Spanish paella

I was inspired to make this dish after watching an episode of Giada at Home where she made Spanish rice for her husband. It reminded me of one winter when I invited some girlfriends over for a Mediterranean feast because we were all missing the sun, and I made them a variation of this dish.

Paella

pinch of saffron
2 chorizo sausage links
1 white onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 hot red chili pepper (optional, finely minced)
1 bottle clam juice (~240 ml)
1/2 cup white wine
1 1/2 cup water
1 green onion, chopped, white and green parts kept separate
one whole red pepper, diced
1 bay leaf
2 cups basmati rice
1/4 cup peas, thawed
1 cup of shrimp

Put the white wine in a glass or measuring cup, add the saffron to it and set aside. In a few minutes the wine will turn pink and fragrant.

Heat some olive oil in a large, high-sided frying pan. Remove the sausage meat from the casings and add to the pan, breaking up the meat into little pieces with a spatula. Cook for a few minutes until browned.

Remove the sausage from the pan and set aside. Drain all but one teaspoon of sausage fat from the pan and heat it up again with a touch of olive oil. Rinse two cups of basmati rice in a mixing bowl and drain off the water (I rinse until the water runs clear, about four times). Set the rice aside.

Add the diced white onion and the bay leaf to the frying pan, cooking a few minutes. Then add the garlic (and the chili pepper if using), and cook for a minute. Add the diced red pepper, the green onion (white part only) and the cooked sausage meat. Stir to combine and cook a couple of minutes until the red pepper is softening.

Add the rice to the hot pan and mix well for a minute to coat the grains with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add the clam juice and wine and water and bring to a simmer. Turn down the heat, put the lid on the frying pan and cook covered for 30 minutes. Add the peas, the shrimp and the green parts of the green onion. Replace the lid and cook another five minutes or until the shrimp has just cooked.

Discard the bay leaf and serve.

Appetizer party

Appetizer party on Flickr by beFOODled.

I attended a delicious appetizer potluck this weekend at which the buffet table and a certain cat were the life of the party. From left to right, we had spinach dip in pumpernickel bread, marinated vegetable salad, craisin and pistachio biscotti, hot cheese and chorizo dip, skewered shrimp with a sweet chilli lime drizzle, cheeses and grapes, potato salad, skewered pork tenderloin seasoned with a sea salt, chilli and fennel seed rub, and wontons and plum sauce (not shown).

I brought the shrimp, which is a recipe from Canadian House and Home shared by my friend Bee Tee. S helped me with the cooking the night before and made the hot cheese and chorizo dip, from The Joy of Cooking and which has become Squeaky and Calimocho's signature party dish.


Shrimp skewers with a sweet chilli lime drizzle on Flickr by beFOODled.

Chilled Shrimp, Cucumber and Noodle Salad

Japanese shrimp, cucumber and noodle salad, originally uploaded by beFOODled.

This noodle salad is another recipe from my favourite Japanese cookbook. I made it earlier this week for dinner. It's really light and refreshing, and the dressing tastes fantastic. If you keep a big bag of shrimp in the freezer and some classic Japanese pantry ingredients on hand (like those needed for this dressing), then you just have to remember to buy cucumbers and green onions to make this.

Chilled Prawn, Cucumber and Noodle Salad
serves two
recipe adapted from Jane Lawson's Yoshoku

12 cooked large shrimp, peeled
2 Lebanese (short) cucumbers
1 Tbsp dried wakame pieces (a kind of seaweed)
2 handfuls of somen noodles, each the diameter of a quarter
3 spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
Japanese seven-spice mix (togarashi)

Dressing:
1/2 tsp dashi granules (a stock made from fish and seaweed)
1 Tbsp hot water
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup mirin
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
a dollop of a sesame-based dressing like Wafu (or sesame oil)
2 tsp grated ginger and its juice (optional)

Cut the shrimp in half lengthways and set aside in the fridge. Halve the cucumbers, scrape the seeds out with a spoon, and slice into thin half moons. Put in a colander in the sink and sprinkle over with salt. Let rest for 10 minutes, then rinse and squeeze out the water. Set aside in the fridge. Soak the wakame in a cup of water until they have expanded, about five minutes. Drain and chill.

Make the dressing by dissolving the dashi in the hot water in the bottom of a big mixing bowl. Add the rest of the liquids and stir to combine.

Cook the somen noodles by dropping them into a pot of boiling water for two minutes. Drain and cool the noodles in a colander under cold running tap water.

Mix all the ingredients together in the dressing and save some spring onion for garnish. Serve cold with a sprinkling of seven-spice mix.

Pasta Primavera

Pasta primavera, originally uploaded by beFOODled.

