Chicken Paella

My sister bought me some saffron for my Christmas gift this year. It was quite a creative gift. I've been trying to decide what to make with it. Well, a few weeks back, I made chicken paella. One day, I may be brave enough to make a seafood paella but that will be in the future. The dish I made tonight was very tasty. As usual, I loosely followed a recipe that I found online.

The fun part is that I bought the bacon, chorizo and the chicken from a local butcher shop, Belmont Butcher. The even cooler part is that the bacon and chorizo were made and cured at the butcher shop. We had flourless peanut butter cookies for dessert.

Ingredients:
2 slices of bacon, chopped
1/2 lb. boneless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 cups basmati rice
4 cups of chicken stock
½ teaspoon of saffron threads
½ teaspoon of chili powder
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
½ cup of corn kernels
½ cup of green peas
1 chorizo sausage

Preparation:
Steep the saffron in heated chicken broth. Fry the bacon until golden (add oil at the beginning as necessary). Remove from pan. Cook the chicken until done. Remove from pan. Add oil if necessary, saute onion until translucent. Add rice and garlic stirring until coated with oil. Add 2 cups of broth and simmer while covered. When liquid has cooked down, add another cup of liquid. Repeat with the remaining cup of liquid. Once rice is almost done, add the corn, green peas, chicken, bacon and the chorizo. Taste and season to taste. Then, serve.

Yankee Pot Roast (About 2 1/2 hours)

Last weekend, the grocery store had chuck roasts half off. So, I decided to buy one along with some parsnips, carrots and potatoes. I knew the basic idea of how to make a pot roast and what I would need to do it but I still had to look up a recipe for some added instructions. Here's what I did.

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine, October 2007

1 teaspoon canola oil
2 pounds boneless chuck roast, trimmed
1 cup chopped yellow onion
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
2 1/2 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled parsnip (about 1 pound)
1 1/2 cups (1-inch-thick) slices carrot (about 8 ounces)
2 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled baking potato (about 1 pound)

Preheat oven to 300°.

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add beef to pan, browning on all sides (about 8 minutes). Remove from pan. Add a little more oil. Add onion to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until beginning to brown. Stir in broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Reduce heat; add spices through bay leaves. Return roast to pan; bring to a simmer.

Cover and bake at 300° for 1 1/2 hours. Stir in parsnips and carrots. Bake, covered, 1 hour. Stir in potato; cover and bake 30 minutes or until roast and vegetables are very tender. Discard bay leaves.

Beef and Veggie Potpie (About 45 minutes)

I made this one a few weeks back. Again, I got the idea from the www.myrecipes.com daily emails. But, as per usual, I didn't follow the recipe word for word. Here's what I made:

olive oil
3/4 pound ground sirloin
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrot
dried thyme, to taste
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup tomato paste
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
7 oz fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain. Wipe drippings from pan with a paper towel. Heat more olive oil in pan. Add zucchini and next 5 ingredients (through garlic); sauté 7 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Return beef to pan. Stir in wine, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and broth. Bring to a boil; cook 3 minutes. Combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl; stir with a fork to get rid of the lumps. Add the cornstarch mixture to the pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Bake a batch of homemade or canned biscuits while the beef mixture is cooking. Serve the beef mixture over one or two biscuits. It's an all in one meal with your meat and vegetable!

Bean Soup (15 minutes prep with 30 minutes simmering)

This recipe is officially called "North Woods Bean Soup". It's adapted from a recipe in the January 2002 issue of Cooking Light. I've put my changes in italics. This soup took me only about 15 minutes of actual hands on preparation. The rest was just simmering. I was really impressed because I was able to go work out, come home and start the soup, take my shower and then presto - dinner was served!

Ingredients:
1 cup baby carrots, halved
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
7 ounces turkey kielbasa, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
dried oregano, marjoram and thyme, to taste
black pepper and red pepper flakes, to taste
2 (15.8-ounce) cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
smooth kale

Preparation
Heat a large saucepan coated with olive oil over medium-high heat. Add carrots, onion, garlic, and kielbasa; sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium; cook 5 minutes. Add the broth, dried spices, peppers, and beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.

Place 2 cups of the soup in a food processor or blender, and process until smooth. Return the pureed mixture to pan. Simmer an additional 5 minutes. Remove soup from heat. Add the kale, stirring until kale wilts.