Paella Party - Olé!

It’s always nice to have friends, and not just when you need money or you’re your wife has thrown you out.  They’re especially wonderful when they can cook, and especially if they’ll teach you how.  Drinking you’ll have to learn on your own, although friends can be very helpful there, too.

I don’t disparage anyone’s cooking.  Great Cuisines cover the world.  None of them bad, unless you catch the Koreans on a night when they’ve run out of meat and you notice their dog isn’t barking.  Mexican menudo?…not a fan.

The Europeans in general?  Superb.  But, when it comes to the trifecta, drinking, eating, and partying,  the Spanish take a backseat to nobody.  These folks can start in the late afternoon and finish up with supper at midnight.  Everyone know the prime restaurant seating in Madrid is 10:30 p.m.?  Show up a couple of hours early and you’ll have the place to yourself.

Through my wife, I met a couple, he American, and she Spanish. Pili gives cooking lessons, which may also be classed as party lessons, or drinking lessons.  You gather hungry friends.  You make sangria.  You talk for hours and eat well, with discussions on anything that comes to mind after you've been hitting the sangria ... hard!

Lesson number one, Paella.  But with a Spanish woman, cooking is never just cooking.  It’s about having a few noshes to whet the appetite, washed down with wine, sangria, beer, whisky, or anything else that’s wet.  Then there’s an hour or more of conversation, and discussions on the merits of various foods, condiments, the prime importance of bread, and sentimental trips into the childhoods of everyone present.  The lips must be lubricated, as well as the stomach. 

Only Americans are willing to eat without conversation and a migratory pilgrimage to the kitchen. For the Spanish household, if you want to eat, these things are obligatory. Followed by chopping, dicing, and more intense drinking, interspersed with bubbling conversation and impromptu belly laughs.  Oh, yeah, also a few million instructions on creating Paella.  Pili is an exacting cook, which is a major reason why her paella is the stuff of hungry dreams.

If you’re not familiar with paella, here’re some hints.  Big, flat-bottomed pan. Rice. Seafood.  Chicken. Time. Patience.  If you don’t have the slow moving P word in abundance, make another plan.  Above all, paella takes time and preparation.

Let’s cut to the historic chase.  The dish dates only from the mid 19^th Century. Paella comes from several words in several languages, all of them meaning pan.  The typical paella pan is round and flat-bottomed, with two-inch high sides that lean outward, and support opposing handles.  A lot of non-Spaniards think of paella as Spain’s national dish, but a Spaniard with tell you no, no, no (with a shake of the head and a wagging of the index finger)…it is a regional dish, from the east coast, specifically the region around the city of Valencia.  Lots of different types of paellas.  Truth is, you can put in any meat you want. 

The Spaniards do. 

You make paella in two parts, the pan cooking part and the broth part. Then you combine them with a finishing flourish and a swish of the spoon.

The Recipe (for 6-8 people)

Part I, initial cooking in the paella pan

Olive Oil (I use only Spanish olive oil!)

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced.

1 small onion, diced

1 small green bell pepper diced

1 small red bell pepper, half of it diced and half of it cut in medium strips

2 large chicken breasts (or 4 thighs) skinned, boned, and cut in bite sized pieces

2 calamari steaks, cut in strips (easy to do with scissors)

2 medium tomatoes, peeled and diced

2 cups small grain rice (risotto rice works well)

1 cup small scallops

18-24 shrimp (cleaned)

12 mussels ( An hour before cooking, put them in cold, salty water.  This will wash out any grit.  )

A handful of peas (not canned, but frozen is ok)

1 lemon

Part II, The Broth

2 cloves garlic, mashed in a mortar, with salt and chopped parsley

4 cups fish or chicken broth

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon colorante (either adobo or turmeric)

2 teaspoons chopped parsley (see garlic above)

pinch of saffron

salt to taste  (along the way, you will want to taste from time to time to make sure the paella or the broth is not too salty)

Putting it all together: (you’re going to be dancing back and forth from paella pan to broth.  Read carefully.  Stick with it!)

