Tonight Kong and Marie were coming over for dinner. It wasn't going to be anything fancy, just a simple homecooked meal.
As usual, I googled a few recipes and then picked out bits I liked from each one and recreated an adaptation in my mind. Here's how I made it:
Seafood Paella
- Cook mixed seafood* in olive oil until softened and remove.
- Sautee garlic and onion in the seafood juices for a few minutes and stir in sliced leek and diced red capsicum.
- Meanwhile, soak some saffron in warm water to release the flavours.
- Add a can of diced tomatoes and some white wine. Stir.
- Add arborio rice, stirring constantly for a few minutes.
- Add some fish stock and the saffron, bring to the boil.
- Let simmer for about ten minutes, stirring frequently. Add some extra water as required so rice does not dry out.
- Return the seafood to the mixture and stir just enough to mix them in. Season with salt and pepper.
- After a few minutes, remove the pan from the heat and let it rest with a teatowel covering it for about ten minutes.
- Serve!
* I used prawns, mussel meat and diced fish. You can also use calamari, scallops, baby occy, etc. Use a firm fish so it does not break up in the dish. You can use whole mussels but throw them in when you are simmering for ten minutes.
After they left, I set about doing a partial water change for the fish. I also put in some of the gravel Dau had given me last weekend. I took the live plants out of their pots and planted them into the gravel...hope they don't die on me!
Time to prepare tomorrow night's dinner! I had the spatchcock I bought from Mondo's in the fridge defrosting from yesterday and it was all ready to be marinated. I googled a recipe for cider-roasted spatchcock with potatoes, apple, garlic and sage. This is the link:
http://gourmettraveller.com.au/ciderroasted_spatchcock_with_potatoes_apple_garlic_and_sage.htm
I didn't follow the recipe to the exact (I never do) since I was working with only the one spatchcock and wasn't going to bother getting out the calculator (or shaking the dust from my brain) to divide all the ingredients by four. All I had to do tonight was prepare the marinade so that the spatchcock would have overnight to soak up all the goodness.
I had to wash the spatchcock and inside, I found its heart had been left. *shudder* While I'm sure it's a delicacy somewhere, I wasn't going to google a recipe for it this time haha. Into the bin it goes...
I chopped off the neck and tied the drumsticks together with kitchen string before placing the bird into a bowl and covering it with the marinade I'd made. Glad wrap over the top, and into the fridge overnight.
For supper, I made some bee hoon soup with fish. I actually found a whole star anise intact!
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