Saturday tea time and Paella to finish

Friday evening had been a lousy drive up, traffic jams all the way took about 7 hours, but when I got here there was a welcoming red wine and an Italian meal waiting.  1^st off was a nice selection of Anti pasta, followed by pumpkin ravioli, and finished with a sea bass baked in foil with white wine and lemon.

We then watched Gordon Ramsey, well the girls did, I snoozed.

Saturday morning I was up at 06:00 and fiddled about with the Internet connections as Linda is having problems with her connections LoL!

We then had a few things to do, and then it was off to the Turkish butchers to get some chicken for the Paella and also a leg of lamb for Sunday Dinner.

 

We next headed to the market to get the fish and shell fish for the Paella.

 

I always like the Kiel market it has a vast array of different fish, they may not have it when you want it as they didn't have any rascasse when I made my Bouillabaisse a couple of months ago.

But they had some nice sword fish, prawns and mussels, it is a pleasure just to walk up and down the stalls, I also had a matjes brotchen for my lunch.

 

 

Fish purchased it was off home to watch Saturday kitchen and then get started on making the stock and making the scones


A very British cream tea

I had been in a discussion about making scones, I have never in my life made scones and there are so many diverse recipes, I had decided to try a variety of recipes some with egg and milk, some with buttermilk and egg and finally buttermilk and no egg. The later were meant to have had fruit in them  (cranberries) but I forgot, it was to be a baking session pitted with a plethora of mistakes but in the end all came out better than expected and the girls certainly enjoyed their Kiel clotted cream tea.

The ingredients

 

I used Mary Berries recipe and I thought I had followed it very well, but I was making half the quantity and though halving most of the ingredients I had forgot to half the amount of butter and milk and eggs, what a dumbo, I wondered why the mixture was so runny , but she had said it should be sticky, well it sure was that.

 

So batch one finished, I started on the second one this time making with buttermilk and egg mixture, the final one being made just with buttermilk and no egg.

The 2 final batches turned out fantastic, the first batch being more moist spread, but tasted fantastic.

   At the front the first batch made with the rather too moist mixture 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 So after all of these years I have made my first scones and we had a royal cream tea with 3 different jams and tea in a warmed pot, oh how genteel.

Janice laying it on a bit thick

 

Next was the

Paella

Chicken stock

6 chicken wings and the skin and off cuts from the chicken legs.

1 onion diced

5cm piece of leek diced

Small piece of celeriac or a stick of celery diced

1 carrot diced

1 tbsp. of dried soup vegetables

1 tsp. of white pepper corns

1 bunch of herbs

1 tsp. of vegetable stock powder (I prefer using this as opposed to using salt)

 First make your stock (you don’t have to but I always like to make my own, it is so satisfying. While at the Turks, I bought some chicken wings, these along with the skin and bones from 3 legs went into the stock pot along with some dried root veg, a piece of leek, a carrot and some diced celeriac. Added a teaspoon of white pepper corns, the bunch of herbs, a diced onion, and a crushed clove of garlic and a teaspoon of vegetable stock powder. 

Top up with cold water bring to the boil, skim and drop to a simmer.

The Paella

First a bit about the Paella, the name comes from the pan that this rice dish is cooked in, there are many claimants to the original version, but it is clear that it was a peasant dish that can contain anything, in coastal areas it will have more or only fish. Inland it will be a meat one, containing rabbit, chicken and to make up for a lack of protein often snails, I like this but have seen when I add them the girls tend  to leave them on the side of their plates.

I first had Paella back in  1969 while dish washing my way through France and Spain, it was in either Lorette de mar or it could have been Blane's or even Tarragona  but no matter it was at a market place on a scorching hot afternoon and I bought a portion for a few Peseta’s, life was good in those days, it was so cheap to live in Spain and if you couldn’t get a place in a hostel, you could sleep on the beach, that was if you could keep out of the way of Franco’s Garda.

I was later to become more involved in the making of Paella, my Sister in Law is Spanish and it was from her that I learnt to cook a Paella Valencia, this is the seafood variation.

You shall require:

3 chicken legs skinned and jointed

 

1 piece of sword fish (cut into 3)

1 piece of salmon or as in this case sea trout  (cut into 3)

 A good double handful of mussels

about 15 Prawns

1 onion diced

1 clove of garlic pressed

1 red pepper deseeded and sliced

8cm piece of chorizo sliced

 

 A good pinch of saffron

1 level tsp. sweet smoked paprika

(mix the two above ingredients together in a cup with some warm chicken stock)

600g of paella rice

 

2 tomato’s halved and grated (this will leave you with just the skin, this is the part you do not need)

Heat the olive oil and fry the onions and garlic.

 add the chorizo and heat until it releases its colour, push to one side of the pan,












put the chicken pieces into the paella and brown, reduce the heat and fry for about 10 minutes, remove and set aside. 

Return the onions and chorizo back to the pan, add the tomato,

now add the rice,

stir in to coat all over with oil, add the chicken and pour in the stock until it is all covered, finally add the cup of saffron/paprika stock, add a handful of peas (or cut green beans), give it a final stir (you shouldn't stir it any more, but if you like I needed to have the Paella over two rings you will need to turn the pan at regular intervals so that the whole of the pan gets evenly heated.

Cover with aluminium foil and over a low heat (it should bubble not boil) allow it to absorb the liquid. about 20 minutes before it is  finished put the fish and decorate with strips of red peppers.

Then bury the mussels into the rice and arrange the prawns evenly around the pan.

When the fish is cooked, the mussels open, turn off the heat and cover with a clean tea towel and allow to stand so that the rice absorbs any remaining liquid. (it is traditionally covered with newspaper).

There should be a firm crust on the base of the Paella (the socarrat) , it is meant to be there, it is an integral part of the dish and it is one of the best parts of the meal

Drink with a crisp white wine , Ole!!!