1.     Coat the bottom of the paella pan with olive oil. Add the 3 sliced garlic cloves and the calamari.  This is to flavor the oil.

     

2.     Lower the heat.  This is where patience comes in.  Add onions, peppers and peas, along with a bit of salt to help the vegetables sweat. Add the tomatoes. And stir them in.

3.     After a few minutes, take the garlic and calamari out and set aside.  You’ll use them later.

          As the vegetables slowly cook, make the broth in a separate saucepan.  This allows you to taste the broth and get the flavors and color perfect before you add it to the paella pan.  Pour the fish/chicken broth into the saucepan and add the paprika, colorante, reserved sliced garlic and mashed garlic, and a splash or two of either sherry or brandy.  This will help tenderize the meat when the broth is added to the paella pan. Use a white spoon to stir and you will be able to see that the broth is a rich yellow. If it’s too pale, add more colorante.  Cook the broth separately for about 15 minutes to let the flavors meld.

4.     Take the strips of red bell pepper out of the paella pan. They will be used to decorate the dish before serving.  Add the chicken pieces to the paella pan.

5.     Do not stir too much, only enough to turn the chicken.   Don’t worry about the chicken being uncooked.  The paella/chicken will continue to cook as more ingredients are added.

6.     Add rice to the paella pan and stir.  You want the rice to get a nice coating of oil and vegetable juices before you add the broth.

7.     Add the broth to the paella pan and stir quickly, then do not stir again.

8.     Add the prepped mussels to the paella pan. (Do not eat any mussels that have not opened after they are cooked.)  Cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

9.     With 5 minutes to go, decoratively add the scallops and shrimp on top.  Also add the reserved strips of red bell pepper and reserved strips of calamari.

10.  Taste to make sure the rice is cooked.  When it is cooked to your liking, cut a lemon decoratively and put the pieces on top of the paella.  Cover the paella with foil and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

Remove the foil and serve the paella in a burst of steamy goodness.  Don’t forget the bread, salad, water, and more wine!

Watch your greedy guests smile!  Oh, well, they did bring the wine, right….I mean, they did, didn’t they??

Next lesson:  Tapas!

Vietnamese Lunch

As I said in Sunday's post, I no longer have to rely on LOGS and there is a great variety of places to grocery shop down here. One of my favourite places to go is T&T Supermarket, a large Chinese chain. And I have one within walking distance! Needless to say, I go there often. They have good prices and because it's a large chain, the variety is stunning. The exotic ingredients are both puzzing (pigs uteri) and exciting (fresh keffir lime leaves). The store closest to me has a food court, too, and it has several different cultures represented there. There is Korean food, Thai food, Japanese food, of course Chinese food, and one place I've been to a couple of times, Vietnamese food.

I have always enjoyed Vietnamese food, and one of my favourites is salad rolls with shrimp. I've ordered these a couple of times, for the not-so-bad price of $4.75. They are made fresh (unlike Save-on Foods' ones, which are terrible) and come with a tangy sauce.


But look at what else is in theses salad rolls. On the bottom, there are a couple of slices of that pale sausage similar to the one I encountered in my pho experience last year. I was a little surprised when I first saw this, but once I tried it, I really liked it. The sausage is very mild in flavour and is a touch - just a touch - salty. It's really good!

I also tried something new at my last trip there, Vietnamese carioca. They were described as deep fried rice balls, and I could see that they were coated in coarse sugar and drizzled with caramel. But when I bit into one, it was like biting into soft, mushy marshmallow. They were not balls of whole grain rice. I think this is more of a rice flour dumpling, deep fried. And they were really good! The texture of the balls was quite decadent and they used real caramel for the drizzle, not a caramel sauce. That really impressed me.


Lunch that day was yummy, and it only cost $6!

Thai Curry In A Hurry

Thai Curry with Tomato Chutney 

Chicken off the grill

Garnishes

Ah, Thailand.  Friendly people, great food, excellent prices, which reminds me of a trip to Krabi, on the southern coast, by an azure sea, with a beautiful beach, and fragrant coconut oil spread deliciously over…ah,but that’s another story.   I will say this.  There were vast amounts of Singha Beer involved and my recollection is as fuzzy as a cotton picker’s navel. 

