Paella - My way

I combined a couple of different recipes to make what I wanted (again, control freak) and the finished product may not be traditional but it was universally liked by everyone who tried it.

I used a 15" paella pan that I got a CostPlus World Market  and cooked outside on a gas grill.  Just heated up the grill and put the pan directly on the grates where I would normally put a steak.  It worked great and was able to keep even heat on the pan, which they say cannot be done on your home range.

Ingredients
1 lb boneless chicken breast (most use legs and thighs with bones and the skin on, but I do not like that)
2 links Spicy Smoked Sausage - chopped
1 lb raw peeled deveined shrimp (tradition is head on prawns, but again, I don't want to work that hard)
3 cups short grained rice *
9 cups chicken stock
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow onion
2 cups green beans (I used frozen, but fresh would be better)(also, people use peas, but green beans are traditional and I like them better)
3 cloves of garlic - chopped
20 threads of real saffron
2 tsp sweet smoked spanish paprika (other paprika would work here, but that is what I used)
1 15oz can finely diced tomatoes
Chopped Parsely

*Note about the rice...I used Arborio rice because I could not find Bomba or Calasparra rice anywhere,  but it must be short grained rice... do not try and make with normal long grain everyday rice or it will come out crunchy and gross


Put the rice in a bowl and add the saffron and paprika and mix.  Bring that and everything else you will need, out with you to the grill.  Once you get going here you do not want to be going back and forth to the kitchen.   Bringing a cold beer or glass of sangria is a good idea.  Always.


Pre-heat the gril on high for 15 minutes... it is important that the grill is hot and as evenly hot as possible before you start the process.  Once it is hot, place the paella pan (paella means pan, so I feel silly saying that)  directly on the center of the grill and let it heat for a few minutes.

Once the pan is hot add 1/4 cup of olive oil (did I put that in the list?) and the chicken.  If you are using chicken with the skin on you will need a lot less oil, like only a couple of tablespoons as the fat will render out.  Brown the chicken for a few minutes until it is brown on all sides, then add the sausage.  Stir with the chicken for about 1 minute.

After the chicken and sausage get started going, push them around the edges of the pan so that the center is empty and add the onion and both peppers and sauté in the middle for 1 minute.  Add the garlic and green beans and continue cooking, while stirring the center for about another 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes with the juice and continue cooking for about another 4-5 minutes.  The tomatoes should start to break down and the juice will become thicker.

Add the rice mixture to the center of the pan and cook, stirring constantly for one minute.  At the end of the minute stir the entire mixture together so that everything is distributed throughout.  Stir in 4 cups of the stock (which is about all that will fit).  Place the shrimp on top and kind of push them down so that they are nestled into the broth, but still on top.

Throw away your spoon.

No seriously, this is the hardest part for me, but you do not want to stir this again.  At all.  No more stirring.  Just throw that damn thing out.  Don't touch it!  I know you want to, but you can't.  I see you over there trying to just move this or that around, but DON'T!

After 8 or 9 minutes the liquid will almost be completely absorbed, so add in a 2 - 3 more cups of stock, just pouring around the dish evenly.  But don't stir (I think I have made my point now, but I always want to stir so I assume you are like me)

Cook for 8 - 9 minutes longer, then look closely at the pan and if you see any dry spots remaining, add some of the remaining stock.  The goal here is not to use all of the stock, but most of it will be necessary.  Cook for 4 - 5 minutes and then again look closely at the dish... at this point it should be drying out and you should not see liquid bubbling.  If you still see liquid, continue cooking for a few more minutes.

When it is done, pull off the grill and place a dishtowel over the pan and let it rest for 15 minutes.  This is important because the dish in continuing to cook the the flavors are melding even though you have removed from the fire.  This is also where the socarrat is formed (the crust at the bottom), which Spaniards believe is the best part of the dish. Add some parsley and it is done.

Traditionally now, you just sit it out and everyone grabs a spoon and goes to town.  I guess you could dish it out, but then you will have to clean those.

