Tag Archives: stock

No Seafood Paella

No Seafood Paella

No Seafood Paella

A few weeks ago I felt like making a paella, but one without seafood. I eat seafood but do not generally go for fishy soups and stews. Remembering a sort of paella that I had at a Portuguese restaurant about 15 years ago I set out to make a no seafood paella, with chicken and sausage instead. It took a bit longer to make than I had anticipated as the rice took a while to soak up the liquids, but the result was delicious. This seems to be a one dish meal. No sides are needed, nor can I think of a side that would go well with it, save perhaps a simple salad.

Ingredients
Served 5 people, with leftovers

4-5 Boneless, skinless chicken thighs, roughly cut
1 Portuguese sausage, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1-2 Green bell pepper, chopped
1 Onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped parsley, chopped
2 1/2 cups arborio rice
6 cups chicken stock
1 Tbsp sweet paprika
1 15 oz can whole tomatoes
1 pinch saffron threads
Olive oil

Wetting the base

Wetting the base

Preparation and Cooking

Preheat a wide paella pan (or widest frying pan you have) on medium-high. Add oil to pan and brown the Portuguese sausage on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside. Brown the chicken on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside. Turn the heat own to medium. Add onions, bell pepper, garlic, and parsley to pan. Add tomatoes, crushing them as you put them in the pan, and pour in the juices.

Making the base

Making the base

Add saffron and paprika. Stir and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add rice and stir it in well to coat the grains, about 3 minutes. Add 4 cups chicken stock. Simmer, occasionally stirring lightly for the first 10 minutes or so. Add chicken stock as the water is absorbed by the rice. When the liquid is nearly all absorbed taste the rice to see if it is done.  It should preferably be al dente at this point as the rice will cook a little longer.

Return the chicken and sausage to the pan and tuck it into the rice, being careful to keep the rice submerged under any stock in the pan. When the rice is ready and all the liquid has been absorbed add the remaining parsley and stir in lightly. Turn off the heat and serve at the table.

Soaking up the liquid

Soaking up the liquid

 Notes

If you like seafood and want to add some to this dish there are a couple of changes you can make:

– Use fish stock instead on chicken stock.
– Add a couple of 1/2″ to 1″ thick pieces of your preferred fish to the pan and tuck into the rice while you are soaking up the broth, about 20 minutes before done.
– Add some shrimp over the dish.
– In any case you might find it helpful to cover the pan for 5-10 minutes with a lid or foil to allow the added seafood to steam cook.

 

Mushroom and Leek Risotto (dairy-free)

Tonight, I’m home with the kids and the husband is out brewing beer with friends. I look forward to nights like this because it means “no-pressure” cooking for me. I wanted to make some sort of risotto…egg and bacon to be exact. Because we had eggs and bacon at breakfast, I went with what I like to think of as my refrigerator risotto. You know, things you have in the fridge that are almost on their way out. I always have leeks and mushrooms in the fridge and the mushrooms are almost always on their way out by the time I do something with them because half of the family (the kids) does not like mushrooms. Have you even heard of such a thing?

Some of you may already know that we eat (mostly) gluten-free because we suspect our son has a gluten intolerance. We have also been advised to cut out casein to test a possible intolerance. It’s been a long month folks. To begin with we’re not milk drinkers but eliminating cheese has been difficult for all of us. There really isn’t a good casein-free substitute out there. So today, as I was thinking about risotto and how to replace the Parmesan and make the dish dairy-free, the tub of Sour Supreme (a non-dairy sour cream substitute) that I had in the fridge came to mind. It has a slight tang that could replace the Parmesan, and it would add a creaminess to the risotto. Surprisingly, it worked. The kids still pushed all of their mushrooms aside but they both ate the rice and leeks and loved the dish.

Mushroom and Leek Risotto

for 3 as a meal, 4 as a side

1 cup of arborio rice

2 cups of button or cremini mushrooms quartered

1 large leek, white part only, split down the middle and cut into half-moons

1/4 cup of onions diced

4 cups of chicken stock or vegetable stock

1/4 cup of vermouth or dry white wine

1 T Earth Balance or other vegan margarine, butter is fine

1 T olive oil

2 T Sour Supreme “sour cream”

Start by heating your stock in a pot. It doesn’t need to be boiling, just hot. Meanwhile, heat  a separate, large, heavy-bottomed pot, over medium heat. Once the pot is hot, add the margarine and olive oil. When the margarine has melted, add the leek and onion and cook until both are soft and transparent (about 5 minutes). Add the mushrooms and stir and cook for approximately 5 minutes more. Add the arborio rice and vermouth, cook and stir until the vermouth has evaporated. Add roughly a cup of stock and stir constantly until the stock has been absorbed. Add another cup of stock and constantly stir, continuing in this way until you’ve used almost all of the stock, the rice is soft, and the risotto looks creamy. I always use just shy of the 4 cups of stock and I always test the rice for readiness when I’ve used a little more than 3 cups of stock. The grains of rice should feel firm but tender to the tooth. Once the rice is done, I remove the pot from the heat and stir in the Sour Supreme. Serve immediately