Ok, curry.  Thai curry.  How is that different from Indian curry?  Are you nuts?  Taken leave of your senses?  Everyone knows that Indian curry comes from London and Thai curry comes from a really cute chick wearing a sarong.

This time, let’s forego the distant travel (biting tongue, holding back tears) and bring Thai curry to our own kitchen.  But, before we get started, let’s get one thing straight.  There are as many different Thai curries as there are Thai cooks.  So mine isn’t the Thai curry you remember from the drunken weekend in Bangkok? Dry up, quit whining, and pass me an icy bottle of Singha. 

A recipe for Tomato Chutney follows the curry recipe.

The Curry Recipe:

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, trimmed

5 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 Tablespoons peanut, or other vegetable oil (30-45 grams)

1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced thinly (onion about the size of your fist)

2 14 oz cans coconut milk (.8 Liters) Open them one at a time.  You’ll see why in a minute.

3 Tablespoons curry powder (or to taste) I use a mixture of hot and mild.

1-2 Tablespoons garam masala.   I know this is an Indian mixture, but I like it.  Don’t have any?  Just season as necessary with more curry powder.

            2 Tablespoons fish sauce

            1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

            Black pepper for the chicken

Garnish: lemon wedges, fresh cilantro leaves, dried coconut, peanuts, cayenne pepper

1.     Salt and pepper the chicken pieces, and grill them.  When they’re done, cut into one-inch cubes.  For my European friends, an inch is about 2.5 mm

2.     As the chicken is grilling, heat the oil in a pan, add the garlic and stir.  Add the sliced onion and cook until wilted.

3.     Add the chicken, the first can of coconut milk, all the spices, and the fish sauce, and cook until all the spice is blended and the sauce begins to thicken.  If you don’t have enough sauce, add all or part of the second can of coconut milk.  Taste and add more salt, or spice as necessary.

4.     Serve over rice and garnish individually.

Tomato Chutney

I like to serve tomato chutney with my curry, even though it is definitely not Thai.

Easy to make.  Difficult to forget.

            1 Tablespoon oil

            1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes

            1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

            1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained

            1/2 lemon

            1/3 cup raisins

            1/2 cup sugar

            1/2 teaspoon salt

            Heat the oil in a pan and add the spices.  When the seeds start to jump, add the tomatoes.  Thin slice the lemon half and place the slices over the tomato mixture.  Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened.  Stir in the raisins, sugar, and salt.  Stir until all sugar is melted and the sauce is consistent.

            Taste a scrumptious bite of the curry.  Takes you back, doesn’t it.  Makes you wish you were single, I mean you had more than a single serving.  Several questions about my Thai curry are constantly thrown my way.  Will Thai curry cause your heart to flutter and your eyes roll back?  No, but it will make you forget Budweiser, fill your nostrils with a strong scent of coconut oil, and leave you yearning for the beach.  Will Thai curry increase your sexual awareness to the point that your dog whines, while your wife, and many of the neighbors pretend to be asleep?  Likely, but no personal experience.  Wink, wink.

Cooking with Kylie: Pork Fried Rice

Yes, two Kylie recipes in a row! This is because I made two Kylie recipes this week!

There is just something so comforting about fried rice, and I have tried Kylie's Chicken Fried Rice and her Prawn Fried Rice. I'm not a huge fan of pork, but I was feeling like I wanted to try something new, so I got some nice pork loin for a decent price and made this dish.

Hoisin sauce and pork are just made for each other, I think. And again, malt vinegar makes an appearance! I actually think this sauce would make a nice glaze for BBQ pork loin, which I might try over the summer since I'll be babysitting my brother's BBQ for a while.

