a bumper crop.

The potato.  This inexpensive root has provided sustenance to much of the world for centuries.  Though potatoes may be the Plain Jane amongst more exotic farmers market finds, this article from Smithsonian Magazine details the importance that potatoes have played in the development of the Western world.

Potatoes are a pretty big deal, y'all.

I personally don't tend to cook potatoes often because I wanted to reduce my carbohydrate intake, but since I had a huge bag of them, I wanted to figure out ways to use them (that were not mashed potatoes) before they turned soft.  (One can only eat mashed potatoes so many times before you're completely over them.)  This recipe for a crispy potato galette was perfect, making for a lighter brunch item.  You can substitute watercress for the arugula as it provides a similar bite, and if you would like to add a little more protein and substance, you can top the galette with a soft boiled or poached egg or some smoked salmon!  The possibilities are endless.

Potato Galette with Arugula
1 large russet potato, peeled and grated (1 1/2 cups)
1 small leek, white and pale-green parts only, thinly sliced crosswise and rinsed well
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup arugula, washed
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan (optional)
Coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

Place grated potato in a bowl of cold water, and let soak for 10 minutes. Drain the water from the potatoes and then use a cheesecloth (or clean, lint-free dish towel) to squeeze out as much water as you can. Combine potato, leek, flour, nutmeg, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a mixing bowl.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Scatter potato mixture in skillet, and press lightly with a spatula to make sure it holds together. Cook until underside is golden, about 6 minutes. Flip. Raise heat to medium-high. Cook until underside is golden, 4 to 5 minutes.

Turn out galette onto a large plate. Toss arugula with lemon juice and 1 1/2 teaspoons oil (and Parmesan if using), and place on top of galette. Slice into 8 wedges and serve immediately.

waste not, want not: bubble & squeak.

Bubble & Squeak is an English pub food - traditionally made to use up leftovers.  Roasted vegetables and boiled potatoes from the previous night's roast dinner make up the base of the dish, and can be made with bits of ham or bacon or literally whatever other ingredients you have laying around.  During World War II, it was a popular way to ensure food was not wasted.

When I'd first heard the term "Bubble & Squeak", I drew a blank, as I had absolutely no idea what it was.  To the unfamiliar, English food often has funny names that don't give any clue as to what you're about to eat (Toad-in-the-Hole, Bangers & Mash, Spotted Dick, to name a few).  Then I watched a lovely video by Sophie Dahl (below) and was inspired to make some, using up some of our farmer's market veggies and some potatoes that needed to be utilized.  My version is pretty simple, but feel free to add your own twist (Sophie's version uses parsnips and celeriac in the mash base)!

Bubble and Squeak

1 lb. potatoes, boiled

1-2 carrots, boiled or roasted

1 small leek, chopped (white part and light green parts only)

4-5 leaves lacinato kale, julienned

half & half, milk, or crème fraîche

salt

pepper

3T butter

vegetable oil for shallow-frying

Mash the potatoes as if you were making mashed potatoes as a side dish - add a tablespoon or two of butter, and thin with a little half & half.  Season with salt & pepper.  Add the cooked carrots and mash them in lightly to add some color.  Set aside.

In a saute pan, melt a tablespoon of butter and add the leeks, cooking to soften, but do not brown.  Add cooked leeks to the potato mixture.  Next, the last tablespoon of butter to the pan and gently cook the kale  until soft (but do not overcook).  You want the kale to retain its color as much as possible.  Add the cooked kale to the potato mixture, and mix everything together until well blended.

At this point, you could also add:

cooked peas

chopped bacon or ham

cooked shredded Savoy cabbage

Using your hands, form the mixture into patties.  Heat a generous amount of vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat, and fry each patty on both sides, ensuring a lovely brown crust forms on the outside.

If you like, serve with a poached or fried egg on top and a dollop of crème fraîche, or a bit of brown gravy.  

And Miss Sophie Dahl.....

simple pleasures.

Puff pastry is a glorious thing.  You can use to to make bite size vol-au-vents, hand-held pastry pockets, or something like a tart, which is fairly impressive when presented to your guests, but in all reality, is very easy.  You can make a tart hundreds of different ways, sweet or savory - your imagination is the limit.  Right now, I'm really into savory tarts, as we're trying to cut down on sugar in our house.  My local Boulangerie (that's really the name of the bakery down the street from me) makes this wonderful roasted cauliflower gratin tart and another vegetable and goat cheese tart that makes my mouth water every time I see it.  I wanted to make something as beautiful and as tasty as what the Boulangerie sells, and came up with this.

