Sunday, September 29, 2013

Adventure #190: Paella

Felt like having paella today. Found a fairly easy to follow recipe from BBC's website (see below, although we made some modifications of our own).  We then went out to GREAT to look for "paella" rice i.e. of the Bomba or Calaparra variety but was unsuccessful.  G, undeterred, stood in the supermarket and did his research on the spot. We found out that good quality Spanish rice of the varieties mentioned is not generally exported and the next best substitute is either risotto or sushi rice.  In the end, we bought arborio i.e. risotto rice as a substitute due to its closer geographical proximity and characteristics.

Armed with all the ingredients, we set out make our first paella!

Our paella.  Just added the prawns, clams and scallops, about 5-10 mins from being done. 

The final product. G thought it was the best he has had.

A final touch, a cold glass of Spritz!

This recipe serves 6-8 people. 

Ingredients

170g/6oz chorizo, cut into thin slices
110g/4oz pancetta, cut into small dice
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 large Spanish onion, finely diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 tsp soft thyme leaves
¼ tsp dried red chilli flakes
570ml/1pint calasparra (Spanish short-grain) rice
1 tsp paprika
125ml/4fl oz dry white wine
1.2 litres/2 pints chicken stock, heated with ¼ tsp saffron strands
8 chicken thighs, each chopped in half and browned
18 small clams, cleaned
110g/4oz fresh or frozen peas
4 large tomatoes, de-seeded and diced
125ml/4fl oz good olive oil
1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled
12 jumbo raw prawns, in shells
450g/1lb squid, cleaned and chopped into bite-sized pieces
5 tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation method

1. Heat half the olive oil in a paella dish or heavy-based saucepan. Add the chorizo and pancetta and fry until crisp. Add the garlic, onion and pepper and heat until softened. Add the thyme, chilli flakes and calasparra rice, and stir until all the grains of rice are nicely coated and glossy. Now add the paprika and dry white wine and when it is bubbling, pour in the hot chicken stock, add the chicken thighs and cook for 5-10 minutes.

2. Now place the clams into the dish with the join facing down so that the edges open outwards. Sprinkle in the peas and chopped tomatoes and continue to cook gently for another 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil with the garlic cloves in a separate pan and add the prawns. Fry quickly for a minute or two then add them to the paella. Now do the same with the squid and add them to the paella too.

4. Scatter the chopped parsley over the paella and serve immediately.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Adventure #189: Shanghai Lu Yang Cun Restaurant

We used to go to this restaurant a lot when it was in the main shopping mall of the WTC.  The food was good. Only problem then was that it was too popular.  Even with a reservation, we had to wait up to an hour for a table.  After a few frustrating waits, we stopped going.

Today, looking for a Shanghainese dinner in CWB, we decided to try this restaurant again. It has now moved to the 11th floor. The decor is new and is modern looking. The restaurant space is much smaller than before. When I make the reservation and I was told that there were 2 seatings on Sat 6pm and 8pm, so I picked the 6pm one. When we got there, we were surprised to be seated immediately and unlike before, the restaurant was not full.


The drunken chicken and smoked eel were good.

Haven't had the "wo pa" for a long time.  The little one really loved this dish. The sourness of the tomatoes sauce was very refreshing and the went really well with the crispy rice.

The 蔥油拌麵 was a disappointment.

This 四季豆 dish was an ok dish.

As with the 雲吞雞.

 The 獅子頭 dish was by far the best one.


Ordered the banana fritter 拔絲香蕉 for the kids. They still dunk it in cream soda but it was not done well. Another disappointment.

Food quality was reasonable. But the dishes came out too quickly. Felt rushed through the meal. Not an enjoyable dining experience.

11/F, World Trade Centre
280 Gloucester Road
Causeway Bay
Tel: 2881 6669