The Healthy Vegan Kitchen

Our host this month is Olga from Las Cosas de Olga & Olga’s Recipes. She has chosen a delicious Spanish recipe, Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish & artichokes by José Andrés, one of the most important Spanish Chefs at the moment. Olga tells us that Jose Andres trained under well-known Ferran Adria at his 3 Michelin star restaurant El Bulli. He lives now in Washington DC & he owns several restaurants in Washington DC area (El Jaleo, Zaytinya, Oyamel…). The recipe is from his US TV show Made in Spain.

I only made half of the recipe, since just the 2 of us would be eating it (we still had leftovers). I didn’t have to make too many adjustments to the recipe. You can find the original recipe, as well as everyone elses creations here: www.thedaringkitchen.com

Here is what I did:

Rice with mushrooms, white beans and artichokes
Cooking time: 45 minutes Serves: 2
Equipment: 1 Chopping Board, 1 knife, 1 medium saucepan, 1 Saucepan

1 can of Artichokes, quartered

6 cremini Mushrooms, cut into 4ths

1 Bay leaf (optional but highly recommended)

½ glass of white wine

½ can great northern beans, drained & rinsed

“Sofregit” (see recipe below)

1 cups Short grain rice (Spanish types Calasparra or Montsant are preferred, but you can choose any other short grain. This kind of rice absorbs flavor very well) – about ½ cup per person

3 cups Vegetable Broth (use 1 ½ cup of liquid per ½ cup of rice)

Saffron threads (you can substitute it for turmeric or yellow coloring powder)

Allioli (adapted from Veganomicon) - optional

1. Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable broth in a saucepan, add a bay leaf, artichokes and the mushrooms. Sauté until we get a golden color in the artichokes.

2. Put a touch of white wine so all the solids in the bottom get mixed in, giving it more flavor.

3. Add ½ cup of sofregit & mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with it.

4. Add the liquid and bring it to boil.

5. Add the rice. Let boil for about 5 minutes in high heat.

6. Add the saffron thread to enrich the dish with its flavor and color. Stir a little bit so the rice & the other ingredients get the entire flavor. If you’re using turmeric or yellow coloring, use only ¼ tsp.

7. Turn to low heat and boil for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”)

8. Remove the pan from heat, stir in the beans and let stand a couple of minutes.

Sofregit (a well cooked & fragrant sauce made of olive oil, tomatoes, garlic & onions, & may at times different vegetables such as peppers or mushrooms)

Cooking time: aprox. 1 hour

2 big red ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 small onions, chopped

½ green bell pepper, chopped (optional)

3 garlic cloves, chopped

½ cup of cremini mushrooms, chopped (optional)

1 Bay leaf

Salt

Touch of ground cumin

Touch of dried oregano

1. Put all the ingredients together in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft.

2. Taste and salt if necessary.

The Allioli was an optional ingredient. I did add it, although I don’t think it really added that much to the dish. Olga gave us the option of making a traditional one or a new modern recipe. It is served together with the rice, giving it a very nice taste. I did like the added garlic flavor that it gave.

Allioli (adapted from Veganomicon) Prep time: 5 minutes

½ can great northern beans, drained & rinsed

1 TBSP lemon juice

1/8 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3 cloves garlic

2 TBSP water

2 tsp ground flax seeds

1. Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.

Olga’s Tips:
(1) In Spain, rice is not stired as often as it is when cooking Italian risotto. You must stir it once or twice maximum. This tip is valid for all Spanish rice dishes like paella, arròs negre, arròs a banda…
(2) When cooking the alternative style you can change the cuttlefish or squid for diced potato.
(3) If you can’t find cuttlefish or squid, you can try to substitute them for chicken or vegetables at your choice.
(4) Sofregit can be done in advance. You can keep it in the fridge or even freeze it.
(5) For more information on how to clean & remove the heart of artichokes, please watch this video
(6) To watch how Jose Andres cooks this dish click here.
(8) To tone down the taste when you do it by hand in a mortar, then add an egg yolk. If you want to tone it down in the alternative way use milk or soy milk. Anyway, the best alternative way is the original oil & garlic alone.
(9) Allioli must be consumed during the preparation day and preserved in the fridge before using it.
Verdict: This was simple to make & very tasty. Hubby also really liked it. I did take a couple of shortcuts by using canned artichokes, but this month has been busy, so I didn’t want to add any more to it. I didn’t actually think I was going to get to this. I actually made this with just a few hours to spare. Make sure you check out what everyone else did.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 12:30 am and is filed under Daring Cooks, beans, Dinner, Challenges, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.