You can make your own puff pastry if you've got the time and patience, but since I have a full-time day job in addition to trying to run my household and squeeze in a gym session here and there, I rely on frozen puff pastry from Trader Joe's!

Rustic Tomato Tart
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 T Dijon mustard (my favorite is Amoura, because it's strong, but any good quality Dijon mustard will do)
1 T crème fraîche
1 small leek, white and light green part only, chopped finely
1 large tomato (slicing tomatos or heirloom tomatoes work well)
a few leaves of basil, chiffonade cut
salt
pepper
2 oz of plain goat cheese
1 T butter

Preheat your oven to 400° F.

On an ungreased baking sheet, place your puff pastry sheet down, and fold in the edges about 1/4-1/2" on each side.  (In my photo above, I put the puff pastry into a round fluted tart pan, but it really works best using the flat-fold method.)  Mix the crème fraîche and the Dijon mustard together in a small bowl, then paint the pastry surface, excluding the edges, with the mustard mixture.  Put in the freezer for 10 minutes.

In a saute pan, melt the tablespoon of butter on medium heat, then add the leeks and cook until soft (do not brown).  Spread the leeks on the pastry, then top with sliced tomatoes, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to season.  Bake for 35 minutes, or until the bottom is crisp.  Remove from the oven, and while it is still warm, add bits of crumbled goat cheese and basil.  Serve immediately.

while i'm busy in the kitchen...peep this!

Hello my darlings!

I've been very obviously missing in action, but I did manage to shoot a few recipes over the week which will be up shortly.  Meanwhile, check out this awesome editorial titled "Delicatessen with Love" from artist Gabriele Galimberti, spotlighting the cooking from grandmothers around the world.  It's such a beautifully photographed tribute to home cooking, and it makes me yearn for my mom's Kare-Kare or even a simple dish like my grandfather's favorite breakfast of fried fish, rice gruel (lugao in Tagalog), and preserved black beans.

This is just a handful of the many, many photographs from the project.  Click through to his website here.

China:  Hui guo rou (twice-cooked pork with vegetables)

Norway: Kjottsuppe (Icelandic beef and vegetable soup)

Philippines:  Sinigang (tamarind soup with pork and vegetables)

Spain: Asadura de cordero lecca con arroz (milk-fed lamb offal with rice)

Turkey: Karniyarik (stuffed eggplants with meat and vegetables)

India:  Chicken Vindaloo

ps:  I found out about this photography project here!

pork chops and cherry sauce.

A telltale sign that summer is on its way? Cherries are in abundance at the market - along with strawberries, peaches, nectarines, plums…yum! For dinner, I wanted to make something using things I already had in my refrigerator. I went back to Whole Foods and purchased some boneless pork chops and then went to work.

You will need:

3-4 boneless pork chops (medium thickness)

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

½ lb dark red cherries, pitted and halved (you can use more or less, depending on how much fruit you want in your dish)

Red wine (I happened to use a splash of Cotes Du Rhone that I had open)

Balsamic vinegar

Dried thyme

Ground cinnamon

A pat of butter

Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Heat a heavy sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat, and add a bit of olive oil. Cook pork chops evenly on both sides, so they have a nice brown crust on them, and are cooked all the way through (timing depends on the thickness of the pork chops). Once the pork is cooked, put on a plate to rest.

Meanwhile, use the same pan that you fried the pork in, continuing to keep it heated, and deglaze it with a bit of balsamic vinegar. Add the onions and sauté until soft, then add the cherries and continue to cook until the cherries have softened (they will almost start to dissolve). Add a splash of red wine, a light sprinkle of thyme, and a tiny pinch of cinnamon, and season with salt and pepper to taste. You can adjust the flavors by adding more vinegar, spices, etc. At the end, mix in a pat of butter to add a bit of shine to your sauce.Serve pork chops with a nice spoonful (or two) of the cherry sauce on top….and VOILA!

For the haricots verts, I use this simple recipe:

12 oz haricots verts (I think this is how they are packaged at Trader Joe’s)

Olive oil

Dijon mustard

White wine vinegar

I don’t know the exact measurements, but make a little vinaigrette out of the olive oil, mustard, and vinegar, and toss it with STEAMED haricots verts. It’s delicious and makes a nice side dish to the pork.