Pork Fried Rice, from Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking, page 260

400g pork fillets (I used pork tenderloin)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (OK, I never use the amount of oil Kylie calls for! I used about 2 tbsp in total for this recipe)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 small red onion, finely sliced
1 tbsp chopped ginger (I never remember to buy this so, um, I used dried)
2 tsp white sugar
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp malt vinegar
1/4 tsp sesame oil
4 cups steamed rice
a few finely sliced green onions

1. Slice pork into strips and set aside.

2. Heat half the oil in wok until the surface begins to shimmer slightly. Pour eggs in and scramble; remove.

3. Heat remaining oil in wok and stirfry onion & ginger for 30 seconds. Add sugar and stirfry for 30 seconds. Add pork and stirfry for another 30 seconds. Stir in hoisin sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil, stirring for one minute. Toss in rice and reserved eggs and stirfry, using a spatula to break up egg & any rice clumps. Lastly, add spring onions and stirfry another 30 seconds until well-combined and rice is heated through. Serve.

I loved this! I chose well with the pork, too, because it was so nice & tender. Another great recipe from Kylie!

Solstice Dinner, Part 2, and Christmas Eve Dinner

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays this fine Boxing Day morning, and that you are all not too hung over from last night's festivities! I am just relieved this trying time in my life is over and that life can now return to normal.

Which includes posting here!

Let me just briefly finish my round-up of the Solstice meal I served on Monday (though the dessert will be Monday's Magazine Monday post so, really, I'm only covering the side dishes right now).

So, in addition to the sausage-stuff, bacon-latticed pork loin roast I served, I made three sides.

One was very simple, and that was steamed yellow beans from my garden, which I took the time to blanch and freeze immediately after picking in August. I was a little concerned about how they would turn out because when I removed them from the freezer, they looked odd...Not freezer burnt, but kind of translucent and splotchy. But, they steamed up just fine and were great!

I also made the same Brussels sprouts recipe I used last year. You can see that here. Really simple dish, even if slicing all the sprouts is a pain in the ass. Instead of the pine nuts, though, I used some of the pecans that came in the package from Jodi, and let me tell you, they totally elevated this dish to a new level! And once again, when I added these to the heat of the pan, they had an out-of-this-world aroma! Brilliant!
And then, finally, everyone's favourite, the Caramelized Onion & Brie Bread Pudding. Again, this was a smashing hit. I think a lot of people get potatoed-out over the holidays, and this is a great idea for a starch in your meal. In addition to using brie, and party because of the exorbitant cost of brie in these parts, I had a bunch of mozzarella left over from the pork loin, so I cubed it up and put it in, too. It was awesome and everyone was really happy with it.

So, apart from dessert, which as I said I'll post about on Monday, that's a wrap for Solstice 2009!
Now, onto Christmas Eve, which happens to be my father's birthday. We always have a big family get-together for this and my SIL does most of the cooking. Usually, Dad gets his favourite, steak & kidney pie, which is quite disgusting. This year, though, Shan decided to make another of Dad's perennial favourites, Beef Wellington.

But before we get to the main course, let's talk about the appies! Because we always have appies! First of all, Shan's aunt brought some West Coast prawns her brother had caught himself over the summer. These were to die for! There is absolutely no comparison between these prawns and the ones you buy frozen at the grocery store. They taste way richer, for one thing, and they have a much more tender texture and a more subtle colour. In the dish Shan's aunt brought, she paired the prawns with a sour cream mixture, cocktail sauce, and then topped with the prawns. We ate this with crackers and it was so good! Shan's aunt also makes a wonderful crab dip that has sambal olek in it. It was gone very quickly, I can tell you that. And finally, because my dad doesn't touch seafood with a 10-foot pole, Shan made him some stuffed mushroom cups, which were also excellent.
So, if you don't know what Beef Wellington is, basically, it's fillet mignon wrapped in puff pastry with shallots & mushrooms. Shan added gorgonzola this time, though not for me as I cannot stand moldy cheese. She did an outstanding job and everyone in attendance was thrilled to bits.For side dishes, we had steamed asparagus and green beans, salad, roasted butternut squash, and a risotto made with aged Asiago cheese.
This was a meal you'd pay a lot of money for in a restaurant, let me tell you! It was incredibly impressive. Thanks to Shan for all your hard work!

