Chicken liver pate

We spent the weekend at home because of the impending rain on Saturday and the temperature drop on Sunday. That ended me up experimenting on two dishes, chicken liver pate and cucumber sushi. I did have plans to cook but these two are not on my list. I was supposed to try gambas ajillo or putanesca but obviously none of them was served in my kitchen. Coming up with the two dishes were both unplanned. On Saturday, I went to the market with Ate Rosie (my first Saturday at the market in my 3 years stay in Taipei) to buy a week’s supply of meat, fish and vegetables. Thinking of something new to grace my daughter’s palate, I thought chicken liver would be nice and healthy as well. I bought an “i-jin” (600gms) of it and planned to have it divided for several cookings. I realized though that the hubby does not eat liver but on the contrary, he loves liver spread and he eats igado (Filipino dish with pork liver). So, few pieces went into the pot, mixed with seasonings and resulted to liver adobo good for three servings but not necessarily in a single day. The uncooked ones were meant to be stored in the freezer. After lunch, I thought of searching the internet for any other liver recipes and found the chicken liver pate (with video shown in videojug) interesting. I told the hubby about it and with delight, he agreed that I try it. We checked the ingredients and it turned out that we’d need bacon rashers and sherry besides the seasonings we already have in the kitchen cabinet. No sherry was found in the grocery and the net showed that to come up with it, two different kinds of beverages need to be mixed. That being said, we opted to use red wine instead. And you know what, the liver turned out to be the cheapest ingredient of the liver pate. This made me realize why pates are costly back home; I’d rather buy the canned liver spread next time, lol. Anyway, the cooking process turned out to be not as simple as I thought; putting the cooked dish in our tiny blender resulted to some mess. The good thing is that we ended up with three servings of homemade chicken liver pate. Please see the complete “cooking story” that follows and give it a try if you’re interested. Of course I’d say you will love it!

The homemade chicken liver pate

Ingredients that I used (sorry, no exact measurements provided):
Chicken liver, cleaned and halved


Rashers bacon
Basil leaves (it should have been parsley but I didn’t have it)

Red wine (it should have been sherry)
Italian spices (I thought it would be nice to add these up)
Chopped garlic
Chopped onions
Butter, two portions (one for cooking and one for topping later)

Bay leaves (for toppings later)
Salt and pepper

My way of cooking it:
1. I melted the butter to have the portion for topping available right away. I used what’s left in the pan to fry the bacon with the onions and garlic added later.

2. I added the liver tossing it ocassionally. I gave it at 5~7minutes before putting the seasonings.

3. I added the Italian spices, sprinkled a dash of salt and pepper and stirred. I gave it 2~3minutes so the seasonings can “get through” the liver and bacon.
4. I added the red wine and left it to simmer for 10minutes. Occassional stirring still needed here. Of course, I tasted (and asked hubby to sample it as well) the sauce to make sure the seasonings are enough.
5. I added the basil leaves and give it another 2 minutes.

That’s it, it’s cooked! The next step is to blend dish. I’d say this is the part that takes most of my time preparing the pate. The dish had little sauce so I had to add a little amount of water otherwise the blender will not work. I know this is not supposed to be done, don’t do it then. Find other means, maybe you can add sherry or melted butter instead.

Finally, after having it blended, I set three small containers (this is advisable so you can open and consume one in a day or two), spread the blended dish and had it follow the mould of the containers. I put few bay leaves on top (for decoration purposes huh?) and topped it with the melted butter. That completed the chicken liver pate. The containers had to be placed in the fridge until the butter solidified.

The story ends with the family enjoying toasted loaves of bread topped with homemade chicken liver pate. Sunday’s experimental dish will follow in a separate post.

Credits: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-chicken-liver-pate - this was my main recipe reference. I altered it to suit availability of ingredients.
Note: Photos in this post are all taken by the blog author.

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Strange-sounding, mouth-wathering recipe: ADOBASIT

Combination of pork and squid invading one of my teflon pots

You’re not a Pinoy if you don’t know and eat adobo! That’s my personal line and I don’t intend to insist. :) Adobo has always been a favorite in our home. The adobo can be anything like baboy (pork), manok (chicken), combination of baboy and manok (the first three can be with or without potatoes), pusit (squid), and sitaw (string beans). The adobong manok can also be varied from a combination of all body parts (except the internals), wings, drumsticks, breasts, and “adidas” (chicken feet). Back home, different provinces have their own ways of coming out with adobos, others prefer dry while others with sauce to mix with the rice later. For me, if I cook adobo, I always include all, if not most, of the following basic ingredients: onions, garlic, ground or whole pepper, bay leaves, soy sauce, vinegar (or calamansi extract), salt and sugar. At times, I add ginger to adobong manok and oyster sauce to adobong pusit. In one of my favorite restaurants (part of Iggy’s Inn or Iggy’s Place) in Baguio, the special adobo served is a combination of lechon baboy and chicken. That didn’t sound strange at all to me.