I didn’t choose to serve a starch with this, but you can most certainly add on a side of potatoes or wild rice or quinoa to make it a heartier meal. I opted instead to have a couple small slices of baguette topped with a bit of pungent cheese, and accompanied my meal with a big glass of Cotes du Rhone. 

soupe au pistou

While it may be warmer than normal for "soup weather", this light and fresh spring vegetable medley is a delicious transitional dish for those of us who can eat soup any time of year!  Pistou, the Provençal cousin of pesto, is stirred into this summer vegetable soup just before serving.  I adapted this recipe from the Les Halles cookbook by Anthony Bourdain, and Love and Lemons (such a cute and healthy food blog), as I happened to pretty much have everything in my refrigerator!  White beans are more traditionally Provençal than garbanzos, but they are what I happened to have, and I had a few topinambours left from the farmers market.  The pistou makes the soup so fresh and lively - I brought it to work and the smell of fresh basil and garlic wafted clear across the lunchroom (in a good way).  You can definitely play around with this dish, as I've seen it with bacon/pancetta, celery, Savoy cabbage, and zucchini - add/subtract what you wish!  

Soupe au Pistou
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
1/2 fennel bulb, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 parsnip, chopped
4 topinambours (Jerusalem artichokes), scrubbed well and sliced into rondelles
1 large carrot, chopped
4 teaspoons dried herbs de provence
1/4 cup dry white wine
14 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, liquid drained, and chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
14 oz can garbanzo beans, or, 1/2 cup of dried garbanzo beans, cooked (you can use white beans as well, which is more traditional)
1 bunch of chard leaves, chopped, stems included
1/2 cup dried quinoa macaroni noodles (or regular macaroni if you don't care if it's gluten-free)
salt
pepper
1 lemon
generous grating of parmesan

In a 6 qt.  heavy bottom soup pot (or Dutch oven), saute the shallots in olive oil until translucent, then add garlic (make sure you don't burn it!).  Then add the fennel, and continue cooking for a few minutes.  Next, add the parsnips, carrots, herbs de provence, and topinambours and continue cooking, stirring every so often as to not brown the vegetables.  After about 5-7 minutes, add the white wine to deglaze the pan.  Next, add the broth, tomatoes, and beans, and let the soup gently simmer until the vegetables are tender, approximately 25 minutes (but do not overcook).  Salt and pepper to taste.

While the soup is simmering, make your pistou.

Pistou

1/4 cup olive oil

about 2 cups fresh basil, chopped

1/2 clove of garlic

a few pinches coarse salt

2 T parmesan cheese

Traditionally, you would grind the basil and garlic in a mortar and pestle, then drizzle the olive oil in.  I tried doing that, and it takes a LOT of elbow grease, so instead, I like to make pesto in my food processor.  Add the basil and garlic, pulse until somewhat fine, add the cheese, pulse again, and then turn the processor on and slowly drizzle in the olive oil.

Serve each bowl of soup with a nice spoonful of pistou on top and a slice of toasted levain.

i'm craving korean.

If you asked me what my favorite type of food is, I'd have a very difficult time answering you.  I grew up in Honolulu, which means growing up in a melting pot of (predominantly Asian) cultures, and eating their respective foods during school potlucks, parties, and at any of the available Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Filipino, Hawaiian, Greek, American, Portuguese, Indian, American, or (insert one or two Ethnic groups here) hybrid/fusion restaurants around town.  My parents even dared taking my little sister and I, when we were probably about 8 and 10, to a fine dining French restaurant where I tried escargot for the first time.  While we weren't quite as adventurous as some of our friends (no chicken feet or sea cucumber for me, thanks) we got to know a lot of different foods, and to this day, I get the most random cravings for things like a Korean green onion pancake, called pajeon.

This dish only has a few ingredients, and if you can cook a regular breakfast pancake, you can make this!  It makes a great appetizer for a few people, or, a dinner for two.  Jules and I had this with a side of kimchee (pickled cabbage) for dinner tonight and it was the perfect amount of food.  And bonus, it killed my Korean food craving for now!

