Mixed Paella

Paella, which has its origins in Valencia, is a very grateful dish. I really enjoy preparing it, serving it and eating it. You can make it with whatever you like (rabbit, chicken, shellfish, sausage, frogs or snails). Served in a big paella pan it looks and smells fabulous and it's a great dish to dig in with the whole family. There are many different types of paella, but this one has everything I like in it.

Serves 6

- good splash of olive oil

- 1 onion, finely chopped

- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

- 600 g semi-long grain rice or short grain rice (like risotto rice)

- about 0,8 l stock

- 6 chicken drumsticks

- 1 red pepper, chopped

- 1-2 g saffron

- 1 small and thin dry sausage like a dry salami, cut in thick coin sized slices

- 2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped- 2 handfuls of peas (frozen will do)

- (15 mussels)

- 12-15 big prawns
- handful of parsley, finely chopped
- pepper, salt

- 1 lemon, cut in wedges

If possible use a big paella pan. This is a wide, shallow, thin base pan. If you don't have a paella pan, just use a big frying pan or a wok.

Start with sauteing onions and garlic on medium heat in some olive oil. When translucent add chopped red pepper and rice and stir until it's coated with oil.

Add some ladlesful of stock and stir. Let it come to a gentle boil and when all the fluid has been absorbed, add some more stock.

Roast your saffron in a dry hot pan. Then crumble it in the rice an stir.

In the meantime fry the seasoned chicken in a separate pan and keep warm (in some aluminum foil or on low heat in the oven) when crispy.

When the rice is close to being "al dente" add the sausage.

Fry the seasoned prawns in some olive oil.

Cook the mussels in their shells.

A few minutes before serving, add peas and tomato.

Taste and, if necessary, season with salt and pepper.

A few minutes later stir in tomato and peas.

Finish off with the chopped parsley.

Arrange drum sticks, prawns, mussels and lemon on top of the rice and serve. 

Bitterballen / Kroketten, a very Dutch snack

This super Dutch bar snack is a delight for all. Surely not a healthy option, but sooooo good! You will find the bitterballen in most bars in the Netherlands and they make a great snack with a beer around five o'clock. The kroket is mostly eaten as lunch, on a soft bread roll. You will find them in fast food restaurants as well or in the also very Dutch "muur" (wall): some fast food restaurants have a heated wall with little windows you can open after putting some money in it. For both goes: don't forget the mustard!

So go ahead and wow your friends with this fantastic snack next time you throw a dinner party (and hire someone to deep-fry them for you a-la-minute...).

Makes about 20 kroketten or 60 bitterballen.

Filling:

- 50 g butter

- 50 g flour

- 1 cup of milk

- 1 small onion, finely chopped

- 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

- 250 g (left over) cooked meat (chicken/veal/fillet of beef), finely chopped/shredded

- 1 handful of parsley, finely chopped

- 1 tsp nutmeg

- pepper and salt

- oil for deep frying

- mustard

for the coating:

- 1 cup flour, on a plate

- 2 eggs, lightly beaten with a splash of milk, on a plate

- 2 cups bread crumbs, on a plate

Melt butter in a saucepan.

Add onion and garlic and saute for 2 minutes, without browning.

Add flour and stir well for 2 minutes.

Add milk and keep on stirring until you end up with a smooth thick doughy sauce.

Add the meat and parsley and season with nutmeg, pepper and salt.

Let it cool down and put the mixture covered in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Form the mixture into 12 cm not too thick logs (kroketten) or into small ping pong sized balls (bitterballen).

(if they have "melted" a bit, put them in the freezer for about an hour, until they are firm again).

Roll each kroket or bitterbal through some flour first, then through the eggs and then trough the breadcrumbs. (Tip: to avoid extreme mess, do it in batches: start with rolling about ten of them in flour, then move over to the eggs and finish with the breadcrumbs).

Put them on a plate and cool them in the fridge or a couple of hours or in the freezer for an hour (or freeze them until you need them).

Heat frying oil in a heavy based pan to 180 °C and deep-fry the bitterballen in batches of eight or ten for about 4 minutes, kroketten in batches of six for about 6 minutes. Test the first one and be sure the centre is hot! (If you deep-fry frozen kroketten or bitterballen it will take a few minutes longer).

Serve the bitterballen with mustard (I prefer Dijon) and the kroketten on a white roll with mustard.

For a pescatarian version: take chopped prawns instead of meat, lemon zest and lemon juice in stead of nutmeg and add some dill! You could even make vegetarian ones with mushrooms.

Bbqed king prawns

A couple of weeks ago, we invited some South-African friends over for a bbq (here: braai). South-Africans are very proud of their braai and their meat. South-Africans love meat, lots of meat. I decided to shock their system a bit with a fish braai and it went down very well! These prawns were a big hit. It's all about the marinade and the quality of the prawns. For this recipe you need some big, good quality prawns, the bigger the better.  

Serves 4 :

- 16 raw king or tiger prawns in their shells

- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

- 2 tbsp bbq sauce (Heinz)

- 8 tbsp lemon juice

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- bunch of parsley, finely chopped

- 1/4 preserved salted lemons, finely chopped

- sea salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients except the prawns in a small bowl. Slice each prawn from just under the head to the tail right on the centre of its back. Remove the dark stringy vein that runs across the back, just under the shell and fill the opening with the marinade. Lay the stuffed prawns back up in a container and drizzle the rest of the marinade on top. Marinate for 2 hours or even overnight. Put the prawns on skewers (I use two skewers next to each other -so each prawn is pierced by two skewers- to prevent the prawns from rotating) and put them on the braai for a few minutes on each side. If you don't have a braai, using a grill is fine as well.