The Daring Cooks Make Creamy Rice with Mushrooms, Artichokes, and Shrimp

When I saw this month’s Daring Cooks challenge announcement, my pulse quickened and I envisioned a moist, colorful, flavorful Spanish rice. The sofregit seemed perfect for the season, with fresh tomatoes, peppers, and garlic, and this was a perfect opportunity to test out the paella pan (paellera) Michael gave me for Christmas. That I still had not used. Time to get cracking.

We used our homegrown tomatoes and garlic in the dish, loving the fresh flavor of the tomatoes and the intensity of our garlic. As I studied the instructions, I realized the recipe only used a small amount of the sofregit, but we enjoyed the flavor so much we added more along with a dollop of the allioli to each serving of rice. Each taste was like a game of roulette, not knowing when we would find the sharp bite of the allioli. Read more

Shrimp with Mushroom Tapas and a Cookbook Give Away

In 1985 Penelope Casas introduced U.S. diners to the world of Spanish tapas with the success of her book Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain. Casas is a recognized authority on Spanish cuisine and has published five books on the foods of the region and writes about Spanish food and travel for several major publications. She also leads culinary tours of Spain, a piece of information I have tucked away for my future (but still unplanned) trip to Spain. Last year she published a revised version of her classic book, and I was fortunate to receive a copy for review from the folks at La Tienda.

The book has over 300 recipes, of which 50 are new, and has chapters devoted to tapas in sauce, marinades and cold tapas, tapas with bread or pastry, tapas with last-minute preparation, ingredients and cookware, sources for Spanish products, and tapas menus. The ingredients and cookware section is like an encyclopedia of Spanish cooking, with detailed descriptions of such things as queso Manchego, Marcona almonds, earthenware dishes (cazuelas), and quince paste (membrillo). The menus are very helpful for planning a tapas party, and I can see us having some kind of tapas party in the next few months. The book is very thorough and the only thing I could wish for is more photos of beautiful tapas!

We selected a couple tapas to make for Michael’s little birthday dinner (Happy Birthday, honey!), and I wanted to serve one with seafood and one with vegetables. I chose the Shrimp and Mushrooms in Almond Sauce (Fricando de Langostinos) and the Stewed Zucchini, Peppers, and Tomatoes (Pisto Manchego). Both have sauces worthy of sopping up with chunks of artisan bread. Read more

Vegetable Paella

Paella is the pinnacle of rice dishes, though the grand seafood version we often see in the United States would be unrecognizable to the Spanish peasants who invented it. The dish originated in Valencia and traditionally was made with rabbit and land snails, though sometimes chicken and/or duck was used instead. Seafood came later as love for the dish spread, and much later chefs began adding a meatless version to their menus for vegan customers. With so many fresh vegetables in season, summer is a perfect time for this vegan paella, though you can make a winter version with root vegetables and canned tomatoes. Saffron is noticeably absent in this version, replaced with a tomato-based sofrito.

A paella pan, or paellera, is the gear of choice for making paella, though you can use just about any wide skillet. When cooked properly, the rice forms a highly prized crispy crust on the bottom called socarrat. Nonstick pans will not render the socarrat properly, so avoid those if you want that crispy crust. Paella pans can be small enough to make tapas, just 8 inches across, or large enough to feed 50 people and 36 inches across. Make sure the pan you choose will fit on your cooktop or grill before you start cooking! Read more

White Sangria

Getting my red wine-loving husband to drink white wine is like trying to get a kid to eat spinach, so he was not exactly thrilled when I told him I was making white sangria. I talked it up, trying to get him interested in tasting something new, but he’s just not a white wine kind of guy.

I, on the other hand, enjoy white wine and felt excited about the white sangria and the chunks of delicious fruit. This recipe uses fresh plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, oranges, and orange and lemon juice, then tops it all off with Amaretto and sparkling water, and I knew I had a winner when Michael went back for a second glass commenting on how good it tasted.

This refreshing sangria goes well with seafood or light tapas. You can mix it up 12 hours ahead, and I love how the fruity flavors mingle with the wine when it’s had some resting time, but remember to hold the sparkling water until just before serving to preserve the bubbles.

Reminder: There’s still time to enter the Spain and the World Table cookbook give away! Visit the original post and tell us about your favorite Spanish food or a Spanish food you want to try. The contest ends at 8 pm May 31! Read more

Shrimp in Garlic Tapa and a Cookbook Give Away

I wish I could have visited Spain during my jaunt through Europe in 1996, but time was short and I thought a visit to Spain would come on a later trip that has yet to materialize. One of my childhood dreams was to see the horses in Andalusia, so I must do that as well as enjoy the art, architecture, food, and music. Obviously I have a somewhat romantic view of this future yet unplanned trip, and hopefully someday I will have a chance to fulfill those dreams.

Likewise, I’m afraid I’ve taken a somewhat romantic view of the latest cookbook to arrive courtesy of the folks at DK Publishing. Spain and the World Table is a beautiful book from The Culinary Institute of America which featured Spanish cuisine during the 2006 Worlds of Flavor International Conference & Festival in the Napa Valley. This is more than just a cookbook, it’s a journey through Spanish cuisine with features about the history of Spanish cooking and some of the great Spanish ingredients such as hams, cheeses, wines and sherries, saffron, fresh seafood, potatoes, rice, and chocolate (yes, chocolate, and not just drinking chocolate). The book is oversized with big gorgeous photos and many recipes across eight categories, including tapas, soups, meats, seafood, rice, salads and vegetables, sauces and condiments, and desserts. The recipes represent a range of complexity, and though the book focuses on Spanish ingredients, many are widely available in the United States. Some are more costly in this country, such as serrano ham, but substitutions are often easy to find to keep the dishes within budget.

So far we have made four of the dishes and I have a list of many more I plan to make, including a passion fruit ice cream I’m dying to try. Read more

Sangria for Cinco de Mayo

Ev is my best girl friend, and she and I have been enjoying each other’s company over good food for almost 14 years. We met in 1993 in Bogotá, Colombia when I was teaching at the embassy school, and our favorite haunt was a little Japanese store and sushi bar around Calle 98 and something or other (long time ago, memory a bit sketchy on location). Asian food was scarce and expensive in Bogotá, and it was such a *treat* for us to enjoy some Japanese food. We hung out together quite a bit during our first year there, then the next year she left to do Peace Corps work in Africa, and I later headed to Saudi Arabia.

A few years later we met up again when we were both living in Chicago. She had married her Peace Corps partner from Africa, and she and I would go for a girls’ day or evening out to a local Korean restaurant and grocery store near Lincoln Square. When I got a new apartment in Logan Square, she would stop by for cocktails on Friday evenings after work and we would chat over some really good margaritas at a little hole-in-the-wall place near my apartment. We enjoyed many of those margaritas! Read more