Pajeon (Green Onion Pancake)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cold water
1 egg
1 T miso paste
1 bunch green onions (green part only, reserve white part for other use)
soy sauce

Prepare the onions by slicing them lengthwise into strips so that they cook fairly quickly.  I also chop them in half crosswise, so they are about 4 inches in length.  Set aside.  In a mixing bowl, mix together the water and miso paste until well blended.  Whisk in the egg and flour. Heat a 10" non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and add a thin layer of vegetable oil.  Add green onions and gently cook for a few minutes.  Add a touch of soy sauce to season.  (You can add any of the option additions, listed below, at this point, and toss to heat through.)

Add the batter, covering the onions evenly, and lower the heat to low-medium for about 6 minutes, and keep checking to see if the bottom has begun to brown.  Turn the heat back to medium-high, then flip the pancake over and cook for an additional 6-8 minutes, checking to make sure you don't scorch the bottom.  Turn once more and when the pancake is cooked through and the edges crispy, transfer to a plate and cut into wedges for serving.

Dipping Sauce
3 T soy sauce
1-2 T rice vinegar
a few drops of sesame oil
a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds (optional)
gochujang (optional, if you want your sauce spicy)

Mix all ingredients together, adjust seasonings to taste.

Optional additions
shelled, deveined shrimp
strips of squid
mussels, out of shell
clams, out of shell
imitation crabmeat (not my favorite addition, but some places add this)
real crab or lobster meat

In adding seafood, it will then be haemul paejon.  You would add the seafood after you cook the onions but before you add the batter.

tacolicious.

One of the best things about living in California is access to great Latino food.  In San Francisco alone, we have a mixture of great Mexican, Peruvian, Salvadorian, and Puerto Rican food, and countless Latino markets that make finding the right ingredients so easy.  When I lived in Honolulu, finding an authentic tortilla was a Herculean task; here, I know of at least four places to go for handmade corn tortillas alone!  Since we got our hands on some of these yummy tortillas, I wanted to make tacos...but didn't want anything too heavy or saucy.  Ceviche, a "salad" of sorts made from seafood marinated in lime, was the perfect choice - refreshing, healthy, and cooling, and a perfect match for a well-made margarita.

Ceviche Tacos

Serves 4

1 lb. firm white fish (tilapia, halibut, sole, or a combination), cubed

8-12 limes

small red onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed/minced very finely

1 bunch cilantro, half chopped, half left whole

8 radishes, sliced thinly

2 roma tomatoes, chopped

salt

pepper

optional: jalapenos, seeded and chopped finely

2 ripe avocados

8 corn tortillas, handmade preferred

In a glass bowl, combine the fish with the garlic and enough lime juice to keep the fish immersed.  Stir in the chopped cilantro.  Add a generous seasoning of salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Let marinate for 1 hour, then add the tomatoes and onions (and jalapenos if using), and continue to marinate for another hour or until the fish is "cooked" through by the lime juice.  Adjust seasonings to taste.

Heat up the corn tortillas on a cast iron or non-stick pan (no grease required).  When the tortillas are warm, layer with radishes, the ceviche mixture, a slice of avocado, and a couple of leaves of whole cilantro on the top.

Buen provecho!

sf postcard: san francisco cherry blossom festival.

Yesterday, Jules and I decided to check out the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown, which happens to be just four blocks from our apartment.  It was an really warm day, and we tried to get there early to beat the crowds.  In addition to a ton of Asian-themed product vendors, there were a slew of food booths, taiko drumming performances, a Sapporo beer garden, and free sake tasting!

Cherry Blossoms and the tower in the Peace Plaza

Traditional takoyaki preparation, but they use beef instead of octopus

Takoyaki

Kitsune Udon prep (before broth is added)

Sake tasting by the Takara Sake Company

Sake tasting

basque shepherd's pie.

Jules & I love traditional shepherd's pie - a simple dish of lamb, onions, carrots, and peas stewed in Guiness, topped with creamy mashed potatoes and baked to perfection.  A shepherd's pie is most certainly a hearty dish suitable for colder days, and with last night's temperature drop in San Francisco, it seemed like a good occasion to whip one up.  I didn't have the right ingredients for an English shepherd's pie, but I did happen to have some Basque sausage from Olivier's Butchery in the freezer (pork sausages seasoned with piment d'espelette) so I ended up twisting the traditional flavors in favor of a spicier version.  Though the sausages are French Basque, I took some liberties and seasoned this dish like the Spanish Basque - essentially creating a paella-flavored pie that turned out surprisingly well!  

