Saturday there was some serious cooking going on at mi casa, not by me mind you, I was just sous-chef. Let's see if you can figure out the main course.
The Pan. Don't jump to conclusions.
Just a few ingredients.
The chorizo is just showing at the bottom left hand corner of the photo and the rice is not yet measured out. There are clams under the mussels at the back of the photo and a few other items out of frame. Sorry, no hints yet.
Brown some chicken.
Stir some sofrito. (anyone alliteration averse?)
Drop in some seafood. I know, this is a hard dish to figure out.
and in minutes it's.
Paella for 2.
Actually it would serve more than 2, but we couldn't wait to christen the dish and we were also hoping my favorite daughter who will be attending UMASS at Amherst next semester would show up. It took about 2 hours total to prepare, but it was excellent and well worth it.
On my own this weekend, I started some bacon, started a batch of pastis(French anise liqueur), baked an Irish Tea Brick* and sautéd some sauerkraut for my lunches this week.
Irish Tea Brick - Soak 1 cup raisins, 1 cup cranberries, 1 cup dark brown sugar in 1/2 cup of hot tea overnight. (Lapsang souchong or holiday tea) For this batch I used Republic of Tea's "Comfort and Joy Tea". The next day Sift together 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking power and 1 teaspoon pumpkin spices or any spice mix you might want. Then add 3 beaten eggs into the fruit mix and slowly add the flour mix, dump into a loaf pan. Bake for 90 minutes at 325 degrees F or until a tooth pick comes out super clean.
The sauerkraut has been cooked with dark beer, maple syrup, caraway seeds, butter and olive oil in a proprietary manner.
On a non-food related topic, I dug some of the potted alpines into the ground for the winter to keep them warm.
Also cut and edged the grass for the last time this year, I hope and raked some leaves.
Oh and I think I might have done some laundry.
* - Real name Irish Tea Brack. I like my Brack dry and dense hence Brick.
All arm modeling by my best friend.
