Camp Paella

One of the benefits of being in a vacation home as opposed to a hotel is the fact that there is a kitchen and you can cook the foods found at the local market. The down side of cooking in the kitchen of a vacation home is that the spice rack is often bare. My task was to make dinner for 6 people in a vacation home, a stone's throw away from a local farm, with only dried cilantro and a bag of rice in the cupboard.

The farm had phenomenal corn on the cob, but we had just had that a few nights previously. I bought a pint of fresh peas, got in the car and drove to the supermarket. My plan was to use what I deemed the only salvageable item in the kitchen: the rice. My plan was a paella because it only relies on wine (readily available), stock (easily purchased at the store) and saffron (here, I was concerned). The supermarket had "American saffron" which is very different than the Persian strands I have in my kitchen. These blossoms are named "American" but grown in China and imported by a company in Quebec. I put my hesitation aside, threw the orange blossoms of saffron in the cart and continued shopping. "Try the local foods," I thought to myself, "even if they are global".

You're on vacation. Don't worry if what you cook turns into a disaster. You get the chance to try something new. Enjoy the company and watch the sun set.

Camp Paella
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
olive oil
1-454g bag of rice
a glass of white wine
1/2 tsp American saffron
1 L of salt-free chicken stock
1 red pepper, diced
1 pint of peas, shelled
350 g frozen shrimp
350 g frozen bay scallops

Thaw seafood, reserving liquid.
Saute onion in olive oil, add garlic. When translucent, add red pepper. When the pepper is getting soft, add rice & stir until coated.
Add wine. When liquid from wine has evaporated, add stock. Continue stirring now and then.
Sip own glass of wine & chat with other vacationers.
Check on rice every now and then. If it needs more liquid, add the liquid from the thawed seafood. Ensure rice is almost cooked.
Add peas and seafood, allow everything to cook for a few more minutes.

Daring Cooks - March - Risotto

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

It's been a busy month. I haven't posted, I've been at work instead. I'd rather be posting. Frankly, if I hadn't completed the challenge the day it was revealed, I would have never got around to it. I was in the process of making a chicken soup with leftover chicken scraps from my freezer and I saw that this month's challenge involved making your own stock for risotto. So I cheated a little. It's The Daring Kitchen. I haven't adhered 100% to the recipies to date, why start now? I had the start of Jaden Hair's pho on the stove, from a previous challenge. This stock can be used for risotto, no problems. The thing is, I'm not really into risotto at home. Many people view it as aperfect comfort food - it has carbs, is creamy and warm - but I prefer to make fake risottos. I use quinoa. So 2 cheats. 1, I didn't use the proper stock (but it was homemade) and 2) I used quinoa instead of rice. Nonetheless, I was happy. I managed to accomplish at least one post for the month.

Daring Cooks November - Quest for Sushi

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge is from Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge. The sushi challenge this month was harder than I thought. It involved letting other people into my kitchen. Allow me to explain.

A few weeks ago, I was having coffee with a friend. I then said that I had to go home but on my way, I had to stop by the Asian Supermarket. Because the Asian Supermarket stocks Tiger beer, my friend decided to bring his shopping bag to accompany me. The workaholic had been informed that I was on my way and was waiting.

On the 1km journey to the Asian supermarket, my friend saw approximately 20 stores that had interesting things in the windows. I concentrated my efforts on pulling the friend out of stores and towards the supermarket. Again, the workaholic is waiting.

30 minutes later, in the supermarket, my friend asks me what I need. I explain that I have to make sushi this month for The Daring Kitchen. The friend then informs me that, together with a mutal friend, he attended a sushi course a few weeks ago at the community college. Surely the mutal friend had the ingriedients I needed. One not-so-quick phone call later (reception problems) and I can pick up the vinegars & everything else I need. I grab my chickpea flour & explain to the waiting workaholic what happened.

To take ingriedients and not to offer a dinner invitation is out of the question, so my once humble sushi challenge has evolved into a sushi evening at my place. This is the time to remind you, my dear reader, that there is very little fresh fish in southern Germany. I buy an avocado a few days ahead of time (they too are of poor quality here), and I plan to buy fish.

The only fish I am not allergic to is tuna. The mutal friend, who brought over the ingriedients, said that the sushi instructor claims that there is good fresh fish to be had in Metro - the members-only-mega-size store. As it happens, this friend happens to have a membership. We make a date to go buy sashimi-grade tuna. I do my regular grocery shopping, trying to avoid buying pasta in 2.5 kg packages.

In Metro, we buy all the things I never knew I needed. My friend buys 2 kg of breakfast cereal ("it's my favourite!"). We save the fish counter for the end, so it stays cold. After having filled a cart with wine, Kaffir limes, Twix, gummi bears and who know what else, we hit the fish counter. "We'd like some sashimi-grade tuna", we say. "OK," says the lady behind the counter, "I have a 2.5 kg piece". We look at each other and ask, "do you have anything smaller?". "2.2" is the answer.

