I’m late, I’m late! I blame work, the distinct lack of kitchen equipment, womanly woes, and a headache from hell. Still, erm, better late than never? I offer pathetically.
This month’s challenge was hosted by Olga, , and featured a Spanish recipe of Rice with Mushrooms, Cuttlefish and Artichokes by renowned Spanish chef José Andrés.
No process pictures, alas. That’s what cooking in a kitchen ill-suited for photography does to you. That, and aforementioned still-very-persistent headache. Hopefully, the other pictures will make up for it.
(Spanish-style) Rice with Mushrooms, Cuttlefish and Artichokes
There were three stages to the recipe. First was the sofregit, otherwise known as “a well cooked and fragrant sauce made of olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and onions, and may at times different vegetables such as peppers or mushrooms”. This was the list of ingredients we were given:
Sofregit
– 2 tablespoons of olive oil
– 5 big red ripe tomatoes, chopped
– 2 small onions, chopped
– 1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
– 4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped
– 1 cup of button or Portobello mushrooms, chopped (optional)
– 1 Bay leaf
– Salt
– Touch of ground cumin
– Touch of dried oregano
Dump the lot into a frying pan and sauté slowly until all the vegetables are soft.
The sofregit done, it was time to tackle the rice. The list of ingredients was as follows:
– 4 Artichokes
– 12 Mushrooms
– 1 or 2 Bay leaves (optional but highly recommended)
– 1 glass of white wine
– 2 Cuttlefish
– “Sofregit”
– 300 gr (2 cups) Short grain rice (Spanish types Calasparra or Montsant are preferred, but you can choose any other short grain.)
– Water or Fish Stock
– Saffron threads
I know I said no process pictures, but this warrants a picture, methinks:
More to the point, canned artichokes! Yes, I managed to find some! Finally! (She says very excitedly. Witness her abuse of exclamation marks.) My original plan was to substitute the artichokes with water chestnuts, being unable to find both fresh and canned versions of the former. However, I eventually stumbled upon two sneakily-hidden tins of canned artichokes at one of the supermarkets I visited, hurrah hurrah etc. My thanks to all the lovely people who informed me of various artichoke sightings about Singapore. And special thanks to draycevixen, who very kindly and patiently discussed possible artichoke substitutes.
That said, never, never, never will I handle artichokes again unless there be a great need. Oh, the smell, the smell. Ack. And the sliminess, which I know doesn’t make sense since I don’t usually have a problem with slimy foods (e.g. fish eyes), but still. Bleargh. Actually, it reminded me vaguely of the Chinese preserved vegetables?
Otherwise, hm. Didn’t have any saffron threads, so I used tumeric instead. My fish stock wasn’t so much fish stock as fish, prawn and kelp stock. I tossed prawns into the rice too. Oh, and added extra garlic. Plenty of extra garlic.
How it works: Fry the squid/prawns. Throw in the mushrooms and artichokes and bay leaves (which I removed before adding the rice, because I’m pretty sure they’re poisonous when consumed), sautéing until the artichokes are golden brown. Add a touch of wine and some sofregit, mixing well. Add the rest of the liquid and bring to boil. Pour in the rice, and let boil on high heat for 5 minutes. Put in the saffron threads (or tumeric), stir, and lower the heat, letting it boil for another 8 minutes or until the rice is al dente. Remove from heat and let the rice stand for a couple of minutes before serving.
The rice is served with allioli, a kind of garlic oil. We were given two recipes, one traditional and one modern. I’m leaving them both here, but I went with the modern one because I’m lazy that way. *g*
Allioli (traditional)
Ingredients:
– 4 garlic cloves, peeled
– Pinch of salt
– Fresh lemon juice (some drops)
– Extra-virgin olive oil (Spanish preferred but not essential)
Directions:
1. Place the garlic in a mortar along with the salt.
2. Using a pestle, smash the garlic cloves to a smooth paste. (The salt stops the garlic from slipping at the bottom of the mortar as you pound it down.)
3. Add the lemon juice to the garlic.
4. Drop by drop; pour the olive oil into the mortar slowly as you continue to crush the paste with your pestle.
5. Keep turning your pestle in a slow, continuous circular motion in the mortar. The drip needs to be slow and steady. Make sure the paste soaks up the olive oil as you go.
6. Keep adding the oil, drop by drop, until you have the consistency of a very thick mayonnaise. If your allioli gets too dense, add water to thin it out.
7. This takes time—around 20 minutes of slow motion around the mortar—to create a dense, rich sauce.
Allioli (modern)
Ingredients:
– 1 small egg
– 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (as above, Spanish oil is highly recommended)
– 1 garlic clove, peeled
– 1 Tbs. Spanish Sherry vinegar or lemon juice (if Sherry vinegar is not available, use can use cider or white vinegar)
– Salt to taste
Directions:
1. Break the egg into a mixing bowl.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic cloves, along with the vinegar or lemon juice.
3. Using a hand blender, start mixing at high speed until the garlic is fully pureed into a loose paste.
4. Little by little, add what’s left of the olive oil as you continue blending.
5. If the mixture appears too thick as you begin pouring the oil, add 1 teaspoon of water to loosen the sauce.
6. Continue adding the oil and blending until you have a rich, creamy allioli. The sauce will be a lovely yellow color.
7. Add salt to taste.
Left: Allioli; Right: Sofregit
A thousand thank-you’s to the wonderful bankevair, who very patiently listened to all my cooking woes and gripes, and offered suggestions and advice from her side too. Cheers hon! *squishes squishily*
Like I said on flickr. Ah photos of so much love!
I think your attempt turned out brilliantly! Did you like how it tasted?
That looks stunning! All those lovely photos!
Love the Monty Python references 🙂
These are definitely mouth-watering photos ♥_♥
I have to laugh. I hate the smell of fish, but I think artichokes smell delicious! I love them any way you can fix them. Yum. Right out of the can works too.
Your pics are beautiful, but I’ll pass on the fish and mushrooms. *g*
Artichokes aren’t particularly slimy if you cook them from fresh/find the frozen sort it’s just something that happens in the can. Fresh, I’d say the smell when they’re cooking is more akin to how broccoli smells.
The recipe looks fantastic and as usual, your piccies are making me hungy. *g*