The Famous Paella

Many of my friends and family of whom I have cooked for over the years at some point would have tasted or heard about my paella. It is a dish I can cook with great ease and I slightly change it every time I do it, depending who I am cooking it for.
This paella was for me and Eva so not much seafood went into to the dish (squid and mussels) but for my own personal preference I would have had added them. That's the great thing about paella you can add what you like into it and add less or none of the things you dislike. The main skill in cooking the paella is adding the correct moisture to rice ratio, what is always 2:1 water to rice(2cups of stock/wine and 1cup of rice) and making sure you do not over cook at the end, although you are meant to slightly burn the bottom of the pan as this over cooking of the rice adds more to the flavour at the bottom. In places like Valencia when people cook large pans of paella people dig as low as they can scraping the bottom of the pan as it is the most tasty.

Ingredients

• Teaspoon salt, divided
• Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced Spanish chorizo sausage
• Chicken breast
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped tomato 
• 1 tablespoon capers, drained
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
• 1 cup Paella Rice
• 2/3 cup white wine
• 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup frozen green peas
• 1/4 cup water
• 18 mussels (about 3/4 pound), scrubbed and debearded
• 2 1/2 tablespoons chopped bottled roasted red bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• Prawns

Method

• Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle shrimp with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Add shrimp to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until shrimp are done. Place shrimp in a medium bowl. Add chorizo to pan, and cook for 1 minute or until browned. Add chorizo to bowl.
• Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Add chicken to pan, and cook for 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Add onion and garlic to pan; cook 2 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in the tomato, capers, and saffron; cook 1 minute. Add remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, rice, wine, and broth to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes or until rice is tender.

1. Add shrimp mixture, peas, 1/4 cup water, and mussels to pan. Cover and cook 8 minutes over medium heat or until mussels open; discard any unopened shells. Remove from heat and stir in bell pepper and cilantro. Let stand 3 minutes.

Serve with Garlic bread

Enjoy

Duck and sausage cassoulet.

This first recipe was a hard one to pick for my blog as there are so many but I wanted to start with my favourite dish at the moment and with the cold wet nights this dish is perfect for the winter.

Cassoulet is typical of South West France, though can probably be found throughout Southern France. Even tho the dish will take a large amount of time to do don't worry the main skill in making this dish is just keep a eye on the time when roasting.

Servings: 6-8 people

Ready in: 2h 35min

Preparation: 35min

Cooking Time: 2hours

Ingredients

-6 Fresh sausages of your choice.(Try and get French ones)

-4 Duck Legs legs

-6 rashers of Pancetta or dry-cured bacon.

-2 x 400g cans of peeled plum tomatoes, chopped.

-1 bulb of garlic unpeeled and cut in two *When I cut my bulb in two, a lot of the outer skin came away so I actually removed most of it.

-2 medium red onions peeled and thinly sliced

-1 large red chilly, slit lengthwise Or dried chilly

-3 sprigs of thyme

-500 ml chicken stock

-A good splash of white wine or red wine or sherry

-2 x 400g cans cannellini beans well rinsed in cold water and drained

-2 tablespoon sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar (do not worry if you do not have either)

-Olive oil+salt and pepper

-1 baguette torn into small pieces or similar bread

Method

1.Pour a splash of olive oil into a large roasting pan on a hob at a high heat. Add a grind of black pepper, add the duck and sausages and use it like a huge frying pan to brown the meat. This may take 10 to 15 minutes.

2.Remove the browned meat and set to one side.

3.Slit the chilli length-wise but don't disturb the seeds.

4.With the heat still on, add the herbs, chilli, onions, pancetta, garlic bulb halves, cut side down. Season with salt and pepper and fry for 5 minutes, stirring now and then.

5.De-glaze (see methods page)the pan with the wine and the sherry vinegar.

6.Add the beans and chopped tomatoes and mix well.

7.Arrange the duck and sausages on the top, duck skin-side up. Pour over the chicken stock and jiggle the roasting tray to bed everything down.

8.Roast uncovered for 1.5 hours, checking a few times to see that it's not drying out.

9.After 1.5 hours, tear the baguette into small pieces and push into the tray so that the bread soaks up all the fat and juices.

10.Return to the oven and roast for 30 minutes more.

11.Serve with green salad or broccoli.

Enjoy x

Popping my cherry.

This blog will be a place where I will be able to show everyone my passion for food and drink by sharing my favourite recipes and giving easier more simple ways of doing them. There will be classic recipes with my twist, new unique recipes and some of my favourites from top chefs I have accumulated over the years.

Now and then I will also throw in a few reviews of new drinks I have tried (beers and cocktails not wines because I would not know where to start) and give my opinion on how they rate in taste and affordability.

And last but not least, every time I eat out whether it be a top restaurant or just a cafe I will give a quick simple review on what the food quality was like also what the damage was to my wallet was.

Luke