Seafood

Quick Arroz con Mariscos with lime-pickled onions

Arroz con Mariscos
It just means rice with seafood and a whole lotta of cilantro and cumin!
Arroz con Mariscos is a popular dish of rice and seafood in Peru and also Portugal. This quick version is perfect with shrimp and/or scallops. The convenient thing about seafood is that it’s quick and simple to prepare and the juices that are released add a lot of flavor to the dish. Our local Sprouts has a ‘dealicious’ sale on both this week. Add frozen or fresh veggies to this recipe. This time I added extra cilantro (one large bunch) and some chopped spinach. The greener the better, right?!

Quick Arroz con Mariscos with lime-pickled onions

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Ingredients
  

  • 3 to 4 cups of cooked/steamed white rice long grain
  • 1 ½ to 2 lb of seafood I used defrost shrimp and scallops
  • 1 bunch of fresh cilantro chopped
  • 1 medium red/purple onion 1/2 chopped and ½ cut in thin slices
  • 3 garlic cloves chopped
  • 1 small lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon cumin powder
  • 2 tsp turmeric
  • ½ tsp of oregano
  • ½ cup of chicken stock or chicken broth save another ½ cup in case rice looks dry after all ingredients are mixed
  • ½ cup of peas frozen it’s fine
  • ½ cup of diced carrots
  • ½ red yellow or green bell pepper diced
  • 3 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • “To taste” ingredients
  • salt about 1 tbsp but it depends on how salty the chicken broth you are using is
  • cayenne pepper 1 tsp

Instructions
 

  • Before starting on the “Arroz con Mariscos” marinade the thin onion slices in the lime juice and set aside.
  • On a big pan sauté diced onions on the OOil. Add bell pepper+peas+carrots or any other veggies you like (green beans, corn, etc.) Saute for a couple of minutes and add the chicken stock, lemon juice and spices (including chopped cilantro). Add the seafood and cook it for 5 minutes (Note: if you’re using frozen seafood use less chicken broth. If seafood is still frozen cooked for 8 minutes or so).
  • Taste the broth before adding the rice. It should be on the salty side. Add more salt/pepper/cumin or anything your taste buds tell you. Add the cooked rice. Make sure you gently smash the rice clusters so it will absorb the broth evenly. Add more chicken broth if the rice looks dry. The rice should look pretty moist.
  • Let it sit for 5 minutes before serving allowing the rice to absorb all the juices.
  • Serve with the marinade onions on the side.

Notes

You can add any vegetable to this recipe (green beans, lima beans and even chopped kale will taste good). I added chopped spinach on this batch. Also there’s no rule for the amount of cilantro you can use here. If you are a cilantro lover this is the time to abuse it!

Quick and Easy Paella

This version may not be strictly traditional, but capers, seafood mix and Spanish saffron bring the flavors of paella together.  Traditional paella takes a while to cook and can be tricky. Precooking the rice is a great shortcut but authentic Spanish saffron is not optional and worth the price tag.

  •  1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 1/2 cups of cooked long grain rice
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 1 Lb. bag of frozen seafood mix, thawed (I used Trader Joe’s calamari, shrimp and scallops mix)
  • 1 pinch of saffron threads
  • 1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
  • ½ cup diced carrots
  • 2 Tbs. capers
  • Fresh mussels and shrimp for decoration (optional)
  • 4 lemon wedges (optional)

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, carrots and garlic. Once onions are transparent add the chicken broth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 6 minutes. Add thawed seafood mix, thawed peas, capers, saffron, salt and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes. Add cooked rice mixing well.

Place boiled mussels and cooked shrimp on top (optional). Cover and remove from the heat. Let it rest, covered, until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.

Buen Probecho!

A Belated Happy New Year!

It’s 2011 and life is about to change a bit around here. I have a 30 hour a week job, a new more spacious fridge and a cooking mind full of challenges.

Despite the shorter time around the kitchen and food stores, I do want to keep up with the challenge of feeding my family sensibly and “dealiciously”. What really changes is when and how I’ll be planning and cooking our meals.

The usual weekly menu will go up on Sunday instead of Wednesday and shopping will happen whenever I get a free time in my schedule.

So, to all the 3 readers out there that would like to contribute with a quick meal recipe, one dish dinner recipe or easy frozen meals go to the “Quickly Dealicious” page and live your suggestions there. I need your help and I would love to bring your ideas to our table.

Here are some of the last meals of 2010:

Pulpo a la Gallega (Octopus with Spanish paprika, sea salt and olive oil)

Lamb Roast with mushrooms, cabernet tarragon sauce on top of pappardelle.