I apologize that the photos aren't exactly beautiful, but trust me - the taste is excellent, and this is what matters, yes?

Basque Shepherd's Pie

For the topping:

4 potatoes, boiled until ready to mash and skins removed

1 T butter

1/4 c. milk (can use cream or half and half if you prefer)

1/2 c. grated hard cheese (I used gruyere)

salt and pepper

Using a potato masher, mash potatoes in a large bowl and mix in butter and milk.  You want a thinner consistency than regular mashed potatoes so that you will be able to spread them over the filling.  Mix in 1/2 of the gruyere, reserving the other half to sprinkle on the assembled pie.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

For the filling:

10 saffron threads

1 lb. of Basque sausage, removed from casing

1 onion, chopped

2 small cloves garlic, minced

4 sticks of celery

2 carrots, cubed

1/2 cup peas (fresh if available, but frozen works too)

2 T tomato paste

1 T pimenton de la vera

2 cups water

1/4 c water with 2 T flour dissolved

salt and pepper

olive oil

  

In a medium sized dutch oven, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil.  Add saffron threads then the sausage, breaking up the meat so that it looks like cooked ground beef.  Once the meat is browned, add the onions, and let cook for about a minute.  Add garlic, and stir, then add celery & carrots.  Cook for an additional 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Then add the tomato paste and 1 cup of water and bring to a simmer.  Add the pimenton de la vera, and stir.  You want to make sure that there is enough liquid in the pot to keep the mixture just barely covered - add more water if necessary.  Salt and pepper, then add the flour-water mixture to thicken the liquid into a more stew-like consistency.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in the peas at the last minute.

To assemble the pie:

In a medium sized casserole pan, ladle the stew mixture in an even layer.  Spread the mashed potato mixture over the top, and smooth out, then top with the remaining grated cheese.  You can opt to also sprinkle the top with a little pimenton de la vera for color.  Bake in a preheated 375F oven for 30-45 minutes, until the top is slightly browned.  

le weekend: starling, starling.

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Happy Friday, everyone!  It's been so busy lately I haven't had time to cook - not even kidding.  I plan on resuming my normal posting schedule next week.  Bisous!

sabor de mexico: memories of puerto vallarta

Thinking about a getaway to warmer weather?  Yeah, me too.  One of my favorite places to visit is Puerto Vallarta, and the little towns next door of Bucerías and Sayulita.  The standout attraction?  The food, of course.

My last trip to Mexico was a few years ago, with a group of friends.  Though our resort was all-inclusive, the hotel's food was only okay, and we really wanted to eat "real" Mexican food - you know, the kind that the locals eat, the kind that brings the possibility of a raging case of Montezuma's Revenge. Our first venture was out into a town called Sayulita, located about half an hour away from Nuevo Vallarta on Highway 200. We decided on a little cafe called El Costeño, situated on the beach, and ordered a few dishes. Tacos de pescado (fish tacos), coctel de camarones (shrimp cocktail), quesadillas, ceviche, and fish. The two standouts were the Ceviche de Camarones - shrimp marinated in lime and chiles, and the Huachinango Frito - two whole red snappers, deep fried. Our bill total was about 500 pesos - a little less than $50 (that's $10 a person with our group), including beers, soft drinks, and tip.

El Costeno 's Whole Fried Red Snapper (Huachinango Frito), Shimp Ceviche (Tostada de Ceviche de Camarones)

Our next stop, that evening, was the town of Puerto Vallarta, located in the state of Jalisco. By some divine stroke of luck, we found a parking spot right on the main drag, in front of TWO taco stands. We picked the one nearest to the car, Tacos Arturo, and ordered a few tacos each. These were probably the best tacos I have ever had in my entire life - little rounds of fresh corn masa, grilled, topped with your choice of meat (I had 'adobada', also known as 'al pastor', and chorizo), cilantro, onions, and salsa. Tacos cost 8 pesos (about 75 cents) up to 12 pesos for Cabeza de Res (Lengua - toungue, Sesos - brains, etc.). We washed our tacos down with Coca Cola (made with real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup) and then walked down the street towards the pier.


Tacos Arturo, A plate of tacos (Photos courtesy of Grace Malvar)
First stop: The Casa Cofradia factory store - a tequila shop. They let us taste whatever we wanted to - and each "taste" was a little less than a full shot. About five "tastes" later, and I was a little buzzed. Time to get more food.

