Perfectly Spiced Paella with Saffron Rice

The hubby's birthday was yesterday and I decided to venture off and make paella.  My taste pallet has changed a bit since getting pregnant.  Creamy foods don't appeal to meal.  Savory foods with lots of spices are usually what I am seeking for.  And my dessert cravings have gone down a bit...except when I watch cake shows on TV.  Paella was a good choice because it has a lot of different spices, it's savory, and I can eat shrimp (no oysters or clams in this paella).  I found this recipe on All Recipes but I changed it up quite a bit based on my party size of 2 and my desire to add in more vegetables.  Here's what I did:

Saffron Rice
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup uncooked white rice
1 large pinch saffron threads
1 bay leaf
1/4 bunch Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
1 lemon, zested

Heat olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Stir in garlic, red pepper flakes, and rice. Cook, stirring, to coat rice with oil, about 3 minutes. Stir in saffron threads, bay leaf, parsley, chicken stock, and lemon zest. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer 20-25 minutes.

Paella Topping
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into pieces
10-15 baby portabells mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper diced

Mix all this in a bowl and marinade

1/2 onion, chopped
12 oz chorizo sausage, casings removed and crumbled
16 oz shrimp (I bought frozen shrimp, already deveined and cooked.)
16 oz diced tomatoes
1 cup of frozen peas

Heal olive oil in separate, large skillet over medium heat. Stir in marinated chicken and onion until almost cooked.  Stir in sausage and thoroughly cook meats.  Stir in shrimp bell pepper mushrooms, diced tomatoes and frozen peas.  Cover and bring to boil.  Mix topping with rice and serve.

The rice was just the right amount for a part of 2 (with a day of left overs).  And the topping made a serving for about 8-10.  It was a lot.  Both were delicious.  The saffron rice was amazing and had a lot of great flavors and spices.  It was the perfect color of yellow too with bits of green from the parsley and red from the saffron.  The paella topping was cooked great as well.  I'd probably cut the chorizo and shrimp in half since we had so much left over.  It might be because I added in more vegetables though as the original recipe didn't have the mushrooms, tomatoes or frozen peas.

Tang Ho (Chrysanthemum) Sushi!

When Jen and I took the How to Make Vegetarian Sushi class at Great News Cooking with Mineko Takane Moreno, author of Sushi for Dummies, one of my favorite rolls we had in that class was chrysanthemum sushi with a peanut-miso sauce. Unfortunately this great recipe was not in her book. I always wanted to make it again, but never could find chrysanthemum at my local 99 Ranch. Jen ended up finding out that the Chinese word for chrysanthemum was "tang ho" and that they sold it at 99 Ranch. Sure enough, I found it and had some delicious sushi for dinner!

Mongolian Beef

After having some success with Mapo Tofu from tweaking the recipe at rasamalaysia.com, I thought I would try their Mongolian Beef Recipe. I cannot say I was a huge fan. It definitely needs some tweaking but I'm quite not sure where.... Still looking for some staple Chinese recipes.

Caramel-Topped Semolina Cake

I saw Dorie make this on Martha Stewart's show in December and was interested. A cake that used farina as its base and contained no butter? This I have to try! It also looked easy and quick, which it was.

I mostly followed the directions, except I used a 9" cake pan since I don't own any 8" ones. The cake came out very flat. I also used almond milk instead of whole milk since I never have cow's milk in the house. I've made it twice now and both times I had trouble flipping the cake over after it was done baking. The first time was probably my fault. I forgot to run a knife around the edge in my haste and the edges stayed stuck in the cake pan. The second time, I sprayed the pan with non-stick spray and ran the knife around but I think the non-stick spray made the cake move too much within the pan and it squished itself to one side. I guess if I try this again, I won't use non-stick spray and I'll just run the knife around the edges?

Despite my troubles, you should try this cake. I hesitate to even call it that, as it is very custard-y in texture and not like a cake in the traditional sense. It is almost flan-like, but much more delicious. Jon didn't care for it, saying that I've made better, but Rich and I devoured it.

Caramel-Topped Semolina Cake

Nine-Ten: Mercy of the Chef

Jon and I finally got around to celebrating our birthdays (only 2 months late!) and went to Nine-Ten last night. It was my first time for dinner and Jon's first time ever. The restaurant is small and located within The Grand Colonial Hotel on Prospect Street in La Jolla. We didn't have any problems finding street parking on a Wednesday evening, but they do offer valet (for a fee).

I made the reservation through OpenTable and noticed that they surprisingly read my requests because we were seated in a private area and they knew it was Jon's birthday. I was beginning to think no one ever read my requests because they were never honored!

The service was stellar and attentive, without being snobby or pretentious. Almost immediately after being seated, we were given two complimentary flutes of rosé champagne to celebrate the birthday dinner as well as fresh bread.

Jon decided on this restaurant because we were both interested in their "Mercy of the Chef" dinner, which is a 5-course tasting menu of dishes created by the chef's inspiration for $70. We were each brought different items which was great because we were able to sample 10 different dishes!

I am not going to be able to list the details of every dish (sauces, garnishes, etc) because they were quite lengthy and I can't remember them all... even the server struggled to tell us what everything was and couldn't remember the exact names of things!

amuse-bouche:
This was a bite of salmon. It tasted very fresh and not "fishy" at all.

First course: salads

Jon: salmon salad with pieces of potato salad, topped with potato chips and roe

Jen: shaved cucumber salad with watercress and truffle oil (sorry this was taken in the middle of eating it because all other pictures were blurred)

These were both very good.

Second course: seafood

Jon: salmon with pomegranate and pureed celery root

Jen: swordfish with fingerling potatoes and olives

I liked these also. I generally don't care for swordish because it's too chewy/tough but these pieces were very tender.

