Paella - Irresistible

My friend Maurice Jacoel, posted me a photo of a very beautiful paella in Brasilia, Brazil.

Suddenly, I realised I had never posted my paella on this blog! 

This is interesting, since it is one of the dishes I've been cooking, and changing its recipe, constantly and for the last 20 years. 

I'll publish photos here from several different occasions (dates) and stages of cooking paella. So bear in mind there are variations!

The choice of RICE:

Here is the interesting part. I started cooking paella with "long grain" rice. I did experiment with medium grain, basmati, thai jasmine, and finally with Italian arborio rice. 

The verdict is this: The crowd I cook for, PREFERS a more "wet" paella rice, so I've been choosing the arborio rice to achieve this consistency, but sometimes, I go back to the traditional long grain, which produces a "dryer" end result.

Honestly, I got to know this "parboiled" (partially boiled) rice, and it is my opinion it is "rubbish", horrible and taste nothing besides it is a serious risk to get stuck on your throat. If you like it go for it, but I specifically believe its quality is unacceptable and should be avoided at all cost. 

Finally, if you can find it try "flor de calasparra" a special Spanish paella rice.

To Wash or not to Wash, that is the question.

If the rice is clean on the pack, don't wash it since a lot can be lost by prematurely inflating the rice with water. BUT if the rice contains talc and other substance "to look good" on the packaging, my suggestion is to rinse and dry it quickly (cloth or hair dryer doesn't matter how).

I start cooking, by placing a good amount of rich saffron stems on a stainless steel jar with hot water and set it aside for latter. I use 2 boxes of 1 gram of saffron each for 1 litre of water. 

The pan.

I used many different ones, but I end up buying a stainless steel spanish made by "magefesa" paella pan with lid 45cm diameter. I understand it is a shortcut to practicality over the more traditional carbon steel option I used in the past, and honestly, it is more difficult to burn the rice in the bottom an a lot easier to clean up after!

A good start is to cook red onions (purple) very thinly sliced and well chopped garlic in a bed of olive oil at medium heat until the onions are soft. I personally use Carbonell Extra Virgin, and I cover completely the bottom of the 45cm pan (about 1/2 litre to 750ml).

At this stage you may like to add some red / green capsicum, it enriches the flavour and gives a very good visual to the dish.

Next add Spanish Chorizo, it is important that you don't fry too much the chorizo, but what we want is to extract some colour and melt the fat in the chorizo so it will help flavour the rice. Usually I use 4 chorizos

Add rice after that and keep stirring it around so it changes colour. This is the point the rice is "sealed" outside. For my pan 1 Kg of rice.

At this point I add 250ml of Dry white wine and 250ml of the saffron water we prepared before. Keep reducing the liquid until you have 1/2 of it evaporated. That should get rid of the alcohol !

Add your seafood mix now and again 250ml of Dry white wine and 250ml of the saffron water we prepared before.

The seafood mix I use contains:

White flesh fish

Salmon

Mussels

Squid

Baby Octopus

Prawns (medium, deveined no tail no head)

The quality of these ingredients will determine "how good" the end result is! 

For my standard Paella 2 Kg of seafood mix

Mix it well, let it reduce a bit more (I'm after a no alcohol smell).

Add another 250ml of Dry white wine and 250ml of the saffron water we prepared before.

Now it is the crucial point:

Quickly decorate the top with strips of Red capsicum and of course you can use, green and yellow too ! Who's going to stop you ! It is your paella !

The final ingredient is :

Prawns, Cray fish, Mussels, Lobster or what we use a lot here in Australia Moreton Bay Bugs ( Thenus Orientalis) Please don't be shy here! This is the size of the WOW you're going to get!

Please be generous!

Decorate the top with your choice or a combination of it!

Let the slow cooking of these ingredients determine when it is ready to serv. 

Keep an eye using a bamboo skewer that the liquid has evaporated to a dryer than risotto level!

Serve with a selection of extra virgin Olive Oil and a good assortment of different chillies!

Have fun!

Totally undecided Bacalhau - Bacalhau Totalmente Indeciso

Bacalhau com batatas ao murro cebolada e brocoli

Punched Potatoes, Broccolis and Onion Feast Bacalhau

Well this recipe could be called “Indecided Bacalhau”.

You know, when you cannot decide which recipe you will use and looking at the main ingredient for a while it is as indecisive as you are?
...and then comes the option of “what a hell, do them all!”.

The key point on this one is that the Bacalhau would be grilled in the oven!

First step was to hydrate and desalinate the Bacalhau as previously explained in another post.

Using bits and pieces of the fish ( pectoral, dorsal, pelvic and caudal fins) or in short skins with bones, boil them in a small saucepan. Here you can place them inside a a small cloth bag or by themselves.

We use this water to boil small sized round potatoes, and small size white onions (the ones used for pickled onions) until they are 50% ready. You can test them by sticking a fork into the potatoes so they get in but not totally through, and the onions they are soft so you can get them with the fork and they are still very intact.

When this is done, punch gently with your hands each potatoes so it opens / breaks skin BUT do not squash them.


On a good baking tray, cover the bottom with good quality extra virgin olive oil.


Place the alternating potatoes and onions in order to create a base for the Bacalhau
Place the Bacalhau on top.


Add some Bay leaves sparingly.





Steam your Broccolis, don’t overcook it, it has to be firm.