Confessions and Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie - The Ultimate Comfort Food

So the other day I was sitting with my girlfriend and she asked why I like to cook.  I answered that I had learned to cook in High School working as a line cook at Chili's and found that I had an aptitude for it and have cooked ever since.  She called me on the fact that I had not really answered her question...I answered how I started to cook but not why I like it. 

It got me thinking...why do I like it?  It can be a lot of work and at times is not the most fun, so why do I like it?  To the point that I almost always offer to cook everything anytime with anyone...why is that?  Well, if I am to be honest (which is really over-rated by the way) I think it comes down to control.  There are things I like and things I do not like, but if I am cooking, I never cook things I do not like.  If a recipe calls for raw onions which I dislike immensely, they get dropped.  Sometimes entirely and sometimes substituted for something similar. Over the years I have learned how to cook things well and am happy to share them here with you, but I am doing it because I like to control what I am eating.

Hello, my name is Rodney and I am apparently a cooking control freak. 

So why make that confession now?  Because I was noticing when making my chicken pot pies today that I am doing things differently than both recipes I am half following to come up with something new removing that which I do not like. 

Here is what you will need:
4 Oven safe bowls - I used 10oz ramekins but that is because I have tons of kitchen gadgets
1/2 of one of those rotisserie chickens they have at the store (I mean you could do it yourself I guess)
2 cups of diced potatoes - I used russet, but my guess is red or yukon gold would be awesome
2 cups of diced carrots
2 chopped scallions
2 cups frozen peas
3 tbl butter
3 tbl AP flour
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups milk
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
1 pkg frozen puff pastry dough

The first thing to do is to pull the puff pastry out and let it thaw on the counter.  If you have not worked with puff pastry before, don't worry, just open it up on some parchment paper as it starts to thaw.  Very easy.
Chop the potatoes and carrots and par boil them until they are just a little soft, but not mushy. Drain them and set them aside.

Daintily shredding the chicken

Shred the chicken.  I guess you could dice it also, but it is really so much fun to shred.  Oh, and just an aside, take the skin off first.  If you are like me, you will eat this marvelous chicken skin, but I suppose one could throw it away also.  Or call me and I will come eat it. 

After adding the stock to the roux

As the great Justin Wilson used to say, "In the south we make a roux when we make anything".  It does seem that most of my recipes either include a roux or bacon...in the best cases there is both.  In this case just melt the butter and stir in the flour to make yourself a roux.  I should really do a whole post on roux making... someone remind me to do that.  Anyway, once you have a nice roux slowly stir in the chicken stock.  Once all the chicken stock is in, let it come back up to a boil for a moment, and then start adding the milk.  Half and half would be better, but I am trying not to buy a lot of specialty items for this.  Bring the sauce back up to a boil and season to taste.  Now I just added salt and pepper, but I thing some tarragon and/or some thyme would be nice. 

Adding the peas to the sauce

After letting the sauce simmer for a few minutes ( 2 > 10 ), turn off the heat and add in the carrots, potatoes, chicken, scallion, and finally the peas.  Stir to mix but do not stir too much.  How much is too much?  How the hell should I know, but you do not want to mush the veggies especially the peas.

Taste you concoction and see what it needs.  Mine needed a little more salt, but then again who knows how your taste runs. 

Spooning into the cooking vessel

Spoon chicken sauce mixture into the ramekins until almost full.  Place on a cookie sheet and cover with puff pastry that has been cut to about 1/4 inch larger than the cooking vessel.  I just turned the ramekin over before I filled it up and traced with a knife to measure. 

Ready for the oven

Paint the tops of the pastry with egg wash and put into a preheated 375 degree oven.  After 20 minutes check it and let cook to golden brown without burning.  Mine was about 25 minutes.


This is important:  You have to let this rest for 15 minutes.  If you don't nothing will be set and it will not be as good... plus, it is like the fires of Mordor when you first take it out.  Don't do it, even if it is running late and the kids need to get in the bath... Trust me.