Recently, I was exchanging comments with my multiply friends when I posted our Christmas celebration with seafoods mainly served. Noeds, also a high school friend back in SJHS, asked Sharon and I if we ever tried cooking adobong baboy and pusit, not separately but combined. Both our answers are “no” followed by same reaction and question of “Really, is there such thing, sounds strange to us! Can you share your recipe?” Noeds in turn told us she just cooks it like the regular adobong baboy and add the pusit. The tastes match, she said. She also mentioned about using something like the pork cubes. I told her I’d like to try. I mentioned it to hubby and he was interested. I told him I couldn’t imagine the taste and he said it should be fine.

Last Sunday, I had no other plans for dinner except for that much awaited adobong baboy and pusit which I simple call ADOBASIT. Sounds like a combination yet contradiction of the Ilocano terms “adu” (many or plenty) and “bassit” (small or not much). As I mentioned in my earlier posts about recipes, I really don’t have an exact recipe. As long as you know how to cook adobo, you’d know how to come up with this. What I did was to cook the adobong baboy first then when the pork meat was already tender, I added up the squid noting that when the later gets overcooked, the meat will harden. I gave the combination less than ten minutes to simmer and tada, dish was readied for dinner. The combination came in just fine. I’d say, the taste of the pusit dominated that of the baboy but was still ok. This is one dish that will get through my kitchen not just once or twice but often.

Don't you think they make a good pair?

You may have to think twice and give it a try!

Thanks to Noeds for sharing this authentic dish!

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What comes after deviating from the original recipe?

One of the advantages of keeping an e-group is that members get to exchanged ideas about any subject raised that interests anyone from the group. The subject could include family life, work, sentiments, rants, jokes, movies, men, women, travel experiences, kids and of course, recipes. The last subject gives me the highest interest especially if it is something that I can cook out from my kitchen. In one of my e-groups discussions, we talked about pasta recipes and some of the members mentioned about Fetuccini Alfredo. Since the dish name sounded complicated to me, I didn’t put much attention to it until after my last week’s search for an easy to prepare dish for dinner. With combinations of tiredness from my own dishes, riddance of take aways, excitement over a new recipe and short requirement for dish preparation, I googled what came out to be a delectable serving.

Google search took me to http://www.allrecipes.com/ where I looked for various recipes and ended up choosing from 2 pasta dishes. With quick preparation in mind, I opted for the “Broccoli Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo”. Original recipe is shown below but with limitations of supplies in the grocery store, I did my usual variation style which turned out to be "Broccoli Ham Spiral Alfredo" (My modifications are shown in italics).

INGREDIENTS
1/2 pound dry fettuccine pasta (500gms spiral pasta)
1 cup fresh chopped broccoli
2 tablespoons butter
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast (4 regular ham slices)
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup [2 regular cans cream of mushroom soup (Campbells)]
1/2 cup milk 375ml fresh milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese


DIRECTIONS
1. Bring a large pot of salted water (and cooking oil) to a boil. Add fettuccini (spiral) pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente, adding broccoli for the last 4 minutes of cooking. Drain.

2. Cut chicken breast meat (ham slices) into bite size pieces, trimming any fat off in the process. In a large skillet melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Add chicken (ham) and saute until well browned. Add soup, milk and cheese and stir all together. Add pasta/broccoli mixture and heat through. (I didn’t heat through the mixture anymore, I just mixed the sauce in the separate pan) Serve hot.

The ham being sauted

Cream of mushroom added

Fresh milk added and started to boil


Sauce, pasta and broccoli all added and ready to eat

Preparation time: 5minutes, cooking time: 15 minutes and there the dish is actually ready in just 20 minutes.

Over the weekend, I got curious as to how the dish got its name. Instead of getting the information I wanted, I ended up reading more and more variations of this famous dish. Only today did I eventually have the chance to know this famous pasta’s origin and true to my hunch, it got its name from the cook who invented it. And guess what led the cook to this dish? To please his pregnat wife! What a romantic act.