On a small saucepan put a bit of Olive oil and finely chopped garlic cooking it until the garlic starts to get dark.
Immediately pour HALF of this over the fish and the other half on top of the broccolis (in a separate serving dish)

Add Black Olives with a bit of the black olives water on top of the fish.
Put all in the oven at 200 C for about 30 minutes covered with foil and then remove the foil and allow another 30 min approximately to get a “firm skin” on the fish.

Using the grill on your stove you can finish it up until it is with a crisp skin look and feel.

Put the broccolis to heat up in the oven briefly.

And Serve it all with a good "Vinho Verde" or Rieseling.

Bom Apetite!

Bacalhau - Salted Dried Cod Fish

Bacalhau (sounds like : [bakalyaw] ba - like in bar; ca - like car, lhau - like lyaw)

Bacalhau is the name given to "dried salted cod fish" Portuguese. Also known as bacalao in Spanish and baccalà in Italian. This fish is known for more than 500 years and it is part of the gastronomy of may cultures and particularly of interest for me to the Portuguese and Brazilian cultures.

The type of cod usually (or originally) known as "bacalhau" is the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) from cold waters of the North Atlantic but some 60 other types of fish had been used to produce bacalhau like: Gadus macrocephalus , Gadus virens  Molva molva (also known as bacalhau Ling),  Brosmius brosme (also known as bacalhau Zarbo), note to the Arapaima Gigas (common name pirarucu) an Amazonian species also used to produce the dried and salted fish.

We will call it from now on just bacalhau.

Choosing a "good quality" bacalhau:


There are more techniques known to choose the best bacalhau then bacalhau in the North Atlantic!
I look for a fish that is:
    •    well covered with a lot of salt
    •    that is well dried (not too flexible), firm not rigid
    •    that has a wither than yellowish colour
    •    nice thickness when bought (dried)
    •    and a good size 2 to 3 Kg

Try to search the net for it there are very funny ways to choose the "best bacalhau".

The "Hydrating and Desalination" process:

The most important part of the process of cooking bacalhau is to re-hydrate and remove the salt from fish. In the past this process was done by submerging the fish in water and continuosly changing the water. Well it did not change in 500 years! The only difference is that today most people prefer to do this using cold water and maintaining the fish inside the fridge or cold room during this process.

Known in Portugal as "de-molhar" (deixar de molho) and in Brazil as de-salgar or de-salar (retirar o sal), is the desalination that is done usually in a period of 24 to 48 hours (preferably) where the fish is washed of the external salt, and submerged in water, and this water frequently (usually every 6 hours) changed with fresh water.

I personally prefer to place the fish inside stainless steel bowls and cover them with plastic film in order not to have the strong smell of fish spreading inside your fridge! Just in case your fridge starts to smell fish, place a bit of charcoal inside the fridge and this will help remove the strong odour.
During the hydrating and salt removing process the fish will expand due to the water absorption, so please allow enough room on your bowl(s) so this process is facilitated. The final thickness of the bacalhau also depends on this expanding proccess.

Some people in a hurry, boil the fish with potatoes to remove the salt, hydrate and at the same time cook potatoes that will "taste" bacalhau. I personally don't like this process but it is "the last resort" when at the end of the hydrating and desalinating process the fish is still with a very salty taste.

The cooking process:

Once again this is impossible to have "the right way" of cooking.
The fact is that bacalhau is so versatile as an ingredient that it can be present and an entrée, cold / warm salads and of course as main.

The most famous "accomplices" of bacalhau are:

• potatoes
• onions
• olives
• chickpeas
• brocoli
• spinash
• and many others

Bacalhau can be mainly:

• boiled
• grilled
• fried etc

There is always a "new and improved way" of creating the perfect dish with bacalhau, but please remember it is already "cooked" by the drying and salting proccess so, dont overdo it!

I'll publish a few recipes or methods I like to prepare bacalhau, I hope you will enjoy.

Back in business - GOOD FOOD business

Hello

NEVER EVER in my life I had a single impulse of growing food.
UNTIL the day we moved to the Australian Outback.

It started with the fact not even viagra would make the bunch of parsley stay up. It was old, refrigerated - de -refrigerated  etc.

The house we moved in had 2 ready made "planting areas"

One covered :

And one uncovered

it was too much of a temptation.

My wife and I got into the "lets try it" mood.

We first found an excellent, reliable seeds shop. Our choice was GreenHarvest, because we lived on he Sunshine Coast and the website was very easy to use . I make no money from them and I'm very happy to be just a well served customer. ( http://www.greenharvest.com.au/ )

We bought :

• Coriander
• Parsley
• Bok Choy
• Thai Basil
• and others AH ! almost forgot, as an old Astrologer I also bought a planting with the Moon guide, which I followed on my growing stuff venture.

Of course the 40º C temperature outside is not really inviting to work on the garden so w used the mornings an late afternoons to prepare the ground and seed it.

We decides to create another planting area with more shade (it gets the morning Sun up to 10:30 AM) and place the Thai Basil and Parsley there>

This is the Coriander and Bok Choy after 2 weeks:

And here is the Thai Basil and Parsley after 2 weeks

The "wet season" here in Tennant Creek, NT, Australia has just started a week ago, and everything has doubled the size on these pictures.

We had a pick on Coriander to cook "Bolinhos de Bacalhau" (Cod Fish Fritters)

and a Fresh Bok Choy SALAD.

What a pleasure to have fresh organically grown products from your own backyard!

More recipes, coming soon, including "Bolinhos de Bacalhau"!

Cheers