I’m so excited to have participated in my first Daring Cooks Challenge. August’s challenge was hosted by Olga from Olga’s Recipes, and the recipe was a Catalan dish: rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes. I had been meaning to make paella for some time now (I had even bought saffron!) so this was a perfect opportunity to try it out!
Modifications
Instead of using cuttlefish, I used pre-cleaned squid — partly because Seafood Counter Guy at Whole Foods had never heard of cuttlefish and partly because I saw some pictures of not-cleaned cuttlefish (ink sac and innards and all) and I got REALLY scared.
I also substituted the fish head stock with chicken broth and a dash of Japanese dashi since I was scared of dealing with fish heads (yes, I know, I’m Chinese – how could I be afraid of some fish heads?)
Finally, instead of cleaning out 4 fresh artichokes, I bought canned artichokes.
Over all, this dish was a success! It met the HAF – Husband Approval Factor (actually, my husband’s quite a foodie, so this means something. 🙂 The allioli totally made the dish – the pungent raw garlicky essence on the rice really created a zing that made this dish incredible.
Thanks Olga!
Ingredients (serves 4):
- 4 Artichokes
- 12 Mushrooms (Baby Bellas)
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1 glass of white wine
- 3/4 lb cuttlefish
- Sofregit (click here for recipe)
- 300 gr (2 cups) Short grain rice
- Fish stock (use 1 ½ cup of liquid per ½ cup of rice)
- Saffron threads
- Allioli (click here for recipe)
I had never bought or cooked squid before so I was slightly scared when I opened up the package. Yeeks!
I guess they didn’t look too bad. At least they were clean, and quite easy to chop.
1) Add 1-2 T of olive oil in a pan and saute the squid.
3) Saute until the artichokes turn golden brown. (since my artichokes came from a can and were already sort of yellow, I just sauteed until the veggies softened a bit ~ 5 minutes)
4) Add a splash of white wine so that all the solids in the pan get mixed together
5) Add 2-3 tablespoons of sofregit and mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with the sofregit. (I ended up dumping ALL the sofregit that I had made into the pan – it still turned out great!)
8) Add saffron (I added like 10-20 threads)
9) Bring to a simmer and let cook for 8 minutes or until “al dente”
10) Remove pan from heat and let it rest for another few minutes
Serve with allioli on top.
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YUM. i wonder if i have the patience to make this, with all the different parts….
this looks good. and buying cleaned squid makes a big difference. the uncleaned stuff is a little scary. i bet you’ll start making squid at home a lot more now that you’ve tried it.
Yum. One suggestion — maybe for you r recipes you could posted estimated preparation and cooking times.
Yum! The squid looks terrific. Good job forming the rice into an appetizing mound, mine was more of a pile of food in the middle of the plate.
Congratulations on a first DC Challenege extremely well done! Your plating is gorgeous, as is the photo of it! It looks mouth watering!
Livia – thanks for the suggestion. This dish isn’t so bad to make, especially if you have sofregit already made (that’s the most time-consuming part, but I guess Catalan people just have it on hand usually?) The rest of the dish takes about 45 minutes to prepare max. I think I spent close to 2 hours when I made it for this challenge, but that’s because I messed up on the allioli once, made the sofregit first (serially), etc.
Wonderful, that is the type of recipe I like! I can smell it from here. Love your blog.
Beautiful! I love your presentation!
Looks great, I love the composed presentation!
Congratulations on your first challenge. You’ve made a fantastic job!!
Well done on your first DC challenge. I would have cleaned your whole squid in exchange for the ink. Just saying.
I agree completely about the allioli making this one. Great presentation!
Oooo, sorry if I scared you off my that terrible photo of the squid insides..lol… Well, it was kind of gross and scary so very wise decision to use precleaned squid. I totally love that first photo of yours. What a beautiful presentation and well done on your first challenge too!
Your plating is so professional just like your finished recipe. Love all your pixs and I noticed your allioli posting also yours is so white. bravo bravo bravo on a fabulous challenge well done. Cheers from Audax in Australia
Good choice on the squid. The waitress in Italy warned me that cuttlefish is a “black” fish. It really was the worst meal in the whole country.
Beautiful job!! Your dish looks amazing, and the plating is gorgeous =D.
Stunning presentation. Glad you enjoyed your first challenge. It was my second challenge and really enjoyed it too.
I love your presentation, you have a lot of patience. Lovely work.
Good job on the challenge, and GREAT plating!
Great job! Beautifully plated 🙂
Hello from Barcelona, Catalonia. You are right, the Catalan people it is easy to cook the sauce. Thanks for this recipe. a pleasure and an honor.