We leave the store with hundreds of things that we didn't come in for, and nothing that we actually wanted. It's Saturday night, 7pm, there is no chance of getting any more fresh fish before tomorrow's sushi night.

Invitations to roll and eat are for 6pm. Out of desperation, I open a can of tuna at 5pm, adding a bit of rice wine vinegar and chopped chives. It marinates & wasn't that bad for nigiri. Not comprable to the 2.5 kg loin of sashimi-grade tuna, but not bad. I cook the rice in the rice cooker & let the guys take over.

Preparing the cooked rice
(apparently, a sugar-vinegar solution is poured over the rice & blended in. Apparently this is what sushi is all about - not about the fish. Apparently.)

Making the omelette

(I think the key is to make a sausage out of an omelette & to roll the cooked layers, pouring more egg on as you go. I think)

Pressing the omelette into shape
(note the masculine hands that clearly do not belong to me)

The Nigiri Sushi
(a bit of immitation crab, some avocado, omelette, and the canned tuna topping)

I know that this month's challenge was to make a dragon roll, a decorative maki and some nigiri. I know I didn't make the decorative maki nor did I make the dragon roll - and strictly speaking, I didn't really make the nigiri either. Nonetheless, this month was still a challenge. One of the most important lessons I learned this month is: there's a sushi restaurant around the corner from my place. They have the conveyor belt and they're open Sundays until 10pm.

Wild Rice Pancakes & Leftover Asparagus

Ah, the joy of working in Germany! Today is a holiday (Pentecost) and I have the day off of work. Even though I have to vacuum the apartment, do laundry, repot some herbs & build Ikea furniture, it's still a day off of work. Although I might log in later & do work, nullifying the concept of "holiday" as such, but we'll see...

For lunch, I'm getting rid of some leftovers. Last night, I tried to follow a recipe for stir-fried beef & asparagus, which was OK, but moreover, I have leftover wild rice. It's actually a brown rice - wild rice mix, but that's only a technicality. I'm making pancakes out of them & will be using the scant amounts of stir-fry I have leftover as a filling.

Rice Pancakes with Leftover Asparagus Stir-Fry
1 cup cooked wild/brown rice
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
pinch ground ginger
pinch cinamon
1/2 clove mined garlic
pinch chili pepper flakes
1/2 Tbsp lime juice
water as needed
1/2 cup leftover asparaus beef stir-fry (see recipe)

In a blender, puree all ingredients. It won't turn out smooth, but that's OK. Add water, if necessary, to maintain a "batter-like" consistency.
In a skillet over medium-high heat, spread 1/2 the mixture. Allow to get crispy & wait until it can slide on it's own. At this point, flip the pancake.
Repeat for 2nd pancake.
Top with warmed leftovers & garnish with green onions.

I wasn't thrilled with the stir-fry last night, but I was much happier with the leftovers.

Heidelberg Chicken Rice

Somehow, the mere mention of the words "flu outbreak" have caused me to sniffle. I think I have a sore throat. I'm coming down with a bad case of hypochondria and I need some good chicken-based comfort food. I have frozen chicken breasts, and I want to wallow in my hypochondria.

In a quiet corner of my kitchen, if you look closely, you can find a rice cooker. Rice cookers are one of the few inventions where the low-tech versions are the superior varieties. The programs for various different kinds of rice apparently confuse rice cookers. The beauty in the rice cooker lies in the fact that you turn it on, walk away and a small, inobtrusive click tells you that rice, or dinner, is done. They do all the thinking for you. I think they use some sort of low-tech scale to weigh everything, or maybe there are little rice nomes inside, ready to try rice when they think it's done. Either way, it's super easy. You can even throw frozen chicken in there, and it will come out cooked.

Heidelberg Chicken Rice
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 Tbsp neutral oil
salt
2 frozen chicken breasts
2/3c white rice
2 cups water (or according to rice package directions)

Make a paste out of the garlic, ginger, oil and salt. Put paste & remaining ingredients in rice cooker. Turn rice cooker on, walk away. Wait for rice cooker to switch from "cook" to "warm". Fish out chicken breasts, slice. Serve with rice and dipping sauces.


Aparently, if you want real Hainan Chicken Rice, you have to go to Singapore. The immigrants from the Chinese island of Hainan "brought" this dish with them, as much as Italian immigrants "brought" spaghetti & meatballs with them to the US. This is what I've been told. As much as I'd love to go to Singapore, I don't have any vacation days left (yes, I know that it's only May). Also, real chicken rice involves poaching an entire chicken and reusing the stock next time. The chicken itself is cold, and broth is served with the meal. Real Hainan chicken rice is great, but like so many street foods, not reproducable in a regular domestic kitchen (although, I could always devote my kitchen to chicken rice - it's a thought worth entertaining).