daring cooks august 2009 challenge | rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes

my very first daring cooks challenge...how exciting!! i purchased some cuttlefish from a local asian market, picked some veggies from my garden and got to cookin'...

i decided to make the sofregit sauce the night before to intensify the flavors...

my ingredients....onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, portabello mushroom, garlic, bay leaf, cumin and dried oregano (not pictured)

which were then minced with a hand food processor

everything came together quite nicely to form an intensely flavored tomato sauce. i imagine this could work great with many spanish dishes.

the next day i started on my dish...

my ingredients...white wine, home-made fish stock (thanks mom!), rice, cremini mushrooms, artichokes, saffron, bay leaf, sofregit and cuttlefish

before putting everything on the stove, i made my traditional allioli...what a workout!

garlic, salt, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.

finally i got my rice dish going...

oops, was i not supposed to cook my artichokes before? oh well, i decided to just add those at the very end.

and lastly...the final product...ta daa!!

and my sad attempt at plating....haha...I'M LEARNING!

overall i liked the taste of the dish...although it definitely needed a bit more seasoning in the end. always a problem when i'm cooking since i'm so sensitive to sodium and always scared of over-salting. i registered for these challenges to learn new cooking techniques and i definitely feel this one stepped up to the plate. i would have never attempted to make a spanish rice dish on my own. and don't get me started on the cuttlefish!! it was my first time ever handling any type of whole fish...peeling the skin and cleaning the innards was not a pretty sight!

having a sister in spain, who happens to be a chef, i kept on thinking how any of her rice dishes could easily put mine to shame. haha. this whole cooking thing is definitely a learning process. can't wait till the next one...

rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes

serves 6

• 2 fresh artichoke hearts - cut into eighths
• 8 oz of cremini mushrooms - cut into fourths
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 class of white wine (i used 2 buck chuck sauvignon blanc)
• 1 cuttlefish - cleaned and cut into 1" strips
• 3 generous spoonfuls of "sofregit". recipe to follow.
• 2 cups short grain spanish rice
• 5 cups of fish stock (though chicken or vegetable would work too)
• saffron threads
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• allioli. recipe to follow.

add olive oil to pan and add cuttlefish. cook for a few minutes. add the bay leaves, artichoke hearts and mushrooms. saute until artichokes are golden. pour white wine over the mixture so all solids at the bottom get mixed, resulting in a more flavorful dish. add three generous spoonfuls of sofregit, making sure to mix well. add the fish stock and bring to a boil. add the rice and boil over high heat for 5 min. add a couple pinches of saffron threads to enrich the dish with its flavor and color. turn to low heat and boil for 8 minutes, or until the rice is a little softer than "al dente". put the pan away from heat and let the rice stand for a couple of minutes. serve with alliloi and sofregit.

sofregit

• 10 small tomatoes or 3 large ones - chopped
• 1 portabello mushroom - chopped
• 1 green bell pepper - chopped
• 1 med onion - finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 garlic cloves - minced
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
• salt
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

heat olive oil in a pan. add garlic and onions and saute for a minute. add mushrooms and bell pepper and cook for 2 minutes. add tomatoes and bay leaves. let cook for 5 min. add the cumin and oregano. salt to taste.

allioli (traditional recipe)

• 4 garlic cloves - peeled.
• pinch of salt
• fresh lime juice - some drops
• extra virgin olive oil

place the garlic in a mortar along with the salt. using a pestle, smash the garlic cloves to a paste. add the lemon juice to the garlic. bit by bit, pour the olive oil to the paste, mixing in between pours. keep turning your pestle in a slow, continuous, circular motion in the mortar. keep adding oil until you have the consistency of a very thick mayonnaise. this will take about 20 minutes.

5.25.09 | seared ahi tuna burgers....soooooo good!!!

not wanting our leftover ahi tuna steak from the previous night to go to waste, we decided to make another seared dish for dinner. when i saw that we had two hamburger buns in the freezer i immediately decided that seared ahi burgers with wasabi aioli would be perfect! while Steve watched a basketball game, i quickly got started on the marinade.

seared ahi tuna (recipe available at simply recipes)

i came across this recipe after doing a quick search for ahi marinade and i am so glad i found it! i had to stop myself from taking bites out of the steak as i marinated the tuna. i halved the recipe for approx 6.5 ounces of ahi tuna and omitted the lime juice. we seared the steak for 45-50 seconds on each side and it came out perfect! i will definitely be making this again.

for the wasabi aioli, i just mixed some wasabi, garlic and vegan mayo to taste. spread on the buns, add some lettuce, tomato and ground mustard and you've got on amazing meal that couldn't be any easier to make!

5.24.09 | seared tuna tacos

steve decided that he wanted to prepare a meal for me all on his own and i thought that seared tuna would be a good and easy introduction to gourmet cooking. and so i handed over my trusted tuna taco recipe, we picked up some nice sashimi grade ahi tuna steaks at trader joe's and he got to cookin!

aside from a minor scare which involved taco shells going up in flames in my toaster oven and lots of smoke, screaming and barking (my dog), all turned out really well!! in fact, we got a nice laugh out of it after all was said and done :)

seared ahi tuna tacos with avocado salsa (recipe available at the food network)

we used one 6.5 ounce steak and halved the recipe, which made enough filling for two tacos each. i highly recommend using white corn taco shells instead of the traditional yellow variety.

romaine lettuce with agave-mustard dressing (veganomicon)

The original recipe called for maple syrup, which i was out of, but agave nectar worked just fine.

quickie pickled radishes (recipe available at cooking with amy)

i was supposed to stay out of the kitchen, but couldn't help myself and instead grabbed some radishes from my garden and quickly googled a recipe. this couldn't have been easier to make! i think next time i will cut back on the sugar and add some hot chili, but definitely a great basic recipe to start with.

5.23.09 | sushi night

after a nice lunch in echo park, Steve and I made our way to little tokyo market place to get all the goods for our japanese dinner.

baby mixed greens with miso tahini dressing (veganomicon)

because i use low-sodium miso paste, i decided to add some soy sauce to-taste and a bit of lemon juice to add depth to the dressing. it was so good and easy to make. we poured the dressing over some baby mixed greens from trader joe's, but i imagine that it would also be great as a dip with crudités.

steamed asari (manila) clams (recipe available at rasa malaysia)

i had previously made this recipe without the mirin and really enjoyed it. this time i decided to follow the recipe and was really disappointed at how sweet the broth turned out. i will definitely be sticking to just sake in the future. i find that nigori sake adds just the right amount of sweetness to compliment the savory clams.

spicy tempeh rolls (recipe available at the post punk kitchen)

i luckily already had some sushi rice and tempeh at home, so we just picked up a few ingredients and a couple of bamboo rolling mats at a japanese discount store. the seasoned rice vinegar from trader joe's worked out perfectly for the rice and didn't require adding the additional sugar the recipe called for. we chopped up our scallions into the filling and layered lots of avocado on top...yum!! We made a second roll with some bbq unagi sauce, tempeh and avocado...our version of a caterpillar roll. we didn't bother roasting the nori sheets for both rolls and they turned out just fine. in lieu of wasabi, we added chili oil to our soy sauce for dipping.

the rolls turned out surprisingly well for being our first attempt at sushi. they were a bit on the big side and had a bit too much rice...but I think that can definitely be perfected with more practice. the tempeh I had at home had flax seeds in it which i thought overpowered the other flavors, so i think the plain variety would work best. i would definitely like to play around some more with the fillings and perhaps incorporate tempura in the future....the possibilities are endless!!!