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!

Cherry Braised Pork Chops

with thyme
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

This is a variation of the jam braised pork chops, but instead with fresh cherries and thyme as the main flavoring. I had about 2 cups of cherries in the fridge that where starting to loose their firmness so I decided to cook them for dinner. I pitted them by cutting them in half and removing the stone.



I pureed half of them (one cup) with a hand blender, with a quarter cup of white wine, half and onion, a clove of garlic and a pinch of salt.



I then sauteed the remaining half an onion with another clove of garlic and some guanciale till soft.





I then removed the onion, garlic and guancialle leaving just a bit of fat behind and seared the pork chops in the same pan.



As is usual I was flying by the seat of my pants and had not planned any specific side dish, I was about to send out my wife for some spinach when the door rang and the neighbor dropped off two big bunches of asparagus



I put it in a microwave safe bowl, sprinkled with fleur de sel (salt), olive oil and a teaspoon of water. I microwaved it a minute at a time till they where steamed and crisp (less than 3min)



When the porkchops where well browned on both sides, I removed them and deglazed the pan with the pureed cherry mix



I let the liquid reduce a bit then returned the porkchops, onions and garlic and added the remaining cherries



This cooked for another ten minutes or so and then I added fresh thyme over top



The dish was well received by the family, the fresh thyme adds great aroma and earthiness to an already very rustic dish. I thought the cherries were very good, not too sweet and the sauce was great. Thanks to the neighbors for the unexpected veg delivery.