Now eating, Farrah and I did it both ways...first we dug in through the top and then we turned out... I think we enjoyed it more turned upside down, but try it and tell me what you do.

 

Baked Potato Soup

I love soup.  My lottery winning fantasy includes opening a little soup / ice cream shop in Cambria, CA.  So in this love I am always trying to make the best soup I can.  To that end I present to you my recipe for Baked Potato Soup.  This recipe is culled from many disparate recipes until I came up with the concoction that pleases me.  And judging from the comments I got from this last batch, it pleases others as well.

4 large baking potatoes
6 strips of bacon
1 cup diced Leeks
1 clove of garic chopped
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
6 cups chicken stock (you could use vegetable stock, but why would you?)
3 cups half and half
1 cups shredded chedder cheese

mmmm.  Bacon!

1 cup sour cream
kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

Hours before I make the soup, I baked the potatoes.  I tend to do it the night before.  I rub the potatoes in soft butter and kosher salt before throwing in a 350 degree oven for one hour.  When they are done, set aside in the refrigerator to cool.  Again, I do this all the night before just to make it easy.

Finely dice the uncooked bacon.  Toss bacon in your soup pan over medium high heat and cook until the bacon is crisp and the entire house smells like heaven.   Remove the bacon and place on a paper towel.  Keep half of the drippings in the pan and put back on the heat.

Stir the leaks and garlic into the pan now over medium low heat.  Cook until the leaks are translucent but before they brown, stirring constantly (this would be a great time to break out the Robo Stir).  Add a pinch of kosher salt and a few good grinds of black pepper.

Melt the butter into the leaks, then add flour to make a roux.  Stir the roux until smooth, but not browned.

Slowly add the chicken stock stirring constantly...serisouly, this would be the perfect time for the robostir thing.  I am not a paid endorser and do not have one, but damn that thing looks cool.  Love a good kitchen gadget. Once chicken stock has been integrated, bring to a low boil.

Finely dice the baked potatoes.  This is totally a personal thing, you may like bigger hunks o potato or you may not like potato skin.  Go with your own truth.  I like small chunks with skin, so that is how I roll.  Add potatoes into the soup and bring back up to a low boil.

Once the potatoes, leeks, and stock are back to temperatue, slowly add in the cheese stirring constantly and integrate until fully melted.  Then add the sour cream and half & half.  Bring back up and simmer for 5 minuted being careful to stir and not over heat. 


Serve with a garnish of cheese, bacon bits (that we cooked earlier), chives and sour cream and voila... Baked Potato Soup.

Soup is amazing, but I should have cleaned the side of the bowl

Sticky Buns

Sweet sticky cinnamony buns...Yummm! I have tried a number of times to make these and they have never really turned out the way I wanted... Usually too dry.

This time, I am using the Challah recipe that I did earlier in this blog as the basis. Seems to turn out pretty freaking well.

Here is how I did it:

I first made the caramel for the pan and the filling for the rolls.

Caramel:
.5 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp softened butter

Cream together and put in the bottom of a cake pan and set aside.



Filling:
4 tbsp softened butter
.5 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinamon


Cream ingredients together and set aside.


Using the premade Challah recipe that I wrote about earlier, grab about a cantaloupe sized ball of dough and knead for 1 minute. Then roll the dough out until it is uniformly about 1/8 inch thick. When the dough is rolled out, take the filling and spread evenly over the dough.

After the filling is spread, take the dough from one end and roll up to make a long tube.



Cut into eight equal pieces and place into the cake pan with the Carmel in it.

Cover the cake pan with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 40 minutes. You are not going to want to, because the rolls look so good, but it is exponentially better if you allow it to rise.

After the 40 minutes, remove the plastic wrap and place into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. When you take them out, let them rest for a couple of minutes, then turn out onto a plate.

Let me just say that I love these...I in now way want to know how much sugar or calories are in them, but they turned out awesome.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

I have made homemade ice cream for a while, but recently someone was saying that Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream was their favorite. Well, that sounded like a challenge to me, so here I go.

