Monday, June 27, 2011

Chorizo and Shrimp Stew

I love when I have an unusual ingredient that I want to make into something new and different (to me at least). After I'd made the traditional paella from the chorizo I brought home with me from Barcelona, I still had some left and wanted something delicious to make with it. Among the many good ideas was this stew, which I adapted from foodandwine.com. 
The ingredients were simple, some olive oil, onion, garlic, frozen shrimp, a few roasted red bell peppers (this time I used those from a jar and didn't roast them myself), crushed tomatoes that serves as the base of the stew and of course, chorizo. 

Start by thinly slicing the chorizo and dicing the onion and garlic. First add the chorizo to a deep heavy coated stew pan with a drizzle of olive oil (the chorizo will not need a lot of added fat to cook, as it has plenty of its own). Stir in the heat until sizzling. The sides of the chorizo slices will curl up and become very fragrant.
Remove the chorizo from the pot, leaving the oils in the bottom. Set the chorizo aside with the shrimp for later.
Next, soften the onion and garlic in the pot. You may also use sliced or diced carrots. Once soft, you may add a tablespoon of flour to the mixture and stir until yellowed and bubbling if you wish to thicken this into a stew. Then add the crushed tomatoes, sweet roasted red peppers (about 2), and a few cups of water and bring to a boil. At this point, I made the texture of the stew smoother by using a few short pulses with my hand blender. Lastly, add the shrimp and chorizo and cook for a few more minutes.

Serve with fresh slices of avocado and enjoy.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Deviled Eggs

This super budget-friendly appetizer is easy to make and fits in well for get togethers and occassions. I've made several batches of these in the last couple months, once for a big dinner we hosted for Easter and another time for a Partylite party at a friend's from school. Both times they went over really well, and were gone in a flash. Good to make more than you think you'll need. 

 Start by boiling your eggs. I used an entire box, which in Finland is 10 eggs (not a full dozen- I still haven't quite accepted that). Everyone has different methods. I have adopted a method for this to avoid over cooking. That it, place the eggs in a really large pan so that all of the eggs are distributed equally, cover with water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, but as soon as a boil has been reached, turn off the stove and cover pot with a lid and let sit for 8 minutes. With an electric stove, I even take the pot off the burner, since the range is still hot even having turned it off.


Place the yolks into a large bowl and add equal parts of mayonaise, sour cream (creme fraiche) and then a little pickle relish, cream cheese, and mustard to taste. Stir and mash together as you go and you will see if you need to add more to soften the mixture. This will depend a lot on your own preferences, as well as the consistency of the yolk after you've boiled the eggs.





Once the filling mixture has been mashed and mixed and tastes to your preference (this recipe is really loose because everyone like them a different way), scoop the mixture into a clean bag with a pointed end. Cut off a small tip of the corner of the bag, just enough to pipe the filling neatly into your egg white halves. (Note: You can skip this step all together if you'd rather just spoon the mixture into the egg whites, but it will be considerably messier.)

Then, you will squeeze the mixture into the egg white halves for the final product. Easy. I like to dust mine with paprika the way my mom always did it, to add a little color. And there you have it. The whole process takes less than half an hour, and costs less than 3 euro to make, so cheap fast and easy. Enjoy.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Chicken Chorizon Paella

Any time I've ever made paella in the past, I've felt slightly lacking in authenticity due to the lack of chorizo in the recipe. Though I was not eating meat back then, and I have made paella with soy 'chorizo', the taste was obviously lacking something. I keep comparing my paella to that of the well known paella at Taberna del Alabardero, where I worked one summer in 2006. Well finally A and I took a holiday to Barcelona. I can't believe it took me so long after living in Europe to make it to the country of my second language! We had a great time and ate out and enjoyed parks and seaside views and I didn't leave without buying some chorizo to take home with me.

What's great about chorizo, and much like all of the different types of cured ham you can find in Spain, the curing process allows the meat to stay good for quite a long time, even at room temperature. So taking it home was entirely possible and safe. Paella is such an easy recipe to make. Especially since it's really a one dish recipe. You can cook everything in the same deep pan.

This large stick of chorizo 'picante' cost only 3,45e.
Start with onion and bell peppers and fry them in some olive oil. 

 Add the chicken and diced chorizo and cook for a few minutes. Add a cup of porridge rice to two cups of water, or as much rice and water as you can fit in your pan, with a 1:2 ratio. It depends a lot on how many servings you want. You can also use normal long grain rice or brown rice, but keep in mind that it takes longer to cook. Add peas and stir in salt or other flavorings. I used one cube of chicken stock and some chilli pepper. Saffron would also make this dish even more authentic. Alas, I didn't have any.
Cover and don't lift the lid for about 20 minutes, or as long as the rice package indicates. 

The result is a colorful, nutritious and filling dish that everyone will like. I enjoyed my paella out on our balcony on the picnic table :)  Now I'll have to come up with something new to make to use up the rest of the chorizo.