Showing posts with label paprika. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paprika. Show all posts

Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Rodrigo's Paella

Summer and sun? – Check!
Lot’s of food? – Check!
Some drinks? – Check!
Crazy? – Check!
So far it has been a lovely summer with a fair share of sun, lot’s of food and some drinks. You can call me crazy for various known and unknown reasons. I leave that up to you, but for today, you can call me Rodrigo.
So, make sure to keep that in mind. I settled with a friend on that and he tries to call me Rodrigo. Since we have established that, we can go on with some food.
However, before we get to that, we need something else.
Spanish music? – Check!
These days with all those music streaming services and Internet radios, it’s not that complicated.
Now playing: Amistades Peligrosas – Me Quedaré Solo
Well, I don’t know about that, but I’m not sure whether I like that message. Anyway, that isn’t the subject of this post nor of this blog. I don’t want to get that personal here.
Calling back to mind what we want here now: Food.
Therefore I bring you now Rodrigo’s Paella …

You still remember, who Rodrigo is, don’t you? No Dices Más. Well, that is fitting now and the song that is playing right now: Moenia – No Dices Más.
Right, you don’t have to say anything as we start finally
Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 small chorizos
350 g chicken breast
100 g duck breast (optional, it was a leftover)
100 g shrimps
100 g mussels (ready to eat)
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
150 g cherry tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
Salt
Pepper
Paprika powder (mild)
3 cups of rice
2 bay leaves
700 ml chicken stock
Pinch of saffron
Method:
Put a large pan on heat and add some olive oil.
Get a sharp knife to do all the cutting. Make sure it’s really sharp, so you get a clear cut in case you should cut yourself … oops … I didn’t mean it. I am sure, you can get through the recipe without cutting yourself. Anyway, I heard you cut yourself more often, when the knife is too dull. So it’s better to use a sharp knife, that does its job properly.
Now we go on with doing our job properly.
Cut the chorizo into small pieces and add it to the pan. Cut the chicken breast (and duck breast) into small chunks and brown them together in the pan with the chorizo. When it all has gained some good colour remove all the meat from the pan and set aside.
Finely chop up the onions and fry them in the pan until translucent. Chop up the garlic and add it, too.
Then quarter the tomatoes and put into the pan.
Cut the bell peppers into mouth-manageable size and add them to the pan as well.
Season everything with salt, pepper and the paprika powder.
Afterwards add the rice and the chicken stock. Add the meat back again as well. Add also 2 bay leaves and the pinch of saffron.
Let it all simmer until the rice is cooked. If you feel, the paella gets too dry, add a tiny bit of water.

Almost there! At the end add the shrimps and the mussels and heat them up. That shouldn’t take too long.
Now you are ready to plate up and enjoy Rodrigo’s Paella.
Well, I am not 100% sure whether that is a typical paella for I have never eaten paella in Spain – or at least I don’t remember. I have to put it on my list I want to do. Argh, that list is too long anyway. I also have a kind of list or better say a pile of papers of recipes I still could post. There are 11 papers and I don’t know how to manage. Anyway, you might see some of those things on this blog one day, so make sure to come back.
First, though, have some more paella and, if you like a bottle of beer with it. For sure there are more days coming to enjoy and … if I am able to put my eyes on a computer screen again – besides work – I will write you something more.
Well then, see you, when I see you. Next time I may be Chris again and not Rodrigo anymore. We will see ... 

Saturday, 20 September 2014

It's oh so quiet here ... Pumpkin Soup with Chorizo

I don't have to tell, you very easily recognise it yourself. It's almost two weeks ago I have posted something here. Yes, it's indeed oh so quiet here. There could be various reasons for this, but I try not to bore you with that. However, it could become even quieter around here ...

Are you shocked?

Well, it's a bit hard to think with an empty stomach. Have something to eat first. Why not have a pumpkin soup with chorizo. After all it's the season for it. For chorizo? Eh, why, chorizo is always in season and you never should put it away too far.
Now's the time for squashes and pumpkins. Well, there are 7 pumpkins on my table or at least parts of them.
So, why not have a soup - with pumpkin and chorizo ...


... I'm going to tell you also, what other ingredients you have to put in ...

Ingredients:
Olive oil
300 g chorizo, kind of cubed
1 carrot, roughly chopped
300 g potatoes, roughly chopped
1 kg butternut squash, roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
100 g cherry tomatoes, quartered or halved
200 g goat's cream cheese
1-1,5 l water
2 tsp. spicy paprika powder
Splash of sherry vinegar
50 g dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp. fennel seeds, crushed
1 tsp. cumin
Salt and pepper

Method:
Let me try to tell you, how to put the soup together ... phew! Luckily I wrote things done a bit more detailed than usual.
First of all, fry the pieces of chorizo in a bit of olive oil. Put the fried chorizo aside into a separate bowl.
Having all those lovely juices from the frying of the chorizo in the pan, make things even lovelier by adding the garlic, crushed fennel seeds and the cumin to the pan.
Then toss in the carrot, potatoes and squash. Let things work a bit in the pan to soften the vegetables.
After that, it's time to add the paprika powder, the dried tomatoes and the water. Bring it to the boil and let everything simmer for quite a while until everything got even softer. Half an hour and even more will do. If you have the feeling, you need more water, add it.
Having reached this state, it's time to blitz the content of the pan together with the goat's cheese.
Afterwards, it can all go back to the pan. Then the chorizo returns to the pan, followed by the fresh cherry tomatoes. Heat everything up to eating temperature, adjust the seasoning with some salt and pepper and a splash of sherry vinegar. Ready for eating ...

At this point I got a visitor, who didn't came for a meal, just to talk about a few things. So I left the soup on low heat ...

... so what?

Yes, the soup lost a lot of liquid and it looked rather like pumpkin mash or the kind of food you would feed to your baby (not that I know very much about these matters).


Let me call it pumpkin soup concentrate. You can add litres upon litres of water to make the soup for a while. So, if you have unexpected visitors ... the kind that are out for food ... here you go.

Are you shocked?

What for? I don't know what this is all about. Did I say I wanted to shut up shop? I don't think so. Nevertheless, the future is uncertain ...

So, watch out for any news regarding Cooking Around the World ...