Source: Wikipedia
Fettuccine alfredo is a pasta dish made from fettuccine pasta tossed with Parmesan cheese, butter, and heavy cream. As the cheese melts, it thickens the liquids to form a smooth and rich coating on the pasta.

When butter was added both before and after fettuccine was put in the serving bowl, the butter was known as doppio burro (double butter). Di Lelio's original contribution was to double the amount of butter in the bowl before the fettuccine would be poured in, thus a triplo burro (triple butter) effect instead of double. And why did Alfredo double the amount of butter? His young wife was pregnant and was unable to keep any food down. Alfredo tried every dish he could imagine, but his variation on the fettuccine worked. When his wife began eating again, Alfredo added the new dish to his restaurants menu, but it was not perceived as being anything special until a couple of Hollywood movie stars stumbled across it a decade later.

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Shoes, shoes and shoes... treading with sneakers is still one of the best

I have several collections of shoes - most are from selective yet necessary buying, while some are results of impulse buying. There's this pair I used only once - on the wedding of our friends here. There are these two pairs I used when I was pregnant but didn't feel like using them again after I gave birth. I have this pair of cheap orange sandals I used last summer but it didn’t last that long because one side of one shoe started to tear off and I was not able to find time to fix it. While there's this pair of slip-in shoes I bought also during the time of my pregnancy that I use until now. It's a regular wear for all seasons as I can wear it with short stockings on summer and with socks on winter. I liked it so much that even if the color starts to fade, they're still regularly intact in my feet. There's this slip-in high heeled favorite pair of mine that's now in storage because I can already feel the water getting in on my way to office during the rainy days.

Wanting to change image, my sister urged me to buy a formal office shoes back home but it turned out to be of one usage only because it hurt my feet a lot and I didn't want to use it anymore. (I am planning to sell it at a discounted to some friend's friend.) Forget about changing the looks, I'd rather enjoy the comfort of moving around. Got also this pair of authentic Macanna striped multicolored shoes I haven't worn for few months now. It's time to bring out of from the box now that it's cold. It'll keep the feet warm. There's also this pair of branded rubber shoes bought together with hubby's now almost worn-out shoes.' haven't used it for more than a year now so I might as well sell it out. Hey, I also have this trendy shoes I brought from SM Baguio - twas used less than ten times.Another one I almost forgot on the list is the pair of boots I bought from a friend selling goods from the Philippines. It's a rugged type shoes and I love to wear it with jeans. I couldn't simply pass these pairs to my sisters as I have the largest feet compared to all of them, including my mom. Definitely, I can't pass them to my only brother (err, I was able to pass him a pair of rubber shoes I brought in LK but I don't think the rubber shoes now will fit him).

It doesn't end there... On Saturday, my feet ached a lot after a long walk around the shopping areas of Taipei City I went to the department store and you guess it right, I bought a new pair of shoes... this time, it's a pair of sneakers - brand unknown, twas on sale (from 990NTD to 560NTD) - color is white with a touch of orange. I am wearing it right now and this is actually the reason that drove me to blog about me and my shoes. It feels so good moving around and nah, it brings out the youth in me, lol.

It may appear that I am a shoe collector but you won't say that if you see my younger sister's collection - she's imeldific...

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Of cravings, pasta, passion and quick preparation...

Recently, I have regular cravings for a taste just like this. I guess mine is more of a penchant for the combination of olive oil, butter, herbs (or Italian spices) and parmesan cheese. My passion for cooking has made me come up with two variations from the chicken-shrimp pasta that was served first. The second one was added with salmon and instead of using butter when I sauteed the ingredients, cheese was used. My third variation was served last night. I went to town and decided earlier that my husband and I take care of our own dinner - he would buy on the nearby store in our apartment compound while I choose where to eat in town. The choices I had include McDonalds, Yoshinoya, Moss Burger and Kohikan - all of which are fastfood chains. I was not really hungry and thinking of the choices mentioned didn't boost my appetite anyway. Then came the urge for "that" taste. I thought my daughter could have finished her dinner already by the time I arrived home so she could have settled by then and not be catching my attention while I cook, and Dennis is there anyway. When I got into the bus bounded for home, I called him and asked him to cook the pasta so when I get there, I would only be cooking the rest of the ingredients.

