Paella

Paella is a traditional Spanish dish and comes form Valencia, Spain. There are several varieties, which include different types of meat and seafood. This recipe is for use with a heavy dutch oven with a lid, but a paella pan could also be used. The biggest difference between this and traditional paella is that the traditional sort would have a crunch bottom layer to it, called soccarat. An optional instruction at the end tales how to do that. This recipe was adapted from America’s Test Kitchen.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound extra-large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), peeled and deveined (optional)
Salt and ground black pepper
Olive oil
8 or 9 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (2 generous tablespoons)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, seasoned with salt and pepper (chicken thighs are more traditional, but they don’t fly in my house)

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut pole to pole into 1/2-inch-wide strips

8 ounces Mexican chorizo (again, not traditional, but preferred in my house)
1 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup)
One 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained, minced, and drained again

2 cups Valencia or Arborio rice
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled (expensive spice, but well worth the price)
1 dried bay leaf
1 dozen mussels, scrubbed and debearded (I exclude these, since I can’t get them fresh here)
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. Toss the shrimp, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1 teaspoon of the garlic in a medium bowl; cover and refrigerate.

2. Preheat oven to 350. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the pepper strips and cook, stirring occasionally, until the skin begins to blister and turn spotty black, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the pepper to a small plate and set aside.

3. Add 1 teaspoon oil to the Dutch oven. Add the chicken pieces in a single layer; cook, until browned, about 3 minutes. Turn the pieces and brown on the second side; transfer the chicken to a medium bowl.

4. Reduce the heat to medium and add the chorizo to the pot and cook, breaking it apart and crumbling it with a  wooden spoon. Transfer the chorizo to the bowl with the chicken and set aside.

5. Add enough oil to the fat in the Dutch oven to equal 2 tablespoons. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 3 minutes; stir in the remaining garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes; cook until the mixture begins to darken and thicken slightly, about 3 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook until the grains are well coated with the tomato mixture, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, saffron, bay leaf, and 1 teaspoon salt. Return the chicken and chorizo to the pot, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally. Cover the pot and transfer it to the oven; cook until the rice absorbs almost all of the liquid, about 15 minutes.

6. Remove the paella from the oven (close the oven door to retain heat). Uncover the paella; scatter the shrimp over the rice, insert the mussels hinged-side down into the rice (so they stand upright), arrange the bell pepper strips in a pinwheel pattern, and scatter the peas over the top. Cover and return to the oven; cook until the shrimp are opaque and the mussels have opened, 10 to 12 minutes.

7. Optional: If soccarat (see headnote) is desired, set the Dutch oven, uncovered, over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, rotating the pot 180 degrees after about 2 minutes for even browning.

8. Let the paella stand, covered, about 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that have not opened and the bay leaf, if it can be easily removed. Sprinkle the paella with the parsley and serve, passing the lemon wedges separately.

I like to serve this with some bread.

In a paella pan with shrimp.

In cast iron, no seafood.

Tacos al Pastor and Green Taco Salsa

Tacos al pastor

Tacos al pastor are tacos with a marinated pork that is cooked on a large rotisserie grill in taquerías. The meat is sliced off the rotating meat right onto the warm tortillas (think of a traditional gyro). A chunk of pineapple sits above the meat and a slice is added to the taco as well. This recipe combines recipes from America's Test Kitchen and Rick Bayless to make a meat that is tender but with a grilled taste. You can find the achiote paste (not achiote powder) in any Mexican market, which is probably the best place to buy tomatillos for the green salsa (since I'm usually underwhelmed with any tomatillos they might have at supermarkets).

• INGREDIENTS
• 3 1/2-ounce package achiote paste (see picture below)
  3 canned chipotle chiles en adobo, plus 4 tablespoons of the canning sauce
• 1 cup water
• 3 pounds boneless pork butt roast, cut into 1/4" slices against the grain
• Some limes
• 2 cans pineapple rings
• 2 red onions, sliced into 1/4" rings.
• Vegetable oil
• Corn tortillas, warmed*
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 
  
• 1. Combine achiote paste, chipotles, and water in a blender. Blend until combined.
• 
  
• 2. Put achiote mixture in a large dutch oven with pork, making sure all sides of the pork are covered in sauce. (There is enough sauce here to do at least 6 pounds of meat.) Bring pot to a simmer and cook for about 90 minutes, stirring about half way through. You want the pork to be tender, but not falling apart.
• 
  
• 3. Remove pork from the mixture and season with salt. Stir sauce to combine. Remove one half cup of the sauce and use it to coat both sides of pork before grilling. With the rest of the sauce, leave about 1 cup in the pot and set the rest to the side. Squeeze a lime into the sauce in the pot, adding the whole lime as well to the mixture. Season with salt and allow to simmer on low.
• 
  
• 4. Heat up a grill and cook the sauce-coated pork until it gets a bit charred on each side. Brush pineapple and onion rings with oil, and grill until they get some nice grill marks and the onion is a bit tender. (Don't get too upset when you drop a bunch down the grill grates).
• 
  
• 5. Give onion, pineapple, and pork a rough chop and add to sauce in the pot. Stir, adding more sauce if necessary to coat everything.
• 
  
• 6. Serve on corn tortillas with Green Taco Salsa and some lime wedges on the side.

*My biggest problem with this recipe is figuring out how to warm up the corn tortillas. There are two options, 1 heat the tortillas individually in a pan, on the griddle, or on the grill. This is the best result, but takes forever. The other option is to wrap them in foil and put them in the oven, which never really comes out good either. I guess you could always use flour tortillas, which warm up so much easier, but I really like the taste of the corn tortillas.

Green Taco Salsa

Ingredients

4 medium (about 8 ounces total) tomatillos, husked, rinsed and quartered
3-4 large garlic cloves
Hot green chiles to taste (I like 2 serranos and 2 jalapeños which is pretty spicy), stemmed and roughly chopped
1/2 to 2/3 cup (loosely packed) roughly chopped cilantro
1 avocado

1/2 of a red onion

1/4 cup water

A good amount of salt

Add everything to a blender and blend together until smooth. Add more salt as needed.

Creamy Split Pea Soup

1/2 pound sliced bacon, diced
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 pound dried green split peas
2 quarts water
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups diced fully cooked ham
2 teaspoons salt
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup heavy whipping cream

In a soup kettle, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp.  Remove bacon to paper towels. Add onion and celery to drippings.  Saute until vegetables are tender, drain.  Add the peas, water, potatoes, ham, salt, bay leaf and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until peas are very tender, stirring occasionally.  Discard bay leaf.

Cool slightly.  Process in small batches in a blender until smooth.  Return to pot and stir in cream.  Heat through.  Garnish with reserved bacon.

*Originally from Allrecipes

Ham Sandwiches

Make or buy about 2 dozen rolls

Spread mayonnaise on both sides of the open roll

Stuff with one slice of ham and one slice of swiss

Pour sauce over sandwiches

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Sauce:

1/4 C. Worcestershire Sauce

1 T. Minced onion

1 1/2 T. Prepared mustard

1 T. Poppy Seeds

1/2 C. Butter

Warm and stir together on stove, then pour over sandwiches.

 

*Originally from Miranda W. (Baby Shower Sandwiches).