Daring Kitchen’s August Cooking Challenge

Olga from Las Cosas de Olga and Olga’s Recipes is our host for the August Daring Cooks Challenge. She chose a delicious Spanish recipe, Rice with Mushrooms, Cuttlefish and Artichokes by José Andrés from his U.S. TV show Made in Spain.

Spain’s cuisine is heavily influenced by easily available seafood; however, because I’m highly allergic to seafood and cuttlefish certainly cannot be found in Tucson, I substituted chicken.


Source: Hulu

Equipment

• 1 Chopping Board
• 1 knife
• 1 medium saucepan
• 1 Paella pan (30 cm/11” is enough for 4 people. If not available, you may use a simple pan that size)
• 1 Saucepan

Sofregit

Cooking Time: aprox. 1 hour

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 5 big red ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
• 4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 cup of button or Portobello mushrooms, chopped (optional)
• 1 Bay leaf
• Salt
• Touch of ground cumin
• Touch of dried oregano

Directions

Put all the ingredients in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft. Taste and salt if necessary.

Allioli (Traditional Recipe)

Cooking Time: 20 min aprox.

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• Pinch of salt
• Fresh lemon juice (some drops)
• Extra-virgin olive oil (Spanish preferred but not essential)

Directions

1. Place the garlic in a mortar along with the salt.
2. Using a pestle, smash the garlic cloves to a smooth paste. (The salt stops the garlic from slipping at the bottom of the mortar as you pound it down.)
3. Add the lemon juice to the garlic.
4. Drop by drop; pour the olive oil into the mortar slowly as you continue to crush the paste with your pestle.
5. Keep turning your pestle in a slow, continuous circular motion in the mortar. The drip needs to be slow and steady. Make sure the paste soaks up the olive oil as you go.
6. Keep adding the oil, drop by drop, until you have the consistency of a very thick mayonnaise. If your allioli gets too dense, add water to thin it out. This takes time—around 20 minutes of slow motion around the mortar—to create a dense, rich sauce.

Rice with Mushrooms, Cuttlefish (in my case, Chicken) and Artichokes


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4

• 4 Artichokes (you can use jarred or freezed if fresh ones are not available)
• 12 Mushrooms (button or Portobello)
• 1 or 2 Bay leaves (optional but highly recommended)
• 1 glass of white wine
• 2 Cuttlefish (you can use freezed cuttlefish or squid if you don’t find it fresh)
• “Sofregit” (see recipe below)
• 300 gr (2 cups) short-grain rice (Spanish types Calasparra or Montsant are preferred, but you can choose any other short grain. This kind of rice absorbs flavor very well) – about 75 gr per person (½ cup per person)
• Water or Fish Stock (use 1½ cup of liquid per ½ cup of rice)
• Water or Fish Stock (use 1½ cup of liquid per ½ cup of rice)
• Saffron threads (if you can’t find it or afford to buy it, you can substitute it for turmeric or yellow coloring powder)
• Allioli (olive oil and garlic sauce, similar to mayonnaise sauce) - optional

Directions

1. Cut cuttlefish in little strips.
2. Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and add the cuttlefish.
3. If you use fresh artichokes, clean and cut in eights.
4. Clean the mushrooms and cut in fourths.
5. Add a bay leaf to the cuttlefish, then add the artichokes and mushrooms.
6. Sauté until the artichokes are golden in color.
7. Put a touch of white wine so all the solids in the bottom of the get mixed.
8. Add a couple or three tablespoons of sofregit and mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with the sofregit.
9. Add all the liquid and bring it to boil.
10. Add all the rice. Let boil for about 5 minutes in heavy heat.
11. Add some saffron thread to enrich the dish with its flavor and color. Stir a little bit so the rice and the other ingredients get the entire flavor. If you’re using turmeric or yellow coloring, use only 1/4 teaspoon.
12. Turn to low heat and boil for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”).
13. Remove pan from heat and let the rice stand a couple of minutes.