I dropped by the grocery, passed by the vegetable section first and thought adding brocolli would be nice so I grabbed one, headed to the meat section and picked up a packaged boneless chicken. I also grabbed a bottle of orange juice on my way to the counter. That's all I got from the grocery. I checked on Jade for few minutes and without even changing clothes, I started to quickly prepare the stuffs I needed - diced onions, (I left out the garlic this time but I used the powdered one instead), diced chicken, sliced brocolli and... tadah... I started the cooking. In a span of 30 minutes, the dish is ready to be eaten. I forgot to mention that the pasta was timely cooked when I got home so all I did was to drain it and coat it with the butter that I intentionally mixed in the saute for quicker preparation. I guess it was the quickest pasta preparation I ever did. The result was great. Adding the brocolli made it even better. I had a second serving at 10PM as I needed to put our daughter to sleep right after I ate my first platter. Moreover, we had a packed pasta for breakfast at work.

The following are photos from my second variation - chicken, shrimp and salmon.

the buttered pasta

the concoction

the mixed concoction and pasta

the dish - served and ready to eat

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ala jollibee spaghetti

This is post is especially for Sharon, one of my avid blog fans, lol!

She asked me to share the ala-jollibee spag recipe that I learned from my Pinay friends here in Taiwan. To make it easier for me, I tried to search the recipe in the web (which I usually do, I even checked from the Jollibee websited if they have it published but of course, they’ll not do that otherwise, their spag will not be “unique” anymore) but didn’t really find one. I grabbed a near resemblance and did 50% editing. Lol!

Sha, I’ll be happy to hear from you later that this recipe has satisfied your craving, if I may say so, for JB-spag.

PS. Agluto ka ah. Pinagrigatak daytoy, hahaha.

Ingredients

• 1 kg. spaghetti noodles
• 1 kg. ground beef or pork ( 1/2 kg could be enough though)
• 1/4 kg. hotdogs, diagonally sliced (hotdogs here are different from the Filipino versions and I don’t think they will go with the sauce so I skip this ingredient)
• 1 kg. tomato sauce ( if you can find banana ketchup, the better)
• Evaporated Filled Milk 370 mL or the biggest can size
• Sweetened Condensed Filled Milk 168mL or the smallest can size (I think they come in three sizes, 370mL is the L, 250mL is the M and 168mL is the S)
• 2 green bell peppers, diced (I also skip this ingredient. Diced carrots could be added as well)
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 head garlic, minced (the more the better, I love the scent it generates when it is being sauteed)
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil (again, I recommend Olive oil. Maybe adding butter will help, I never really tried it, hhmmnnn, I can try next time)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup grated cheese (or more, depends on your preference. Cheddar cheese is recommended for a creamier taste.)

Instructions

• Cook spaghetti noodles according to package instructions. There you go; it is not stated “cook noodles as usual anymore” hahaha.
• While cooking the noodles, boil the ground meat in a separate pan. Simmer for at least 10mins. Drain afterwards. You can separate the “soup” if you desire and have it used in another recipe later. (It can be stored in the freezer for future use huh!).
  • PS. Others don’t boil the meat separately, its your choice.
• In a separate, sauté garlic and onions in cooking oil.
• Add ground meat and cook until the meat turns light brown. Since it has been boiled earlier; that is, if applicable, it can quickly turn into light brown.
• Add bell pepper and/or carrots.
• Add tomato sauce, condensed milk, evap milk, salt, pepper to taste then let simmer for 10 minutes. (Tantiya-tantiya kadi will do. Balance the sweet-sour taste. I think we look for that sweet taste, right?).
• Add hotdogs (if applicable).
• Add the cheese (Yup, it makes a difference when you add the cheese while cooking the sauce. Make sure you check how salty the cheese is so you would know how much salt you’d add otherwise, it may turn out so salty. If that happens, you can neutralize it by adding sugar or milk if you have extra on hand)
• Mix sauce and noodles. (They can be served separately of course). Top with grated cheese.

Yummy! You can have toasted garlic bread along with it. HHmmmnn, I’m suddenly hungry.

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Pasta anyone...

I usually cook during the weekends. I guess it has somehow served as my outlet for either good or “not so good” emotions. Definitely, cooking at the height of good emotions would result to a more delicious outcome. Spaghetti, Filipino style (sweet tasting), is the usual recipe I deal with. That would mean that we have to drop by the Pinoy store to buy Eden cheese, spaghetti sauce, evaporated milk and condensed milk. Hmmnn, the last two may be something not known to many. (I learned this from my friends here in Taiwan and I tell you, the taste resembles that of Jollibee’s spag). On Sunday, I thought I am tired of that taste and remembered the pasta one of my friends serve to us several months ago. The taste lingered not only in my tongue but in my mind as well. There were few attempts to cook it but not having the ingredients stopped it from happening. But last Sunday, the drive was there. I thought there is no need to go to the Pinoy store this time since the grocery near us offers a variety so off we went to check what we could get from there and indeed, we found all that we need. The good thing that came with it is the bottle of 2L coke that was sold at almost 50% off its selling price.

