Seafood Paella

Classic seafood paella: a tasty and impressive saffron flavored rice mixed with your favorite, fresh seafood

I know what you are thinking... this is not an Italian dish. True! But once in a while it's nice to change and try something new.
I often make this recipe. It's a great one-dish, healthy dinner, perfect for my family.
I don't have the original Spanish "paella" (large, oven-safe frying pan), but I simply use my big, heavy skillet. And I cook the rice only on the stove, not in the oven.
The main difference between a paella and a seafood risotto is in the way you cook the rice. In the paella you add all the stock/water all at once at the beginning, and mostly let the rice simmer until ready. With the risotto, the liquid is added some at the time, and the rice needs constant stirring.
Paella can be very creative. Make it fun by choosing  a variety of seafood that you like best. Each adding a different flavor and texture. My favorite ingredients are calamari, shrimps and scallops. And let's not forget mussels. It really adds a special touch to the dish! If I were in Italy (or Spain) I would definitely use scampi. But here in California they are not easy to find. So no scampi in my paella :-(
So here is the recipe for my seafood paella. There are lots of ways to prepare it. This is how I make it and I hope you will enjoy it. Any suggestions or expert advise is always welcome!

Ingredients: serving 4

• half onion, minced
• 0.5 lb calamari or calamari steak
• 0.5 lb shrimps
• 0.5 lb of scallops
• 0.5 lb of mussels
• 3/4 cup of peas (I used frozen)
• 0.5 cup of crushed tomatoes 
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
• 1/4 of a teaspoon of saffron (I like powder better, but only had the Spanish type)
• 0.5 cup of white wine
• 1.5 cups of rice 
• 3 cups of fish or vegetable stock 
• salt to taste

Preparation time: 50 minutes
Directions:
Step 1: In a large skillet, sauté the garlic and the chopped onion in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Over medium-high heat, sauté the shrimps for 3 minutes or so. Remove them from the skillet and save them for later.

Step 2: Sauté the scallops and the calamari cut into small pieces. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Step 3: Add the rice, the crushed tomatoes, the saffron dissolved in the white wine, the white wine and the stock. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Salt to taste. No stirring the rice.

Step 4: While the rice cooks, wash the mussels under running water, scrub the shells and remove the beard if necessary. Place the mussels in a sauce pan, cover and place over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. Throw away any mussel that did not open, and set aside for later.
Step 5: Mix in the peas and the shrimps. I cut about half of the shrimps in pieces, the rest I left whole. Cook for another 8 minutes or until the rice is mostly cooked. Increase or decrease the heat based on how much liquid you still have. It will need to be all absorbed by the end. Salt to taste.

Step 6: Add the mussels with the shell. Serve immediately!

Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli and Olives

Easy-to-follow recipe for a deliciously healthy orecchiette pasta with broccoli and olives

For dinner tonight, I prepared this super easy and fast pasta. As you will see in the step-by-step recipe, it doesn't take much to pull this dish together. And it won't take you more than 25 minutes from start to finish to have hot, spicy, healthy and delicious pasta right in front of you. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz of organic broccoli florets
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 hot dried peperoncini (chili peppers)
• 1 teaspoon of anchovy paste (or 3 anchovies)
• 1 teaspoon of capers
• about 16 olives (I used kalamata)
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 12 oz of orecchiette pasta, I used DeCecco
• salt
• 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When the water boils, add the broccoli florets. Let simmer for about 4-5 minutes.

2. In a large pan, saute' the garlic cloves crushed, capers, peperoncini and anchovy paste with the olive oil.

3. As soon as the broccoli are tender remove them from the water - do not throw away the water because you will use it to cook the pasta. Add the broccoli to the large pan with the rest of the ingredients. And cook the pasta in the boiling water.

4. Mash the broccoli with  a fork. Add the olive cut in pieces.

5. Drain the pasta al dente, toss with the broccoli and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Buon Appetito!

REDUCED CALORIE SWEET & SOUR PORK

We love sweet and sour pork and chicken (this recipe would work for either), but once you bread and DEEP FRY the meat, you are talking about A TON OF CALORIES. Well, this quick and easy little recipe does away with all of that breading AND all of that DEEP FRYING and it is STILL delicious !!!

MARINADE
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon sugar
3 teaspoons corn starch
1 teaspoon sesame oil
black pepper to taste

Mix the above ingredients in a large bowl.  Cut  1 1/2 pounds of pork (or chicken) tenderloin into bite size pieces and put in the marinade. Stir to coat all of the pieces, then let sit for 20 minutes.

SAUCE
1 cup chicken broth (not bullion,it's too salty)
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 SLIGHTLY rounded teaspoons of corn starch
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
pinch of black pepper

Cook all of the sauce ingredients together until it thickens, then turn the heat down to a VERY LOW SIMMER and let it barely bubble while you brown the meat.

In a large skillet (I use my electric fry pan), heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil and a tablespoon of butter until HOT (I turn my electric skillet all the way up). Add the marinated meat and spread it out so that none of the pieces are on top of each other. Let the meat brown (about 3-4 minutes?), then stir and put a lid on the pan so that everything gets cooked through (you want to get some nice brown crusty color on the edges of the pieces).

