Oh!  When I saw Lululu’s paella the other day, I immediately had a hankering for some.  I hadn’t eaten paella in a very long time.  Her’s looked so appetizing and the best part of the recipe for me was that the ingredients were simple.   I’d made paella a long time ago (a recipe by Tyler Florence), the ingredients were many (chicken, chorizo, saffron, clams, shrimp, lobster tails…) and I’d spent a fortune buying the ingredients.  Although, the paella tasted really terrific and the recipe was tasty and definitely worth it, I was happy to see a simple, yet delicious-looking paella recipe.

Over the weekend, I went grocery shopping and bought my ingredients, mainly the shrimp and squid.  The recipe called for arborio rice.  However, despite going to three stores, I couldn’t find that rice.   There was one more store to try but by then, I was too tired.  It’s no fun lugging several grocery bags around the city.   I had long grain rice at home and planned to use it, even though I wasn’t sure how that would turn out.   Thankfully, Rosa’s Yummy Yums encouraged me to use what I had, although there’d be a difference in the recipe.

Feeling a bit tired lazy tired on the day I prepared this dish, I found that it wasn’t as labor intensive as expected.  The only part of the recipe that was a pain  in the neck was shelling and de-veining the shrimps.  Yikes!  Next time, I’ll consider paying a little extra for shrimps already de-veined.   De-veining more than five shrimps is NOT fun.   It took me FOR-EVAH to de-vein the darned things.

At the last minute, I realized that I didn’t have any white wine.  So, I used vermouth.  *shrugs*

To my delight, my paella with chorizo and seafood turned out really well.  I loved it.  My dog loved it, too.  We were the only two at home, which was okay.  More for us.  

Paz

Paella with Chorizo and Seafood
Lululu at Home

(serves 6 persons)
Ingredients:

Lentil stew

Okay.  So the rice is missing in the photo with the lentil stew, but we all know what rice looks like.  Right?

I always enjoy reading and then trying to prepare the Ecuadorian recipes that I see on Laylita’s Recipes.  This is another simple  recipe — Lentil stew with rice.   The lentils simmer with onions, peppers, tomatoes, garlic, cumin and cilantro.  That’s about it.  According to Laylita, this is a popular dish in Ecuador.  It’s served with grilled meat (The full name of the dish is actually arroz con menestra de lentejas y carne asada — lentil stew with rice and grilled meat.).   Like Laylita, I substituted the meat with a fried egg.  Loved it!

Paz

Lentil Stew with Rice (Arroz con Menestra)
Laylita’s Recipes

Ingredients:

3 tbs canola oil

1 red onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

3 tomatoes, diced

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp cumin

3 tsp salt

4 tbs chopped cilantro

7 cups of water

1 lb lentils

Preparation:

Orzo!  I love this rice-shaped pasta and jumped at the opportunity to make Orzo Paella when I saw the recipe on Haalo’s blog, Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once.  Orzo Paella?   Never heard of it before.   Gotta try it, I thought to myself.  Try it I did.  And did I like it?  Did everyone else at home like it?  Yup.  Like it we did.

One of the things I liked about this recipe was that it’s quick and easy to make.  The ingredients are very simple.  I didn’t have to go to Timbuktu in search of anything special or exotic.  I had almost all the ingredients right there in my kitchen.  The only ingredient I didn’t have was the chorizo.   I could only get it in a store a couple of blocks away.  But I was feeling too lazy to walk down there.  So I called another store closer to me (about a block away) and had them deliver Italian sausage since they didn’t carry chorizos. 

Haalo suggests topping the orzo paella with shards of manchego or grated Mizithra/Myzithra.  I didn’t have that either, so good ole Parmesan cheese substituted.   I’ve never tasted Manchego or Mizithra cheese.  I’ll have to go buy some one of these days because I’ll definitely make Orzo Paella again.  Thanks, Haalo!

Paz

Orzo Paella
Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once

**I haven’t been cooking or food blogging lately.  So,  I’ve decided to go through my archives and repost some of my earlier posts, from the days when I started learning to cook and bake (I’m still learning).   It certainly brings back good memories.

I’ve mentioned several times on my blog that I love rice.  All types of rice.   Here’s one nice rice recipe that I need to make again. 

Paz

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

First posted December 7, 2005

Once upon a time there was a girl who liked to read food blogs. As she read Michelle’s Oswego Tea, she came across an interesting smoothie recipe – Banana Cardamom Smoothie.

“Cardamom? What’s cardamom?” She asked herself, never having heard, seen or tasted the unfamiliar ingredient.

Later she found out that it’s a popular spice. Spelled two ways – cardamom or cardamon – it comes in two forms (green or white fruit pods that contain tiny brown aromatic seeds, or decorticated seeds without the shell). She learned it’s widely used – from Danish pastries, Saudi Arabian, to North African, Asian, and Indian cooking, and in spice blends like garam masala, curry powder and berbere.

Michelle sent the girl a Basmati and Nut Pilaf recipe. “It’s what introduced me to cardamom,” she let the girl know.