Spring has literally just sprung in O-town, so there's not a whole lot in season quite yet. But I can't wait until the outdoor markets bring forth the fresh, local produce. In my haste to cook with the seasons this year, I've already made this delicious pasta primavera, adapted from the Shrimp and Artichoke Pasta recipe on Simply Recipes, with nice frozen peas and beans about three times in the past six weeks! Yes, I'm jumping the gun a bit, but I see it as practice until peas and beans are finally in season, and I can make it all over again with the fresh stuff! It's all about building a repertoire, you know ;)

Pasta Primavera
adapted from Simply Recipes

I adapted the recipe in the following way: I added a cup of lima beans and used artichoke pieces from a jar. I also tossed in a couple of handfuls of baby salad leaves (mesclun, spinach and arugula).

Spicy Portuguese shrimp

Spicy Portuguese shrimp, originally uploaded by beFOODled.

This is Maria's famous Portuguese shrimp that she serves at parties, a very rich and buttery appetizer. Every time I am at her house, I help her make it. She uses a special Portuguese hot pepper sauce, but you could use any hot sauce. Cook the shrimp in two batches, otherwise they will release too much water and dilute the sauce.

Unpeeled shrimp are the best. The shell traps the sauce and you can suck it off, then unpeel the shrimp and eat it. Messy, but so so good. But you can also use peeled shrimp. You can also turn this appetizer into a pasta sauce for linguine by adding white wine and cream.

Maria's Portuguese Shrimp
1/2 C butter
1/4 C olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp hot pepper sauce
454 g bag of shrimp, unpeeled
1 tsp paprika
sea salt to taste

Melt the butter and oil in a frying pan. Add the garlic and hot sauce and fry for a minute or two. Add half the shrimp and half of the paprika and salt. Fry, stirring often, until the shrimp are pink, five minutes or so. Set the cooked shrimp aside on a serving plate, but leave the sauce behind in the pan. Add the rest of the shrimp, paprika and salt, and cook the second batch. Add the remaining shrimp and sauce to the serving plate and eat with crusty bread.

Thai Night with the BeFOODies

Last Monday, we hosted the second monthly meeting of the Church of Gastronology. All beFOODies were in attendance. The collage above shows all the food that we cooked and ate. I had been looking forward to this all weekend! PB and J brought over a delicious sesame salad, chicken satays and peanut sauce, and two large Nalgenes full of Thai tea, which was a perfect foil to all the super-hot curries we consumed. It's made with black tea and spices, chilled and then served topped up with lots of condensed milk. Squeaky and Calimocho brought over a wonderful shrimp curry, mango and chicken curry, and Singha (Thai beer). S and served a hot and sour shrimp soup and a cucumber and peanut salad. Here are the recipes for those last two dishes.

Tom Yam Kung (hot and sour shrimp soup)
adapted from The Essential Wok Cookbook

1 kg shrimp, frozen, peeled, with tails
oil
Over 2 litres of water
2 Tbsp tom yam paste
1 stem lemon grass, white part only, sectioned into three pieces and bruised
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 long red chili, halved along the long side and deseeded
100 ml fish sauce
100 ml lime juice
2 tsp sugar
2 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
fresh coriander leaves to garnish

Thaw the shrimp in a colander under running water. Take off the tails and reserve. Put thawed shrimp in the fridge.
Heat oil in the bottom of a stock pot and fry the shrimp tails on medium heat for about 5 minutes. They will turn orange. Add the tom yum paste and 1/4 cup of water. Fry for a bit, and then add the 2.2 litres of water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the broth into a bowl and throw away the solids. Return broth to the stock pot.
Add the lemon grass, lime leaves and chili halves and simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, spring onion and shrimp. Cook until the shrimp are pink (just a few minutes). Take out the red chili, lime leaves and lemon grass segments. Serve immediately.


Cucumber Salad with Peanuts and Chili
adapted from The Essential Asian Cookbook

4 Lebanese cucumbers
2 Tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp chili sauce
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 fresh coriander leaves
1 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped
2 Tbsp crisp fried garlic*
1/2 tsp chopped red chili
1 Tbsp fish sauce

Peel the cucumbers and slice in half lengthways. Scoop out seeds with a teaspoon and slice the halves.
Add the sugar to the vinegar and stir until dissolved. In a large bowl, toss the cucumber, chili sauce, onion, and vinegar mixture. Marinate for 45 minutes.
Just before serving add the peanuts, crisp fried garlic, chili and fish sauce. Toss the salad and serve garnished with coriander.

*To make the crisp fried garlic, slice whole garlic cloves very thinly. Spread out to dry on a piece of paper towel for about an hour. Heat oil in a pan and deep-fry the garlic until it just turns light brown and is crisp. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt before you use them.