Left to right, Casa Cofradia Factory Store, close up of a tequila bottle, many many tequila bottles (Photos courtesy of Grace Malvar)
As we approached the square, the amount of people doubled - it seemed as if everyone and their mother was out that night. At the end of the pier, the five of us stopped and stared: stand after stand of street food - aguas frescas, maiz (corn), hot dogs and fries, ceviche, plantains, tamales - it was like finding Mecca. We started spending our pesos on whatever our hearts desired. The average cost for everything was about 20 pesos per item (just a little less than $2). The ceviche was amazing, the roasted corn was nice and smoky, and I think I had the most delicious horchata EVER that night. After our binge on food there, we headed back towards the car and ordered a bunch of tacos to take back to our hotel. I got all bold (I think it was the tequila) and ordered a taco de sesos - cow brains. I ate half of it and gave the rest to my friend, who laughed at me when she saw the expression on my face. Sesos are not for everyone.

Top to bottom, Puerto Vallarta Pier vendor, Fried Plantains, and a giant serving of Ceviche de Camarones (Photos courtesy of Grace Malvar)
Our last taste of real local food was our breakfast in Bucerías. I'd heard of this town in the Los Angeles Times, and it was close enough to our hotel for us to go there and make it back in time to return our rental car. We went to a little cafe in the back of a sort of 'food court' (several restaurants sharing a patio). We ordered Huevos al Gusto con Chorizo - a plate of chorizo with scrambled eggs and a side of beans, Birria de Res - a beef soup with lime, cilantro, and onion, and a Machaca burrito - shredded beef and eggs in a flour tortilla. The wait was a little long, but the food was worth every second. You could taste the richness of the beans, which meant they were made in the traditional way - with lard. The corn tortillas were fresh and handmade (you can tell by the irregular shape). Our entire table of five had breakfast (including coffee and aguas frescas) for around $22 USD. I definitely want to visit Bucerías again, since we didn't get to see much of it except for the cafe.

Top to bottom, Huevos al Gusto con Chorizo, Birria de Res, and a Quesdilla con Carne Asada (Photos courtesy of Grace Malvar)
After this trip, I couldn't eat SF Mexican food for a while - just because it would ruin the authentic and delicious flavors I had just experienced.  I recommend anyone going to Puerto Vallarta to venture out of the resort areas and go into the lesser known places where the locals hang out - it's where the real food lives.  Safe travels!

paella for two.

Spanish food is one of my favorite foods ever.  I've posted a recipe for paella before, but this time I wanted to create a smaller version, more appropriate for two people, and heavy on the seafood!  Best of all, I used my new Staub 2.75-Qt. cocotte, instead of the traditional paella pan, demonstrating that you don't need a special pan to make a delectable dish such as this.

Paella for Two

1 c. Paella rice (I use Valenciano brand) 
1/2 c. Dry white wine
5 Saffron threads
1 c. Chicken broth
1 large tomato, pureed, or a medium sized can of crushed tomatoes (14.5 oz)
1/2 Onion, diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 a Chicken breast, cut into strips
4-6 Mussels 
4 Shrimp, deveined, with shells still on 
2-3 small tubes of Calamari, sliced into rings
Handful of Frozen peas
1/2 Red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 tsp. Pimenton de la Vera + extra for dusting
Olive oil
parsley, chopped (garnish)

Toast the saffron threads in a dry sauce pan until they start to release aroma. Add white wine to the pan and bring to a boil, then keep on low heat so the liquid stays warm. Heat your pan (I used a small Dutch oven) on medium high heat, and coat generously with olive oil. Saute the onions and garlic, then add the chicken breast. Cook until the chicken is lightly browned. Then, add the rice and keep stirring until the rice is coated with oil. Add the tomatoes and a heaping spoonful of pimenton de la vera and mix until even. Ladle some of the wine mixture and add a little chicken broth. This begins the cooking process for the rice. You will slowly add liquid and keep at a low simmer until the rice is almost done. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Add the peas and bell pepper, and make sure the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the seafood and cook until the shrimp is done and the shellfish have opened.

In the presentation below, I made a bed of rice and stacked the seafood on top, dusting with more pimenton de la vera and a generous sprinkle of chopped parsley.