“Rice with cardamom, cumin seed, ground coriander, and black mustard seeds? Oh wow! This should taste interesting,” the girl spoke to herself (She did that a lot.) while reading the ingredient list with interest. Normally a rice eater, she’d never made rice with the spices mentioned in the recipe.

The spices used

Eagerly, the girl set out to go buy the cardamom. She searched high and low in her neighborhood. The people she asked in the grocery stores didn’t know what she talked about or they said that didn’t have it.

So, the girl went out of her area and searched. No luck. She returned to a store in her neighborhood and asked a manager who pointed her to the spice section. In a little bottle, she found the cardamom pods. They’d been there all that time, right under her nose!

Cardamom pods

Although the remaining ingredients for the recipe weren’t hard to find, for one reason or another, it took the girl a little longer to get them. The list called for cashew nuts, but every time the girl would buy the nuts, she’d eat it all before it was time to prepare the meal. This happened twice. She couldn’t find black mustard seeds and used regular mustard seed and instead of sunflower oil used safflower oil.

With everything finally on hand, the girl prepared her meal. Michelle noted that the basmati didn’t require as much stock or water as the recipe recommended. Instead, her basmati took equal parts water to rice, so that’s what the girl used. However, the girl’s rice stayed dry and she ending up adding more water (in effect, returning to the recipe’s ratio).

Everything turned out well. The flavor of the cardamom (sweet and somewhat lemony), along with the other spices lent a tasty essence to the rice. Delicious! The aroma, heavenly. She enjoyed her rice and sent Michele good thoughts.

Content with her Basmati and Nut Pilaf recipe, the girl lived happily ever after.

The End. To be continued.

Paz

Basmati and Nut Pilaf
1 ¼ cups basmati rice

1 onion chopped

1 garlic crushed

1 large carrot, grated

1-2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp black mustard seeds

4 cardamom pods

2 cups stock or water

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

cashews –a handful or two, or however many you like. Salted or unsalted whichever is your preference.

Wash rice. Fry the onion, garlic and carrot in oil. Add rice and spices and cook another 2 minutes or so. Pour in stock or water, add bay leaf and season. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Remove bay leaf an cardamom pods. Add the nuts.

The first time I made risotto, about a year or two ago, I was disappointed.   Although I’d followed the cooking instructions carefully, it didn’t taste very good and had turned out  kind of creamy.  It didn’t turn out nice and grainy, the way regular rice did.  Then I learned that’s the way risotto is supposed to turn out — creamy.  Oh!   Opps! 

Well, actually, my risotto wasn’t really that creamy, it was more like overcooked, too-soft rice.  I decided that I didn’t care much for rice like that, so I never made it again — not until I saw Lori Lynn’s Green Risotto on her wonderful food blog, Taste with the Eyes.  The texture and vibrant green color called out to me.  I wanted to try making risotto again.  The green color would be great in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.   I’m Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, you know (I’m also Brazilian on Brazil Day, Italian on Columbus Day, Dominican on Dominican Republic Day, Puerto Rican on Puerto Rican Day and so on so forth.  You get the idea.  I love that there are a lot of national celebrations in New York City.). 

An important tip that Lori Lynn noted was that the "key to great risotto is a very tasty chicken stock."  I got a very easy stock recipe from her and made my chicken stock.  She’d also recommended Wolfgang Puck Roasted Chicken Stock.  I couldn’t find it in any of the stores near me, but I made out fine with my homemade chicken stock.

My favorite part of preparing this risotto was making the spinach, which changed the risotto’s white color into green.  I loved that the color wasn’t due to an artificial dye.  Instead, it was all because of the fresh and nutritious spinach.  I’ve always loved spinach. 

So, I successfully made my Green Risotto. Lori Lynn was right, the key to a delicious risotto IS a tasty chicken stock.   My risotto  was green and delicious!  It tasted much better than the first risotto dish I made.

Although the risotto is supposed to be a side dish and served with parmesan cheese, I made mine a main dish and served it with roast chicken (yum!  It’s from a guest post by Simona of Briciole) and cherry tomatoes.  I was very happy with my meal.

Thanks, Lori Lynn, for this recipe.  I’m going to make it again, even after St. Patrick’s day.   Practice will make my risotto creamy and perfect.

Paz

Ed. Note:  Lori Lynn writes in the comment section:  "I want to say that I found the recipe in "Cooking for Madam" a great little cookbook by Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ personal chef, Marta Sgubin."

Happy St. Paddy’s Day to one and all! 

Green Risotto
Taste with the Eyes

Heat 1/2 c. olive oil in a heavy saucepan. Add a finely chopped onion. Sauté until golden brown.

Add 1 1/2 c. arborio rice and stir until each grain is coated with oil. Add 1/2 c. white wine and cook until the wine has evaporated. Add about 5 c. hot chicken stock gradually as absorbed, stirring continuously until the rice is al dente.

Serve with Parmesan on the side.

Roast Chicken