Weeknight Paella

I cut this recipe out of our local free paper, The Link. I haven't had a chance to make it yet, but in honor of my quickly approaching move to Spain, here it is:

Ingredients:
3 C Quick Cooking brown rice
1 C frozen Peas
1 tbsp EVOO
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz. cooked smoked turkey sausage, sliced
1 (15 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1/4 tsp each of saffron threads, paprika, turmeric (i don't even know what that IS), and hot sauce (optional)
8 oz (1/2 lb) medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Instructions
1- Prepare rice according to directions. When removed from heat, stir in peas, and let stand for 5 minutes
2- Heat oil in non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until done. Remove and set aside. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender. Add sausage and heat through.
3- Stir in tomatoes, spices and seasonings. Bring to a simmer, add shrimp. Cover and cook until Shrimp is done. Stir in Chicken and brown rice, and serve with pita triangles, crusty bread, etc.

Leftover Salmon and veggies

Toast two slices dark, hearty bread. Mash up leftover salmon with mayo and pepper, spread on one slice of bread. A dollop of mayo smeared on the other slice of bread, then layer roasted veggies. Add fresh herbage as you like (I went for garlic chives) and eat furtively so that no one else can ask for a bite. This is not a meal I ever want to share. :p

UnPesto

So, in classic Otis fashion, I knew what I wanted for dinner (Pesto), but had none of the key ingredients, namely Basil and Pine Nuts. Or even Parmesean for that matter. But, as I have learned from my mother, I had two things in my favor:
1. Plenty of sexy power tools and trusty hand tools.
2. A blonde's obliviousness to obstacles.

So, what did I have?
Green leaves: check! (spinach)
Nuts: check! (chopped walnuts)
Cheese: check! (some hard italian cheese that resembles parmesean)

HA! It's ON! The Cheese was in a huge chunk, and because I'm lazy and resourceful and have sexy power tools, I just threw the whole lump into the mini-prep. I was on the phone with Laurel. She described the sounds "like you are mini-prepping your cat!" I told her I would call her back when the shrieking subsided.


So the lump finally broke down into smaller pieces, and I added garlic, spinach and EVOO. See the layers? Like an Ogre. Or Parfait.

Then I dumped on the nuts, and WHIIIIRRR!!!! UNPESTO! Pairs well with Gorgonzola Walnut Tortellini from Trader Joes. I also added some cooked chicken I had laying around.

Cookbook Love and the Swordfish Fiasco

The current issue of the New Yorker magazine (Feb. 13 & 20, 2006, the anniversary issue) contains a funny article about cookbooks, by Nora Ephron. Here is an excerpt:

"Thanks to 'The Gourmet Cookbook,' my mother herself was in the kitchen, whipping up Chinese eggrolls from scratch...The recipe doesn't begin to convey how stressful and time-consuming an endeavor it is to make eggrolls, nor does it begin to suggest how much tension a person can create in a household by serving eggrolls that take hours to make and are not nearly as good as Chinese takeout."

There are a few other good articles in this issue, too, on subjects other than food and cooking. I highly recommend it. Get some of that good Chinese takeout and read a magazine tonight instead of cooking dinner!

That is exactly what I should have done tonight. Instead, I got ambitious and decided to try something new: Let's have grilled swordfish! I wanted to celebrate the sunny, 75-degree dead of winter here in California. The swordfish was awful. I don't know if it had gone bad, or if it was just bad-tasting fish, but the minute I tasted it I lost my appetite and didn't eat anything for dinner. Best to stick with the tried and true: grilled salmon, or better yet, raw hamburger.

If the swordfish wasn't bad enough, I made a dessert that flopped, too. It was cherry cobbler from a mix. You'd think it would be hard to blow it with a mix, but I did a good job of it. It looked fine coming out of the oven, nice and brown on top, but the biscuit topping was runny underneath. I remembered that's why I never make cobbler because that always happens. Stick with the tried and true: ice cream.

Heaven on a bun

My new, beautiful, stock-pot arrived this past week, and not having enough chicken carcasses to make stock, it was decided to inagurate the pot with some lobster. This recipe comes from the January 2006 issue of Bon Appetit.

1-2 pound live lobster
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup mayo
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons butter
2 high-quality hot dog buns (straight sided)
chopped fresh chives

Plunge lobster into large pot of boiling water; cover and cook for 9 minutes. I had two smaller lobsters, both fit just fine in the pot after being inspected by the very concerned cats. Using tongs, transfer lobster to large bowl of ice water to cool quickly. Twist tail and claws from lobster body; discard body. Crack claws, remove meat, pull apart and remove cartilage. Using kitchen shears, cut tail in half lengthwise, remove meat. Cut claw and tail meat into 3/4 inch pieces, transfer to medium bowl.

Add chopped celery (neither B. or I like celery, so I substituted green onions), mayonnaise, and lemon juice to lobster and mix until blended. Now, I got the measurement for lemon juice and butter mixed up. After draining off a bit of the excess once I realized my mistake, I added a touch extra mayo to compensate. Surprisingly (or not) the more lemony flavor was just fine, especially with the green onions. (this part can be prepared 4 hours ahead. cover and refrigerate)

Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add buns and cook until golden brown on all sides, turning often, about 5 minutes. (this is KEY...it made the meal truly decadent). Cut lengthwise slit in top center of each bun, pry open. Divide lobster mixture between buns, sprinkle with chives and serve.

(devour, no pause for pictures...sorry...too good!)

"Ok, so my life doesn't suck, but I am lazy" Leftovers.

Take leftover salmon fillet from last night. Mash with mayo in container you saved it in. If you horribly oversalted it when you cooked it, like I did, don't worry about salt and pepper. If you cooked it to be edible, consider salt and pepper. Toss in a bit of curry powder. Toast some bread, I used sourdough. Make a sandwich, and eat it over the sink, thus negating the need for dishes. Drink wine straight from bottle.

Thank you Allison, for the suggestion.

"My Life Sucks" Salmon

There has been more drama in the past 24 hours than I would have liked. I came home emotionally and physically drained, and hungry. Yesterday I had pulled some salmon from the fridge and put it in the fridge to defrost. Knowing full well that I needed to cook the salmon, but having neither the patience, nor the materials to make another recipe I had in mind, I turned to my trusty BHG Cookbook, looking for something under the "fish and shellfish" tab.
Lo and behold, pesto something-or-other salmon. The biggest thing in its favor--ease of preparation. I washed and dried my salmon (ok, why?). I brushed it with a little EVOO, salt and pepper, and broiled it for about 7 minutes 4 inches from the heat source (4-6 min per half inch fillet [julia child pronounces it Fill-Ett]), or until it flaked easily with a fork.

While its doing that, mix together some pesto and mayonnaise in a bowl. In another bowl, mix together bread crumbs and parmesean cheese.

Pull the salmon out of the oven, dump the pesto on top, and the bread crumbs on top of that. Broil for another 1-2 minutes, and eat it. If you feel like it, make a side dish. I dumped spring greens and Soy Vay Cha-Cha Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing together on the side.

Good, easy, fast.

Momo-Killer of Crustaceans

I had lobster for dinner tonight.







It was awesome.








Death Chamber.








Ready to eat.