Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Squid and Rice in Ink


Squid close up
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
My son really likes squid and particularly dishes cooked with squid ink. We where facing an all men meal, as the girls had eaten earlier so we went with a seafood rice dish in squid ink.
Ingredients:
For 2
4 mussells
6 small shrimp
2 scallops sliced into three pieces each
8-12 squid depending on size
1 cup of rice
squid ink (usually comes in a packet, but if you get fresh squid you may be able to harvest it)
1/2 an onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 cups seafood stock if available.

Sautee the onion and garlic in olive oil till soft and fragrant.
add all the seafood and sautee till barely cooked at high heat.
add rice and mix till rice is coated in oil.
add 2 cups of liquid and packet of squid ink (you may want to mix the ink in the liquid prior to adding)
bring to a boil then turn to low heat and cook for 12-15 minutes

squid ink rice

Very tasty

Squid close up

Friday, September 17, 2010

Pulpo a la gallega (Galician Octopus)


pulpo a la gallega
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
This is a variation on the preparation of Galician style octopus (pulpo a la gallega) the main variation is I had canned octopus rather than fresh. Typically one would boil the octopus first then the potato in the same water. I boiled 5 yukon gold potato in salted water for 10 min,

boiling

After 10 minutes I drained the potato sliced it, and placed it in a pan with 6 cloves of garlic and covered it with olive oil (including the oil from the octopus cans)

pulpo en conserva


The potato and 6 garlic cloves was then confited for 15 min at low temp till the potato is done (checked with a wooden skewer)


confit

the dish is finished layering the potato


papa

An aioli is made from the confit oil, and egg yolk, confitted garlic, lime, mustard, lime juice, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

pulpo 021

then the octopus is seasoned with pimenton and salt

pulpo a la gallega


the final product was incredibly tasty, potato, aioli, octopus and crusty bread

octopus dinner

make some

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Ben Heck Show - Adapted Access

Ben Heck is one of the stars of hardware modification and has produced both one of a kind and production models of adapted controllers. He has a new show and if you are into this sort of thing it's fascinating.

The Ben Heck Show Adapted Controller

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Fideua


done fideua
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
Fideua is the pasta based alternative to a paella. cooked in a very similar manner either with thick or thin short noodles. This one has chorizo, pork and butter beans. The stock was made from beef bones.

The ingredients

fideua ingredients

Butter beans about 3/4 cup
small chorizo sausage (from La Tienda)
Pork Shank meat
grated fresh tomato and garlic

fideua pasta

Pimenton
short thin dry noodles (I think I may have bought this at Olio)
Preparation
Heat olive oil in your pan, and sautee the ingredients step wise

olive oil

The meats

pork and chorizo

the grated tomato and garlic

chorizo, tomate

The beans and some sofrito

butter beans

2 tablespoons of pimenton went in sautee for 30 sec then
I then added the beef stock and seasoned with salt to taste

stock

I did not measure the liquid but filled the pan to just underneath the handle rivets, then once the liquid began to boil, I added a single line of pasta across the diameter of the pan till the pasta was about a centimeter above the water line. Then mix to distribute.
15-20 minutes later it was done and looked like this

done fideua

fideua flashed

The noodles are a much different texture than a regular rice paella, crispy on the bottom, creamy in the center and firm on the top. The butter beans were a good choice here adding a nice sweetness and crunch.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Sancocho


sancocho
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
I had been craving sancocho for some time. This is a soup/stew starch heavy and typically made with multiple lesser cuts of meat, and mixed meats, chicken, pork , beef all comingling. I went with straight pork, but used a homemade chicken stock for the base.
Ingredients
(chop all roots + vegetables into cubes)
1 large yucha root peeled
1 sweet potato
6 small yukon gold potatoes
2 large carrots
2 large turnips
1 large onion
2 large leeks cleaned and chopped
6 cloves of garlic
4 pork shanks rubbed with salt, garlic, oregano, black pepper and left overnight in fridge

1 large can (20 oz) of hominy (this is not a typical ingredient, but I had been saving it to make pozole and said what the hell. Normally a couple of corncobs would be substituted)

3 cups chicken stock
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup of sofrito
salt and pepper to taste

I cooked it all outside as it was summer, and I could jump in the pool between doneness checks. The shanks were browned on the grill

browning shanks

We had bought them at the farmers market

pork shank

Once browned the sofrito is sauteed in the cooking vessel (oven safe) and all the roots and vegetables (except the hominy) are added. I then put the shanks on top of the vegetable mix and cooked at approximately 350 degrees for an hour.

ready for transport

This way the fat and rub drips down onto the roots. After an hour I added the liquid ingredients and the hominy tasted and adjusted for salt and pepper and cooked for another half hour. After that I boned out the pork and returned it to the pot. You should have a very thick broth from all the starch with contrasting textures from the different roots and corn. The meat should be soft and easy to chew.

sancocho

Makes for great leftovers as well

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Beet ice cream


beet ice cream
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
Probably not going to break into Baskin Robbin's flavor profile, but still a fun experimental flavor.

2 cups of cream
1 and 1/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
2 cloves
1/2 stick of cinnamon
6 med/small beets roasted, peeled and pureed (about one cup)

place the cream, cloves and cinnamon and 1 cup of sugar in a sauce pan and heat till steaming but not boiling

beat egg yolks with 1/4 cup sugar till pale yellow

Temper eggs and combine eggs with cream mixture, bring to a boil while stirring constantly then take off heat.

Add pureed beets and mix to combine.

Chill in fridge overnight.

Follow directions for your ice cream machine, to make ice cream out of chilled mix.

This has a very strong beet flavor, which I like, it's got a bit of a vegetable texture too, I guess the mix can be strained after combining with the cream to minimize that.