Third course: main

Jon: lamb with yellow and pureed red beets and greens

Jen: turbot over some kind of vegetable with a truffle sauce

The turbot was very buttery and cooked perfectly. I couldn't figure out what else it was served with - seemed like some kind of shredded vegetable underneath it. Jon's lamb was also good. We both think lamb as being too "gamey" for us but this didn't taste like that. His was served with some kind of dark leafy green that I loved - seemed like it was a Chinese green of some sort.

Fourth course: cheese plates

Jon: goat's milk cheese and quince

Jen: a harder, peppery cheese (can't remember the name), toasted almonds

Both were served with different types of bread, including an interesting walnut bread.

Fifth course: dessert

Jon: coffeecake topped with bacon, butternut squash ice cream

Jen: chocolate mousse with creme fraiche, coffee, and banana ice cream

We both got candles on our plates!  Although beautifully plated, I was not as impressed with my dessert. Jon's seemed so much more inventive and unique.

They also gave us a couple of complimentary truffles (sorry, no picture) at the end that were good. Overall, I enjoyed the experience. Though very expensive for us, the food was high-quality, tasted good, and the service was excellent. Definitely a splurge though!

Happy Birthday to us!

2010 Holiday Goodies

Every year I bake cookies for The Wong Family + friends. This year was no exception. I usually spend hours perusing various sources (magazines, cookbooks, forums, blogs) for holiday worthy treats. If I were more organized, I would actually try some of these out ahead of time, but I'm not that organized. :) I trust most of the sources will yield deliciousness. If not, there is always the almond toffee I make yearly.

Here is what I made:

Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread
(Dorie Greenspan)

These were very popular on the internet. They are a sturdy shortbread cookie containing espresso powder that yields a "cookies and cream" appearance. The chunks of dark chocolate scattered into the dough give the cookie a good chocolate bite without the cookie tasting like a decidedly "chocolate cookie". They tasted great with coffee... or a latte.

Very easy to make. The idea of using a zip-loc bag to roll out the dough is brilliant. I couldn't get mine to look particular "pretty" but they still tasted great.

Ina Garten's Rugelach

I've made rugelach in the past and always swear it is the LAST time. It is time-consuming, the dough is always hard to work with, and mine always seem to break and/or look ugly. But they taste divine! I have made Lora Bordy's Rugelach many times in the past but this year I decided to try Ina Garten's wondering if it would be any easier.

I'm not sure if it was the recipe (they actually look very similar when you compare the two) or if I just resigned myself knowing it would take a long time and therefore had more patience this year, but the process of making them was "not bad." I did lots of chilling though... I chilled the dough after it had been divided into 4 parts... then chilled it again after it had been rolled out into 9" circles... then chilled the cookies themselves before baking. It saved some frustration with the dough falling apart while I tried rolling them up.

Mine still never come out as picture-perfect or pretty as I've seen elsewhere, but they taste divine. :)

Nutella Nutters
(St. Petersburg Times)

When I saw this recipe, I knew I was making this one. Nutella + Peanut Butter cannot equal anything but awesomeness. These cookies also contain no flour which make them a naturally gluten-free cookie. They were easy to make with all ingredients I had on hand. These are rich, sweet, chocolate-y and chewy -- tasting of all things good: nutella and peanut butter!

Curry Coriander Shorties

(Gourmet, September 2009)

These were my surprise favorite of the bunch. I had read about this cookie on an online forum thread about unusual Christmas cookies. These shortbread cookies use savory spices to make them taste different. They smelled lovely while baking and had a really different complex flavor to them. I'm wondering if anyone will guess what it is, since I didn't label the cookies this year. Definitely my favorite of the bunch, but we'll see what everyone else thinks...

Surprise-Filled Cookies (Jam Thumbprints)

(Mrs. Fields cookbook)

I wanted another fruity cookie to add to the assortment and settled on these. I had made one in the past with a cream cheese dough that wasn't very easy to work with and decided to try this recipe from Mrs. Field's instead. There is no cream cheese in the dough and the resulting cookie tastes somewhere between a sugar and butter cookie.

I didn't follow the directions to use a melon baller for depositing the jam and instead used my fingers as I would in a normal jam thumprint. I used a mixed-berry jam which contained raspberries, cherries, and boysenberries. The cookies looked pretty and tasted as one would have expected -- fruity and sweet -- but I wasn't wowed by them.  Still would like to find a good jam thumbprint...

Aunt Anne's Sesame Cookies

(allrecipes.com)

I have to admit I was a bit worried about these after I bought the anise extract. I wasn't quite sure what anise was and when I opened the bottle and took a whiff, I didn't think I liked it. The anise flavor is very subtle though. These are a slightly sweet, butter cookie with a very slight hint of anise and sesame seed flavor. They were easy to make and looked pretty when done. They're a nice addition to round out the sweetness of most holiday cookies.

Whew, that was one big baking extravaganza. No more cookies for a while...

Crispy Salted Oat Cookies

I wanted to like these. Really, I did. I normally like the combination of salty-sweet... eggs that accidentally touch the pancake syrup... maple bacon... salted caramels... mmmm... but something about these were just a little off for me.

I figured it out about halfway into my second cookie. OH. I don't like crispy cookies! Doh. I prefer chewy and soft cookies. These are not it. They're not hard so I wouldn't classify them as "crunchy" but they are "crispy" - thin with a bit of hard chew to them.

I did like the flavor combination of salty-sweet, but still found that the cookies themselves lacked something. Spices? Add-ins? Not sure. The coworkers I gave them too enjoyed them and said they were good, but I am not sure whether they were trying to be nice.

Recipe found here.