Mercado de San Miguel, Madrid

blurry san miguel
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

The Market (Mercado) of San Miguel in Madrid is a redone market with tremendous vendors, ham, cheese, fish, meat, wine, beer. Anything and everything to stock your larder or eat out.

The last time we went we scored a variety of foods. Of course ham, Iberico de bellota



We had some oysters, that were the brineiest I've ever tasted



You can almost imagine the salt on these



We had some paella rice (all of this shared between 3)



and some pork rinds (chicharron)



We love this market and hit it every time we are in Madrid. Fun place with great food.

OK Another Paella

paella
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I've posted these a couple of times, but they are easy and tasty, should be made by all, depending on the ingredients you have.

Started with chorizo



peeled shrimp, shells saved



bag of clams



roasted and peeled red pepper



Started out by sauteeing the shrimp shells in olive oil.



removed the shells and sauteed the chorizo



then added the peeled shrimp



sauteed for a bit and removed it all. Sauteed garlic with the bomba rice and added pimenton and sauteed for a couple of seconds more.



before adding the chicken stock (3 to 1 liquid to rice)



brought it to a boil and addd the peppers



I then added the clams



I added the shrimp and chorizo back when the rice began to show



Terrific dish, quite a few steps but done in under 30 minutes with all ingredients prepped.

Paella negra con esparagos

Paella negra con esparagos
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

Black rice paella with white asparagus.

I made a small paella for lunch. I wanted to make a very dark inky rice, some of my previous attempts yielded a rice much more on the grey side, so for this dish I used a much more generous amount of ink. This paella also ends up being meatless, vegetarian friendly if you don't mind seafood products.
The ingredients are few:

Asparagus, these are very high quality canned white asparagus



quality assurance tab





You should taste the liquid the asparagus come canned or jarred in. If it tastes good, not overly salty or metallic tasting then save it and use it as part of your liquid for the rice. This liquid was saved and used. (about 3/4 cup)

I also used a high quality cuttlefish/squid ink. I've used the little envelopes before and they are just ok, this really has a great squid aroma, and also I believe, a higher protein/collagen content. It is thicker and ends up being very unctuous in the finished product.



I used a cup and a half of bomba rice



I used hot pimenton as I figured the heat would go well with the ink and scarcity of ingredients






Chopped onions and garlic round up the ingredients.



Preparation; I heated up a small paella pan



Added olive oil and sauteed the onions and garlic



as soon as the garlic began to brown I added the rice and sauteed it with the onions and garlic



After half a minute or so I added the pimenton, about one teaspoon



I mixed it in and quickly added my liquid (the pimenton can burn and turn bitter rather quickly) which was just the asparagus water and regular water to make up 3 times the rice volume, so in this case 4 and a half cups



I then added two heaping teaspoons of the ink



I mixed to incorporate and tasted for salt.



The ink adds a bit of salt but it still needed a pinch more. I let it boil on the stovetop and the color began to set



It was very fragrant, smelling of the sea with clearly noticeable squid aroma.
When the rice was nearly dry I added the asparagus over top, they are already cooked so just need to warm up a bit.



Served the dish was excellent, a very unctuous mouth feel, almost silky awesome ocean taste with a nice texture and taste contrast from the asparagus.



Clearly the rice turned a deep shiny black which I really liked. The ink would also make a great base for a pasta sauce. May have to buy some squid bodies and stuff them with the leftover rice, they would be nice grilled. Excellent dish overall.

Vegetable paella

Vegetable paella
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

We had a small gathering of friends to celebrate the week of birthdays. I grilled some lamb, my wife made some great hummus and seeing as we had some vegetarian guests, I made a vegetable paella.
Ingredients
3 cups bomba rice
9 cups of salted water (should taste like the ocean) (including the water from the asparagus)
1 lb of roasted red pepper, sliced into strips
4 cooked artichoke hearts
1/4 cup of pine nuts
1/2 cup of cooked large white beans
one jar of white asparagus
2 handfulls of fresh green beans
2 tablespoons of pimenton
pinch of paprika
one large grated tomato
4 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup of olive oil
2 cups of assorted wild mushrooms

I sauteed the garlic and mushrooms and pine nuts in the olive oil, the added mushrooms and when soft added the paprika and quickly mixed and added the grated tomato.
After another several minutes I added the water, paprika and the rice.
when the water came to a boil the green beans went in followed by the red pepper strips and large white beas.
when the water level lowered to the rice then I layered the artichokes and white asparagus on top. I kept it on the burners till a slight char developed on the bottom, then served.
Turned out great!

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



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



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



The meats



the grated tomato and garlic



The beans and some sofrito



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



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





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.