For a change and for easier presentation, ito na ang aking tag-lish recipe na maraming side comments. Di ako particular sa exact measurement, basta tantiya-tantiya na lang.

Ingredients:
1/2 kg pasta
1 1/2 butter (use Anchor para masarap talaga)
Ginger cloves, minced
Onion, minced
Salt to taste (di kasi enough ang taste na bigay ng butter, kahit ung salted)
Black pepper, ground
1/4 kg chicken breast (boneless), diced
200gms shrimps, peeled and diced (can I say diced?)
Italian spices (rosemary, basil, thyme leaves)
1 tbsp olive oil (para mas masarap and healthy – you can use more that 1tbsp)
Parmesan cheese (optional, naka-sale gamin isunga naggatang kamin ah)

Cooking directions:

1. Cook pasta as usual (ano kaya ung usual ano? Hehehe). Ung usual ay may asin at mantika para di magdikit-dikit ang pasta. Dapat al dente ang pagkaluto, di under-cooked, di rin overcooked.
2. While waiting for the pasta to be cooked, heat small pan to melt 1 butter (di ko alam kung ano ang measurement nya eh, di naman cube or kg, hahaha). Set aside.
3. Luto na ba ang pasta? If yes, drain and mix with the melted butter. While mixing, sprinkle desired amount of spices. (not too much kasi maglalagay pa ng spices later sa pagluto nung halo). Pwede nang tikman ang pasta sa stage na ito, masarap nang kainin actually pero wait mo na lang muna ung iba. Set aside pagkatapos mailagay ang butter sa pasta. HHmmmn, ang bango.
4. Heat olive oil in a separate pan. Add 1/2 butter. (Masusunog kasi kapag butter lang ang ginamit). Add onions and garlic. Add chicken and wait until tender.
5. Add shrimp (madali lang kasi maluto ang shrimp eh). Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Add Italian spices as desired. Ito na ung last na ilalagay mo.
7. Mix the cooked ingredients to the buttered pasta and toss well.
8. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese before and while serving.

Variations: pwedeng lagyan ng mushroom or brocolli.

Ito na yun. The whole family enjoyed the meal, and so did the usual friends. Of course, the priceless feeling that came after it is the joy seen in Jade’s face while eating the pasta together with Mommy and Daddy even if she has already consumed her bowl of porridge 30 minutes earlier than us. J She does have her own way of showing appreciation to what I cook. The more inspiration I got to experiment on other recipes.

Side notes:
My next target is pesto pasta kasi mura lang dito ang fresh basil leaves at simple lang din ang recipe.
Ang pinakamadaling pasta recipe so far na natutunan ko kay sa aking friend housemate sa Cavite ay ginisang corned beef pasta, mas maraming sibuyas, mas mabango at mas masarap. Chunky corned beef ang masarap ihalo.

Another side note:
Unlike the paella recipe, I was not able to take visuals of my pasta. I will do that next time.

PS.
I claim this as my own and original recipe because I can’t find one on the net as of yet. Patented kumbaga. Hehehe. But you are welcome to implement this in your kitchens. I’d gladly like to know how well you enjoyed it.

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Macanna

In one of our MRT trips somewhere in Taipei City, I saw these pair of shoes that caught my attention. I tried to show it to Dennis but the lady wearing them have walked away quickly so he was not able see. Anyway, going back to the pair of shoes, seeing them will make you think that the lady is wearing the wrong pair of shoes. But staring at them once again will make you think that the one who made it is really artistic. One shoe has several stripes with colors different from that in the other shoe. Even the colors of the back portion (closing) are different, the more that will make you say "Hey, she's wearing the wrong shoes".

I never thought about it until my time came to look for a new pair of shoes which I owe myself (or is it my husband?) long time ago. I wanted a pair of boots so I could wear them during the winter specially when it rains however I couldn't find the one I like. I thought of buying a pair of rubber shoes, yet I am not so convinced. That's always my problem when buying shoes, it takes me a lot of time to find one...

