Change of Mind

Adam and I had both made up our minds that cooked carrots were just no good. But, we decided to branch out and give them a try after looking in this month's Food and Wine Magazine. And I am glad we did! Apparently cooked carrots doused in butter and herbs are fantastic; we couldn't get enough of them. Adam followed the recipe and had seafood with his carrots, but he changed it from bass to scallops which he just seared with some salt and pepper on each side. We also made some quinoa with arugula and savory-spiced baked tofu stirred in at the end. I was more than happy that we had leftovers and that we had changed our mind about cooked carrots!


Striped Bass with Sweet Carrots and Cider Glaze (Food and Wine, November 2009)

1/2 cup apple cider
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal, 1/8 inch thick
2 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
2 rosemary sprigs
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs. chopped parsley [we used cilantro]
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
4 (6-oz.) skinless striped bass fillets or other sustainable meaty white fish fillets

1. In a nonreactive saucepan, boil with cider and cider vinegar over high heat until reduced to 2 Tbs., 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.
2. Meanwhile, in a nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil. Spread the carrots in an even layer and add the garlic and rosemary. Cook over moderately high heat, without stirring, for 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderate and cook, stirring until the carrots are just tender and richly caramelized, 5 minutes longer. Discard the garlic and rosemary. Season the carrots with salt and pepper. Stir in parsley and half of the cider glaze.
3. In a nonstick skillet, heat the vegetable oil. Season the fish with salt and pepper and add to the skillet. Cook over moderately high heat until the fillets are lightly browned, 4 minutes. Turn and cook until the fish is just white throughout, 2 minutes longer.
4. Transfer the caramelized carrots to plates and set the fish on top. Drizzle with the remaining cider glaze and serve.

Paella

Adam and I were trying to figure out something new and different that we had never made before to have for one of our Wednesday night dinners. We also had the stipulation of making something not spicy, because one of our neighbors really doesn't enjoy spice. We though paella would be a wonderful thing to make with seafood and sausage and easy to divide into vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. We were right! It was fairly simple and only used to pots to make an immense amount of a flavorful, healthy, complete meal.


Paella Our Way

I used a combination of two recipes, Paella Valencia and Quick Vegetarian Paella, from which I took bits and pieces of each and then added a bit of my own ideas. I got both recipes off of the Cooking Light website. I am sure that those recipes would be wonderful as they are currently written, but I combined them to make sure there were both a lot of vegetables as well as seafood and meat.

2 Tbs. olive oil, divided
3/4 lbs. scallops
3 large links of sausage or chorizo, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 Tbs. capers, drained
1/4 tsp. saffron threads, crushed
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice or other short-grain rice
2/3 cup white wine
21 oz. vegetable broth
1 cup frozen peas
1 (14-oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
18 (3/4 lbs.) mussels, scrubbed and debearded
2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle scallops with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Add scallops to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until scallops are done. Place scallops in a medium bowl. Add sausage to pan, and cook for 1 minute or until browned. Add sausage to bowl. [We did this process at the end in a separate pan so that the meat wouldn't mix with the vegetarian portion of the paella, but this isn't necessary if you aren't worried about the meat/veggie mixing.]
2. Add onion, garlic, and mushrooms to pan [or in a separate pan]; cook 2 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in the tomato, capers, and saffron; cook 1 minute. Add remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, rice, wine, and broth to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 25 minutes or until rice is tender.
3. Stir in peas, artichokes, and pepper. Separate into veggie and non-veggie at this time, if desired. Add the mussels, scallops, sausage, 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook 8 minutes over medium heat or until mussels open; discard any unopened shells. Remove from heat, and stir in cilantro. Let stand 3 minutes.