Lidia & Miguel's Paella - it's not as difficult as you might think

Paella orginates from Valencia, Spain - the birthplace of my dear friend Miguel's mother. Lidia and Miguel made it for William and I for the first time years ago at their old place in Biezelinge...it was the first time we ever went to thier house on a lovely summer evening and we sat on their back porch looking out over the sheep in the neighbor's pasture. Lidia chopped and Miguel cooked. I think I watched them make it 4 or 5 times before I tried it myself.

Well they're back! And we made it again this past weekend.

It's not mussel seaon so the foto above is with scallops but I couldn't resist showing a foto with mussels which is usually how I make it. Use what you can get and looks fresh...some frozen fish works just perfect as well....I often use a mixed fruits of the sea with mussels, shrimp and squid.

Miguel doesn't use a cover when cooking his paella - I use aluminum foil because I don't have a cover big enough- both methods work just fine. Remember it's a rice dish - and if you use wood or charcoal you may have a harder time controlling the temperature - so keep some water, white wine or stock - or a combination of these things - close by to add when needed. The mussels add natural moisture as well but without a cover you still might need to add a little liquid.

This past weekend I used this lovely selection of ingredients below to make my paella. I use arborio (Italian) rice most of the time because it's easier to get- but if you can get ARROZ CALASPARRA buy a big bag- that's the spanish paella rice. It keeps and it really does make a difference which rice you use. I would NEVER use basmati but that's just me. Roughly speaking I use a cup of rice to two cups of stock for this recipe.

Red and yellow peppers - just not into the green these days
onions, shallots and garlic - yes all three

frozen peas
fresh tomatoes
fresh corriander and scallions not pictured

lemon grass, pounded - only 'cause I had it

chicken stock with some white wine

saffron (as much as you can afford - powder is also good - I add it to the stock)

scallops (or shrimp, langostino's, squid, etc.)
sea bass (whole-cleaned & cut in pieces - it has big easy bones)

cod fillet cut in pieces

mussels if you can get them!
olive oil

Saute the onions, garlic and shallots in olive oil over a hot fire...this time I happened to have lemon grass. When that's starting to turn light brown add the rice and stir well....and then add the stock and peas...use plenty of olive oil.

Add the fish (I clean and chop the fish into pieces myself - it's cheaper and not difficult) after the rice has cooked 10-15 mintues....you might do this in stages as well - adding the scallops last because the have the shortest cooking time.

Chocolate Chip Cookies...the original Toll House recipe

William and I have made a lot of chocolate chip cookies over the years and often make them for our birthdays to bring to work. As an American you think those little chips are REALLY American never realizing that it's a Swiss company. The most famous American cookie recipe's main ingredient is made by Nestlé but don't look for them in Europe because they're not sold here. This summer I'll tell you about Coleslaw - two Dutch words!

Anyways

Every American can get the recipe from the back of the bag - here a dutch version for my Nederlandse vrienden.

A word about one ingredient. Baking Soda. It's not really sold in the Netherlands. But the good news is that you can get it in Belgium. Gebruik geen bakpoeder...alleen bicarbonaat.

American baking soda on the left - Beglian on the right.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Nederlandse versie
280 gram bloem
1 theelepel bicarbonaat voor voeding (zie foto)
1 theelepel zout
225 gram zachte roomboter, ongezouten
100 gram fijne suiker
100 gram lichte basterd suiker
1 pak vanille suiker maar liever vanille essence zie link http://yummyinmytummy.nl/vaardigheden/vanille-extract/
2 eieren
250 gram melk of donkere chocolade reepjes in kleine stukjes
(bij de banketbakker kun je ook chocoladepastilles kopen bijv. Callebout.)
125 gram noten – liefst walnoten – ook in klein stukjes

Doe de bloem, bicarbonaat en zout in een kom.
In een grotere kom de boter kloppen samen met beide suikers tot dat het romig is.
Voeg de vanille toe.
Klop eerst één ei bij het mengsel – goed roeren – dan het tweede ei er doorheen.
Dit kan allemaal met een handmixer of gewoon met de hand.
Voeg het bloemmengsel geleidelijk toe aan de boter – laten we zeggen in 3 tot 4 beurten
Het wordt erg stug….en je moet de chocolade en noten nog toevoegen!
Oven voorwarmen naar 180 graden. Het deeg in hoopjes op de bakplaat leggen met behulp van twee lepels, zo’n 3 cm uit elkaar...bakplaat niet invetten - bakpapier mag ook.
Bak 10 tot 12 minuten. Iets langer als je de koekjes echt krokant wil hebben. Laat nog 2 minuten afkoelen op de bakplaat en leg ze daarna op een rek of keukenpapier verder afkoelen. Bewaar in een blik of tupperware

You'll all have to wait 'til our next batch to see a picture of the finished product... We ate them all!

Scallops...La coquille St-Jacques...Sint-jakobsschelp

In English, French or Dutch they all make my mouth water. I've always loved scallops but they tend to be on the pricey side. I don't know if you've noticed but the price of fish has dropped considerably - so now is the time to try making your own scallops at home....they're even cheaper if you clean them yourselves....or have Miguel do it like I did!

Unlike mussels or oysters the juice is not important when opening....you're going to rinse the scallop very well in water so you only have to be carefull for cutting into the scallop when opening the shell but they open a lot easier than mussels or oysters.
In America they often remove the orange part...but that's a shame - eat it! It's delicious and gives the beautiful very identifiable scallop look.
This is the simplest of recipes...I made herbed butter with a tiny bit of garlic, fresh thyme and fresh chives....and a squeeze of lemon....put the lid back on and wrap the whole thing in aluminum foil...bake for 7 minutes in a very hot oven.
The lovely butter you can slurp-up or dip a piece of bread in.

Ceviche....Peter's style...with a wink and a nod to Peru

Ceviche is a cold fish dish originating from Peru. Traditionally made by marinating raw fish in lemon and lime juice which "cooks" the fish because of the high acid content, William would never let me get away with that - so I buy cooked mixed fruits of the sea. The mix includes mussels and squid and shrimp but it doesn't really matter.....and I add chopped corriander, fresh tomatoes, fresh lemon and lime juice...and a little bit of finely chopped raw onion...

And you have a wonderful fresh seafood salsa...OK so it's not REALLY a ceviche it's pretty close. I server it in the summer with tortialla chips as a hors d'oeuvre.
If you let it sit in the fridge an hour or two before serving it's even better.

More fish! Try a Bouillabaise...French fish soup

When I was looking for a recipe for this traditional fish soup from Marseille I decided on doing a variation of a recipe from Antony Worrall Thompson from the BBC program Food and Drink:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/bouillabaisse_6973.shtml

You never have all the ingredients or do it exactly as they say but you have to have a jumping off point. The thing that struck me most when looking at different recipes was that most included all or one of the following: fennel, fennel seeds and Pernod (French anise flavored liqueur - not expensive - buy some!) It's so subtle you don't really recoginize but it's that taste of licorice or anise that's essential to bouillabaise.

I made a fish stock with some of the heads - you could mix roasted chicken parts in as well and no one would notice. Don't forget the leeks and the saffron - they're also kind of a must.
I love to use fresh shellfish - it just makes it all look so damn good. I've made it now 3 or 4 times and it keeps getting better. We live on the coast near shellfish growers so shellfish is not hard to get and not that expensive.