The basis for most of my ice cream recipes is Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book It has great basic recipes and is a fun book to start with.

Here is the basic recipe:

1 oz unsweetened chocolate
.25 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5 cup Milk
2 large eggs
.75 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
.5 cup smooth peanut butter


First, melt the chocolate in a double boiler being careful to whisk the entire time.

When the chocolate is melted, whisk in the cocoa powder... It will clump together, but continue to whisk until it is smooth-ish.

Slowly, whisk in the milk until it is completely smooth. Pull off of the double boiler and allow to cool.






In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs for about 2 minutes until the are good and frothy. Is that a word? Hmm.

Anyway, then add the sugar to the egg mix and continue to beat for at least 2 minutes making sure the mixture is smooth.

Add the cream and vanilla and continue to mix for 1 minute.


Then, just add the chocolate portion into the cream portion.

Stir, cover, and refrigerate for 3 hours. the entire mixture needs to be cold before transferring to your ice cream machine.





Once the base has chilled, pull out one cup of the mixture and mix with the peanut butter. Once it is fully integrated and creamy, fold back into the mix as a whole and transfer to your ice cream maker.





I hate to be the guy that says this, but at this point follow your ice cream makers instructions. Hey, I have 3 ice cream makers and they all work differently. for my table top one, I would just plug in and continue to watch for 30 - 45 minutes until the mixture peaks. For my hand crank one, I would crank (need friends for this) until you can't turn it any longer or someone passes out, which ever comes first.

You can eat it as soft serve right now, or transfer to a container and put into your freezer for at least an hour.

That's right baby, you have ice cream now. Try to eat it without giving yourself a headache... I dare you!

Challah

I love bread. I mean, who doesn't really. I heard about this cookbook called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day on the radio show The Splendid Table which airs on NPR. Anyway, I have been doing the basic bread recipe for a couple of weeks now, but it is time to branch out.

Challah is just a wonderful bread traditionally served on shabbat in Jewish homes. It is a dense sweet bread that is awesome by itself or as a conveyance of butter, jelly, honey, or really anything. Love it.

Challah is different than other breads in the fact that it uses eggs, butter, and honey in the dough. Here is the basic recipe:
.5 cup melted unsalted butter
.5 cup honey
1.5 tbl yeast
1.5 tbl salt
4 eggs
1.75 cup warm water
7 cups unbleached flour


Once it is all together, put it in a non-airtight container and set it in a cool dry place to rise for at least 2 hours. Until it doubles in size.

That is it for the dough. Now from here you can just skip to the next step and bake it, but it is much easier to work with the dough cold. So I stick it in the refrigerator for at least a day. It will keep up to a week in the refrigerator. They who are them claim it also improves the complexity of the bread... Hey, its bread, so I am not sure about all that.


BAKING

When you are ready to bake, you take out your dough and cut off a piece about the size of a cantaloupe. Dust dough with flour and then knead for about 1 minute.


Cut ball into three equal pieces and roll each of them into long ropes. Braid the ropes starting in the middle and working to the outside. Place the dough onto a cookies sheet lined with parchment paper and let it sit for 1.5 hours to re-rise.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Right before you put the bread in the oven, coat the top with an egg wash... Now, people at this point would tell you to then top with sesame seeds or poppy seeds, but face it, seeds are silly and should not be there. This is my post and damn it, nuts and seeds (and raisins) should never be mixed with anything.

Anyway, bake in the 350 degree oven for 25 minutes and you get a loaf of wonderful, tasty Challah.

I'm Back

A friend of mine asked the other day if I had tried anything new. They said that they read this blog before, but that there have been no updates. Oh, that I would always follow through with things I set out to do. Through a confluence of events including work and life, I stopped updating this with my experiments, but let me assure you, they still continue.

I am still working on trying new recipes and seeing what works. Some things suck and some need a tweak here or there, but I will start using this blog again to track these things and maybe even get a suggestion from others out there.

So, I am back. And I will endeavor to continue here and to share my experiments.