I have the most wonderful surprise for all of you! A recipe that delivers eye appeal, warmth and satisfaction for all of your friends and family! It is a dish that has fascinated me for years. Presented from Spain as it is cooked in Spain from my newest friend and guest writer Lynsey Drake of www.larosilla.info.

Lynsey is a passionate home cook, recipe creator, and hostess of La Rosilla country house restaurant a wonderfuly charming culinay school in Inland Axarquia, Spain.

Please enjoy – Have ‘Paella Pan’ Will travel

Paella or Arroces, have become part of my families’ new life, since immigrating from the U.K to Andalucia Spain 7 years ago.

Paella is a dish prepared with love and gusto, to be shared with family, friends & neighbors. It is a dish offered in most Ferias of Spain throughout the year, and comes in many guises depending on the area of Spain you live in. From the traditional Paella Valenciana, with meat & seafood, to modern day arroces (rices) & paellas adjusted to use what it is in season, or to suit the diners.

Paelleras (paella pans) range in size from a 4 portions to massive pans measuring meters across, to feed a whole town.  This giant paella is a spectacular cooking outdoor event, when people gather from far around, to watch and taste the local dish.  Cooked above a wood fire, these experts tend their giant pans of rice, meat & stock, until the dish is ready, rested and waiting to be devoured.  Often taking hours to prepare & cook, eaten in moments.

I like to cook my Paella on a warm summer evenings just as the sun is setting over the mountains.  I usually cook a 15 portion Paella, as leftovers are delicious.  I use a large pan and special Paella gas burner, which make it very portable, and I can cook anywhere, beach, camping & picnics.

It is a very social affair, often friends gather around the ring whilst cooking, many times offering their suggestions or preferences and expertise for the perfect Paella.

A favorite with my Family is Chicken, chorizo, asparagus and wild mushroom.

Based on 15 servings:

The secret is to have all ingredients ready prepared, so you are ready to cook.

Ingredients

Olive oil

1kg of chicken pieces / skin off – Bone-in fine

1 large chorizo sausage, skinned and cut into 1 cm slices.

1 glass of white wine.

1 onion – diced

1 head of garlic, peeled and sliced

1 green pepper – diced

1 red pepper – diced

Handful of fresh thyme

1 dried ‘Nora’ pepper

1 kg paella rice ‘calasparra’

1 large tin of tomatoes

Saffron

2 sachets of Paella seasoning or ½ tsp each of Paprika, turmeric, fenugreek.

2 litres chicken stock

1 hand of Asparagus, trimmed.

500 g mixed fresh wild mushroom or preserved in brine

Lemon to decorate

Preparation

Prepare the chicken by marinating in olive oil, thyme, slat and pepper.

Make up stock and add saffron to infuse.

Put a layer of Olive oil in your Paella Pan to cover the bottom.

Heat gently, add your whole Nora pepper,  then chicken and thyme.

Brown the meat nicely, then stir and fry 10 mins.

Remove the Nora pepper

Add onion, garlic and peppers – Fry for 5 mins until soft.

Add chopped mushrooms and Chorizo – fry for 2/3 mins

Add tinned toms, and break up in pan, add white wine & stir & bubble.

Season with Salt & pepper

Stir in seasoning / spices.

Add handfuls of rice around the pan, to let rice absorb some of the juices, stir.

Pour in stock and saffron, stir so rice is distributed evenly.

Simmer for 5 – 6 mins then reduce heat to medium low.

DO NOT STIR ANYMORE cook for 20/25 mins until all liquid absorb, you may need to add a little more – you want you rice to be ‘al dente’.

5 mins before end of cooking, lay the Asparagus on the top in a circle, it will cook in the steam.

Turn off heat, and cover with a clean cloth, foil or as sometimes in Spain newspaper, to rest and flavor infuse.

Decorate the edge of the pan with lemon wedges, and sprinkle on some more fresh thyme.

Buen Provecho x

Thank you Lynsey! What a great recipe.

You can find more about Lynsey, her blog and her classes at:

 

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

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Guest post! Korean BBQ from one of my twitter friends Jim Lindley. Jim sent me a picture of his Korean BBQ on the grill, it looked so good that I asked him to send some more pictures and tell us how he prepared it. Guess what? The next day he goes and prepare his dish and creates a fantastic step by step photo esay for us! Wow!

Here is Jim Lindley’s recipe:

Daeji Bulgogi – Korean pork BBQ

Before you start preparing the meat you need to cook your rice. I prefer a medium grain rice. Jasmine rice is also good for this. Rinse the rice a couple times till the water runs clear, then add water till it is almost twice as far up as the rice. We added some dried grains and beans to the rice before cooking this time. If you do, be sure to let them soak for a while before cooking. If you use a rice cooker it will take care of all your timing for you. If you cook it on the stove, bring the rice and water to a boil, cover and turn the heat down, and let cook for 30 minutes. Once the rice is done, turn the heat off and fluff with a rice spatula or large spoon.

I used a commercially prepared marinade because it tastes good and is a lot easier than mixing it from scratch. It is available in oriental stores and in the oriental section of your local megamart.

1 pork tenderloin or boneless center cut pork loin

Minced ginger and garlic (We put fresh garlic and ginger together in a food processor, then keep it in a jar in the refrigerator.)

Green onions cut into 1″ lengths and split lenthwise

1 medium onion sliced lengthwise into strips

1 jar pork and chicken bulgogi marinade

Cut pork into thin slices across the grain. Your butcher may do this for you.

Add minced ginger and garlic.

Add green onions.

Cut onion lengthwise, then separate pieces.

Add onion to meat.

Shake jar of marinade to mix, then add to meat. And no, they’re not kidding on the label when they say it’s hot and spicy. After pouring marinade into the bowl with the meat, run a little water into the jar and cover tightly, then shake jar and pour into the bowl with the meat. You don’t want to waste any of this delicious liquid.

This is what it looks like before mixing.

There is no better way to mix this than to just get in there with your hand, breaking the onion ribs apart and making sure the marinade gets well mixed with the meat.

If you’re going to take this with you camping, at this point put it into a freezer bag and freeze it. Then you can thaw it out at the campsite when you’re ready to cook your pork bulgogi.

If you cook this on the stove, use a well seasoned cast iron skillet or griddle. Heat on high. You can also cook this on a grill, covering the grill with foil to keep it from falling through and to keep from losing the juices. In this case, I cooked it on the stove in a cast iron skillet.

Cook in batches so your skillet stays hot. Use one set of tongs to handle the raw meat and another set for turning the meat while cooking. Cook till pork is well done. 

This is how it looks when it’s done. The top bowl has the rice with grains and beans.

This is a serving suggestion. The yellow circles are tamogi, also called daikon. You can also add kimchi or any other side dishes you want.

My wife says I passed the test. She’s a good teacher, and it has to be good to pass her test.

Well if this doesn’t make you go out and give this a try ……… well, we need to talk! Jim, I can’t thank you enough for sharing this with all of here at Cooking-Outdoors.

Gary

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

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Here is another great recipe from my friend Lynda at Food, Fun & Farm Life in Africa.

 

A Delicious African Recipe for Meat Marinade

 

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