saffron. Simmer 12 minutes, stirring once or twice.
5. Return the lobster and juices, simmer 5 to 6 minutes more until the rice is just tender and still soupy. Season, add parsley, and serve straight away.

Chef's tips

• It thickens fast as it sits: have the table ready before the rice goes in.

Contains: shellfish, fish.

Chef Amazing's own recipe, written for a home kitchen. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.

Serves 4 · 12 hr (mostly simmering) · Weekend project

Tonkotsu is pork bones boiled hard, not simmered, until the fat and collagen emulsify and the broth goes white. It takes a day, but it's mostly waiting.

You need

• 4 lb (1.8 kg) pork trotters and neck bones, cut by the butcher
• 1 lb (450 g) chicken backs
• 1 onion, halved, 1 head garlic, halved, 2-inch (5 cm) ginger, sliced
• 4 scallions, white parts
• For the tare: 1/2 cup (120 ml) soy sauce, 1/4 cup (60 ml) mirin, 2 tbsp sake, 1 tsp salt
• 1 lb (450 g) pork belly, rolled and tied
• 4 eggs
• 4 portions (about 1 lb / 450 g) thin fresh ramen noodles
• To serve: sliced scallions, nori, bean sprouts, pickled ginger, sesame seeds

How to make it

1. Cover the bones with cold water, bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes, drain and scrub off the grey scum. Clean the pot.
2. Return the bones with fresh water to cover by 2 inches (5 cm). Boil hard, lid off, 10 to 12 hours, topping up with boiling water to keep the bones covered. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and scallions for the last hour. Strain: you want about 2 quarts (1.9 l) of white broth.
3. Meanwhile, braise the pork belly in the tare plus 1 cup (240 ml) water, covered, at a low simmer for 2 hours, turning now and then. Cool, slice thin, and keep the braising liquid.
4. Boil the eggs 6 1/2 minutes, chill in ice water, peel and soak in 1/2 cup of the braising liquid for at least 4 hours.
5. Put 2 tbsp braising liquid in each warm bowl. Cook the noodles 1 minute less than the packet says, drain well and add. Ladle 2 cups of boiling broth over each, then top with pork, a halved egg, scallions and nori.

Chef's tips

• A pressure cooker gets the broth white in about 2 hours on high.
• Taste the broth with the tare in it before adding salt; the tare is the seasoning.

Contains: wheat, soy, egg, sesame.

Our recipe, the same one we give for tonkotsu ramen in Amsterdam. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.

Serves 6 · 2 hr 30 min, plus overnight soak · Easy

In Galicia it's made with grelos (turnip tops); collards or kale work just as well.

You need

• 8 oz (225 g) dried white beans, soaked overnight
• 1 smoked ham hock or 8 oz (225 g) slab bacon
• 8 oz (225 g) Spanish chorizo, in chunks
• 3 quarts (2.8 l) water
• 1 1/2 lb (680 g) waxy potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
• 1 bunch turnip greens, collards or kale (about 1 lb / 450 g), stemmed and sliced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and black pepper

How to make it

1. Put the drained beans, ham hock and water in a pot. Bring to a boil, skim, and simmer 1 1/2 hours.
2. Add the chorizo and potatoes and simmer 25 minutes.
3. Add the greens and simmer 15 minutes more, until everything is soft. Mash a few potatoes against the pot to thicken it.
4. Pull the meat off the hock and return it. Stir in the olive oil, season, and rest 10 minutes before serving.

Chef's tips

• It is better the next day.

Chef Amazing's own recipe, written for a home kitchen. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.