And yes, there was dessert. But that deserves a post of it's own, so you'll have to be patient with me!

Cooking With Kylie: Prawn Fried Rice

I really have been cooking up a storm with Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking!

I love rice, I love fried rice, I love shrimp, I love scrambled eggs, so how could I go wrong with this recipe? Well, I couldn't. It was excellent, and it was very simple - made even more simple due to the fact that I hate celery, so I didn't have to chop any of it up! This was really easy to put together in the time it took to cook some jasmine rice. I made half a recipe, and discovered that 3/4 cup of uncooked rice will give you approximately 2 cups of cooked rice, which was perfect.

Prawn Fried Rice* (from page 256 of Simple Chinese Cooking adapted by me)

about 1/2 lb shrimp (I used medium because this is what I usually have on hand), de-veined & roughly chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
2 cups steamed rice
1 tbsp saké
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 cup finely sliced green onion
salt to taste (I didn't need any)

* prawns are basically shrimp. Tomato/Tom-ah-toe.

1. Cook rice. Or, use leftover.

2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in wok, at high heat until oil shimmers. Add eggs & scramble until almost done. Remove to a plate.

3. Add 1 tbsp oil to the wok. Stir-fry shrimp & ginger about 1 minute, or until the shrimp are nearly cooked.

4. Add rice, saké, and oyster sauce, and eggs, and stir-fry for about 1 minute. Add green onions & stir-fry for another minute. Serve & enjoy!
I loved this meal - and it was a meal in and of itself! The flavours were subtle and delicious, and as I said, this was simple.

Hawaiian Rice

So, the place where I work provides dinner for the residents, and dinner always includes a dessert. The menu rotates over 8 weeks, and last Monday happened to be Hawaiian Rice night. I've never been around for Hawaiian Rice night.

The relief cook hadn't been around for Hawaiian Rice night, either, because when he looked at the recipe, he was really skeptical. He thought it looked weird and was asking if I'd ever seen the regular cook make it before, and if I'd ever tasted it, etc. I said no, it was a first for me, too.

It does look strange - kind of like a combination of ambrosia salad and rice pudding. Here is the recipe.

Hawaiian Rice (makes 6 servings)

1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 cup mini marshmallows
3/4 cup crushed pineapple, drained
- combine these ingredients and chill for 3 hours

Add: 1 cup cool whip or whipped cream and 3 tbsp sugar. Fold into rice mixture. Chill again. Sprinkle with coconut. Serve.

Here is step one...

Here it is just before step two...

My shift ended before the dessert was finished so I have no idea how this turned out. But I will see the cook again soon and ask him how it went.

What do you think? Does this appeal to you or not?

Magazine Monday #32: Fish & Rice

Today's MM recipe comes from the March/April issue of Clean Eating Magazine, where there is a segment on fast, five-ingredient meals. This simple fish and rice dish caught my fancy because of its simplicity, and though the original recipe calls for tilapia, I can't seem to find any around here these days, so I substituted basa. I am liking basa; it was on sale at the local overpriced grocery store last week, and it really has great flavour. I also didn't use brown rice, but the last bit of basmati I had on hand.

Tilapia with Soy Sauce & Pineapple Scallion Rice

1 cup brown rice
4 x 6oz tilapia fillets - or basa fillets
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 8oz can pineapple chunks, reserve juice
6 scallions/green onions, sliced
salt & pepper to taste

1. Cook rice.

2. Meanwhile, place fish in a baking dish either lined with foil or sprayed with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce with 3 tbsp of pineapple juice, then pour over the fish. Season with salt & pepper if desired (I did not so desire). Bake at 450F for 15 - 20 minutes.

3. In a skillet with a tad bit of oil or some cooking spray, saute the scallions/green onions for about 2 minutes. Add the pineapple chunks and cook for a minute. Fold into cooked rice.

4. Serve fish with rice, pouring any remaning pan juices over the top.

I really enjoyed this dish and would definitely make it again!

Enjoy!