house-sitting and cooking :)

Yoyoyo! So this is the lovely place i have been calling home for the last week and a bit! make pretend is fun!

We have two dogs and 7 guinea pigs to look after here. The dogs (Leo and Lilly) both love going to the back beach and frolicking on the rocks.

Unfortunately they also like running inside and peeing on our clothes if they are left on the floor. Which they usually are. Just half an hour ago Josh's work pants fell victim to one of their urinary revenge displays. Can't work it out... But that's ok cos we have been playing around in the pool most days with Josh's new waterproof camera and pulling funny poses. to ease the pain. For example this is me insulting josh in my spectacular new bathers....

I have been enjoying doing some cooking too. The first 'new' dish i made here was garlic prawns. I added some greens at the end to make it a little more substantial.

Then i had a brilliant idea. I didn't get my friend Claudia a birthday present - as her bday is a few days before xmas and i am shit at organising multiple things at once - so i told her i'd make her a birthday dinner sometime after christmas. i figured now would be a good time for a catch up seeing as i don't see her as much as i'd like to, so i got out my thinking cap and  blew the layer of dust off it and came up with a brilliant idea. PAELLA! Not long ago i once again found myself in a conversation about food. She told Josh and I about how much she loves mussels and how her and her dad and grandpa would get a big bucket of them and go to town on them. I also remembered an earlier conversation about how much she enjoyed eating paella in Spain. THEN on a lazy walk down to Gem Pier in Williamstown Josh and I saw a little boat which advertised fresh mussels for sale - currently on holidays but returning Jan 9th. So we set up the birthday dinner for that very day and i started doing my paella research. In the lead-up I also saw a farmers market advertised for the SAME day. To my surprise when i left the house in the late morning, i discovered that the farmers market was directly across the street at the reserve. amazing. So i wondered across and got some cheese samples before brekky and picked up some flowers and fruit. Then... THEN.. it was time to get the seafood. I walked down to the pier and saw the bustling little business in full swing. 

I'll be the first to admit that I'm quite the seafood noob, and i was nervous when approaching the boat. I got in line and when it was my turn would you believe that I put on my naive little girl voice and asked for a small order of 12 prawns and 12 mussels? I did. They gave me a straight faced explanation of how they only sell mussels by the kilo. "fuck" i thought, then i noticed they were only $5 a kilo anyway so i got a kilo, plus my 12 prawns. You could get fresh oysters for $1 too and eat them nearby with some lemon. Not that i am interested in natural oysters AT ALL but it seemed like a cool vibe for some. I picked up the rest of my supplies from the local deli and supermarket and went home to prepare!

True to the history of the dish, i used left overs (chicken) in the paella, along with some pancetta and chorizo. I took inspiration from multiple paella recipes icluding ones by Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsey and Nigella Lawson. This is my ideal Paella recipe, and i think it turned out pretty awesome!

This is one of the few times i have used saffron in a dish, and i had fun using it if you'd believe that. Nigella suggested to infuse Sherry and Saffron together on a low heat and then add it in, so that's what I did! Thanks Nigella :)

Ok, so this is a photo montage of what i did, but i'll put the recipe at the end so you can look back at these pics for explanations... but as if you'll need to as this is the easiest dish EVAAAAAAAAA...

YUM. time for another bowl of leftovers i reckon...here's the recipe I used:

PAELLA:

2 chorizo sausages, sliced
6 slices pancetta
handful of leftover chicken (or use 1 breast of fresh)
king prawns (I used 12)
mussels (I used 10)
1 large onion, diced (i used half a red and half a brown)
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 capsicum, diced (or half red and half green like i did)
*chilli is optional 
1.5 cups paella rice (i used aborio)
1.5 litres HOT chicken stock
a few glugs cooking sherry
a pinch of saffron
sweet paprika
olive oil
dry white wine
salt and pepper
handful or 2 of peas
1 chopped tomato
chopped parsley for garnish
lemon wedges for garnish

PROCEDURE:

Heat the stock in a saucepan and keep hot on the side ready to add.
Heat olive oil in a large paella pan, add onion and garlic.Cook for a few minutes.
In a seperate little pan, heat the sherry and saffron.
Add capsicum and salt and pepper, cook for a few minutes,
Add Chicken, pancetta and chorizo. cook until meat starts to brown.
Add rice and stir to coat it in all the oils.
Add a few glugs of white wine to get the 'risotto style' cooking process started.
Add the sherry and saffron to the mix as well as the paprika, and stir through.
Add all of the hot stock, cover and let simmer for 15 mins. Don't touch it.
Lay the seafood ontop and the peas, tomato and some parsley. Put the lid on for a minute or two to partially steam the seafood. Then stir it all through the rice gently.
Sprinkle a bit more parsley all over the top and arrange the lemon wedges around the sides.

Serve on the table with some spare bowls for the shells and maybe a water bowl to clean your fingers!!

Yummo. Needless to say everyone enjoyed this delicious dish and Claudia liked taking the remaining 10 or 15 mussels home for dessert ;)

I have to think of what else i can make. I have been watching the food channel heaps and saw this lady make jerked chicken. I am pretty sold :) So there you go, another 2 dishes made toward my total. I've lost count but i'll figure it out soon! Maybe i'll make a few more yummy things before i go back to work next week :O