After our studio session, we headed to the town center opposite the side where we usually stroll. Then we saw this custom built shoe store - but shesh, the price of the shoe I could have liked was way beyond my budget. (BTW, my budget is 2K NTD). Next to it was a somewhat tribal store which turned out to be another shoe store. And there, I saw a pair of shoes displayed, similar to what I have seen in the MRT. The first thing I asked was the price. The store owner told us it's 1.8K NTD, close to my budget. But when he came back after getting 3 other pairs which I could choose from (I mean choose whichever I want to pair up), he said the price is 2.2K NTD and it's on sale with 3.8K NTD as the original price. Not too bad for a discount. I tried to fit them and it suited right for me. It's soft and comfortable inside. Dennis asked me if I could wear it at work (noting the multiple colors) and I said, of course! We saw the ones for men but my hubby didn't like it, hehehe.

We looked for the colors that closely matched each other and had my old shoes boxed instead of the new pair after paying it of course. Luckily, I didn't get any blister after few hours of walking. Here's a sample (one shoe only) of how it looked like in multiple colors. Sorry, I just got this from the web. Will post the actual ones I have later.

This is the actual pair:

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My new kitchen companions

I have been planning to invite a number of friends for dinner but did not have the suitable kitchen utensils to cook for a table of 5 people or more. Next weekend’s Christmas already and we were hoping to celebrate it with friends so we headed to Carrefour last Saturday and did some shopping, making sure we headed for the kitchen section first before anything else. Look what I got…

A typical wok...

A Tefal pan (thermo-spot)
and an Argus Pot

Now, I am ready to cook more than what I usually prepare.

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Saturday is Paella Day

Alas, after more than two years, I was able to cook chicken paella again……

Few weeks ago, Dennis and I jumped into a CNN featured clip of Spain’s famous dish – paella. The one featured is chicken paella cooked in a very large pan which served around 50 people. Yes, that much – in a single cooking.

It reminded me of the paella recipe our Spanish friend Rebeca has taught us back in Limerick, Ireland during the ADI days. Dennis asked if I can cook for him, I said of course, but then I didn’t have time to do it until yesterday.

I had to recall the ingredients first. I browsed in the net but the recipes there are not as simple as I thought. “Where would I buy those stuffs needed” was the first thing in mind. Rebeca’s recipe was so simple. I only needed 4-5 ingredients such as rice, canned whole tomatoe, chicken and beans. Hey, these could be easily found in the grocery, at least I could see them immediately. Saffron of course is needed but I am not sure if I could find one, I thought of a food coloring as a subsitute (we did that back in LK because saffron is expensive, mind you).

Yesterday was quite a good day to cook the dish since hubs stayed at home (after several weeks of spending OT in the office), he could take care of Jade while I’ll be cooking the paella for our dinner. So off we went to the grocery and I picked up the stuffs I needed. I couldn’t find any food coloring but I thought it wouldn’t matter anyway. Rosemary leaves are also needed but I already got them at home.

Having all the ingredients needed, I started to prepare the dish with excitement. Here are what I had…

5pcs of chicken legs
250gms of beans
2 canned whole tomatoes
3 cups of rice
Rosemary leaves
Salt

…and here are the steps I did to come up to the much awaited paella –

1. Fry the chicken, brown both sides. (not deep fry)

2. Remove most of the cooking oil after the chicken has turned into brown. (and transfer the chicken to the bigger pan, of course a single pan can be used)

3. Add the beans.

4. Prepare the whole tomatoes, squeezed them in a container and added some water. I was able to buy peeled tomatoes so there was no need for me to skin them.

5. Add the tomatoes in the pan.

6. Add salt to taste

7. Sprinkle rosemary leaves.

8. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. This will make the chicken and beans absorb the savor of the tomatoes.

9. Add the rice.

(Tip: Remove some of the sauce and place it in a container. When the rice starts to get cooked, the sauce will be absorbed so if you see the sauce getting dried but with the rice still uncooked, you can pour back the sauce you removed earlier so you can get the rice cooked well).***

10. Let it cook for 20-30mins

11. Serve well and enjoy the dish.

***While the rice is getting cooked, I bathed our daughter while hubby was starting to complain that the smell of the dish made him hungry.

Hhhmmmnn, you can serve it with wine if you are into it. It’s a no-no for me at this time so we had orange juice instead.

I remember a friend told me that lemon can also be sprinkled in the paella before serving.

And here is my “Paella ala Jane” which satisfied Dennis who suggested that I cook paella weekly huh!

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