Once the meat is 99% done (keep lifting the lid to check for doneness), add the cooked sauce to the meat and keep stirring until everything is well coated. Reduce the heat and cook it all together for about 2 more minutes (watch carefully so the sauce doesn't burn).

Serve over hot rice.  Couldn't be easier!!  

Picky-picky husband is VERY SHY of spicy food, so 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne is just perfect for him. If you like extra heat, just add a little more cayenne when you cook the sauce.

ENJOY !!! 

Banana Muffins with Hazelnuts and Nutella

Soft and moist, butter-free  banana-hazelnut muffins stuffed with creamy Nutella 

Do you have a bunch of ripe bananas sitting on your kitchen counter? And are you wondering if today is the day you will finally throw it away? Because let's face it: no one will eat those bananas. They are way past their kind-of-ok stage, and way into the too-mushy-to-be-any-good phase.
Like you, I really hate throwing away food. So my bananas just sit on the counter for the longest. But it's really not my fault. No one  in my house likes bananas when they are still green, and definitely no one eats them if they are ripe. Thi means, each banana has a about a three day time-span in which it should be eaten. Not a day less, and surely not a day more!
Today I decided NOT to throw away my ripe bananas and find a creative way to use them. So I baked these super yummy butter-free muffins, filled with hazelnuts and with a heart of nutella. Delicious! And I'm sure you know by now, hazelnut and Nutella combination is one of my favorite! Here is how I made these muffins:

Ingredients: to make 12 muffins

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup (100 gr) of sugar
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) of vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1.5 cups (225 gr) of all-purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1 cup (75 gr) of chopped hazelnuts
• 12 teaspoons of Nutella
• about 1 tablespoon of raw coarse sugar (optional)

Preparation time: 50 minutes
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350º F (175º C). In a large bowl mash the bananas with a fork, or a potato ricer (like I did) and mix in the eggs.

2. Blend in the sugar, vanilla extract and the vegetable oil.

3. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt, until all is combined.

4. Add 3/4 cup of chopped hazelnuts.

5. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, or grease with butter and flour. Spoon a little bit of batter (about half full). Add one teaspoon of nutella into each and cover with more batter. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped hazelnuts and some raw sugar (if you like).
Bake for about 25 minutes until the top are brown.

Enjoy!

Penne Pasta with Creamy Mushrooms and Taleggio Cheese

Looking for a unique, savory, creamy and cheesy pasta to make for dinner? Here is the recipe for you!

Taleggio is a semi-soft Italian cheese with a strong aroma and delicate flavor. I love the combination of this cheese with the earthy taste of mushrooms.  Porcini mushrooms would be my first choice, but any type of mushrooms would actually do with this recipe.
I used the same two ingredients with crepes some time ago. Do you remember that recipe? You can find it here. Today's recipe is a pasta, penne or other short pasta can be used. The cheese is melted with a white, delicate besciamella sauce, and mixed with the mushrooms. You will not be disappointed by the scrumptious flavor of this pasta. It tastes at least as delicious as it looks!

Ingredients: serving 4

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 garlic clove (crushed or minced)
• 8 oz (225 gr) of mushrooms, cleaned and cut in pieces
• 4 oz (110 gr) of taleggio cheese
• 1 tablespoon of fresh Italian parsley, chopped
• 8 fl oz (250 ml) of milk
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 14 oz of penne pasta

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Directions:
Step 1: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and start cooking the pasta when it boils.
Step 2: In a large skillet, saute' the crushed (or minced) garlic clove in the olive oil for one minute. Add and saute' the mushrooms cut in small pieces over medium heat. After about 5 minutes add the parsley and salt to taste.

Step 3: In a separate sauce pan, melt the tablespoon of butter and about 1/4 cup of milk over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and let cook for about one minute.Whisk in the rest of the milk a bit at a time, until the white sauce is nice and smooth. Salt to taste.

Step 4: When the pasta is almost cooked, add the white sauce and the taleggio cheese cut in pieces to the skillet with the mushrooms. Mix and let the cheese melt completely over low heat.

Step 5: Drain the pasta and mix with the sauce. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Buon Appetito!

SWEET BACON-CHICKEN BUNDLES

We discovered these delicious little bundles over the holidays. They are quick to fix and are absolutely perfect for potlucks, buffets, or a quick supper. They are totally addicting, so make lots of them!!

SWEET BACON-CHICKEN BUNDLES
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (we like thighs better)
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
bacon (regular, not thick)

 Preheat oven to 375° and bake the bacon for 10 minutes only. After 10 minutes, drain the bacon and set aside. You will need one half slice of bacon for each chicken bundle.

 Cut the raw chicken into 1" cubes, then wrap half of (a partially cooked) slice of bacon around each cube of raw chicken, and secure it with a toothpick. Next, mix the brown sugar, chili powder, cumin and salt together and roll the bacon-chicken in this mixture. Make sure you get it into all the folds of the bacon.

Place the bundles on a baking screen or cooling rack that you've liberally sprayed with vegetable spray. Set the sprayed rack on a rimmed baking sheet that you have lined with foil (important for easier clean up). If you have any sugar left over, spoon a teaspoon or so on top of each bundle.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Delicious hot or room temperature. If you like a little heat along with your sweet, add some cayenne to the sugar mixture.

 

ENJOY !!!