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8/14/09

Daring Cooks: Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes

Let me just start off by saying I'm not proud of how I did in this month's Daring Cooks challenge. The choice of the dish came from my namesake, Olga, from Las Cosas de Olga and Olga’s Recipes. She chose "a delicious Spanish recipe, Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes by José Andrés, one of the most important Spanish Chefs at the moment." I love Jose Andres restaurants in DC (especially Zaytinya) and was looking forward to making the dish.

Originally, my plan was to make this dish for my parents and siblings in Seattle, but Anna said my parents aren't big fans of saffron, so I never made the dish there. Once I was back in DC, I decided to make the dish without cuttlefish (calamari), to eliminate the aioli component and to use canned artichokes instead of the fresh ones. I also used turmeric instead of saffron (to get the same pretty yellow color without the taste) and only used 1/2 of the liquid and rice amounts, but the same vegetable amounts. Needless to say, my dish did not come out as awesome as some of the other Daring Cooks. Sigh. I'll try to do better next time.


The best part of the recipe, for me, was Sofregit. I adapted the original recipe and used it as part of my Grilled Zucchini and Sofregit dish.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Directions
1. Heat oil in a large pan. Add all ingredients and cook for about an hour till they are soft.

Back to the challenge...once Sofregit is ready to go, I basically sauteed mushrooms and artichoke hearts in olive oil, then added some sofregit and white wine, followed by water and vegetable broth. Once the mixture came to a boil, I added aborrio rice, turmeric and a bay leaf. The mixture boiled for 5 minutes and then cooked for 8 more minutes on a lowered heat.
The canned artichokes overwhelmed the other flavors. I'm glad I only used 1 cup of dry rice instead of 2 cups. Now I have a bunch of rice left over for risotto.
If you have a favorite risotto recipe, please let me know :)

18 comments:

Dewi said...

Yummy! Love how fragrant this rice sounds like.

pigpigscorner said...

Sorry it didn't work out but it looks good though! My allioli was a disaster, had to add an egg.

Simones Kitchen said...

After reading about that dish the other day where you used sofregit I kind of knew you had done the challenge..lol.. Too bad it didn't turn out as you had thought it would be and really, you should have done the aioli. To me the aioli was the best part of the challenge in terms of taste. I loved the sofrefit as well and after my squid disaster I am actually thinking of redoing the whole thing... Well in time that is..

Unknown said...

We all make things we arent that pleased with. I sure make my share :) lol, i think its cool to post those things once in while. I'm sure your next dish will be fab! Have a wonderful weekend!

LittleRed said...

I too made a change and used shrimp instead of the cuttlefish due to a lot of nervousness in the family. But I did love the dish and the sofregit and may try it again....next time with the cuttlefish....but a much smaller batch. The 2 cups of rice made an enormous amount. Remake it sometime...the way you want to make it and you will love it. Your photo sure looks yummy!

Mary Bergfeld said...

It still looks and sounds great. Don't be so hard on yourself. My dislike of cuttlefish kept me on the sidelines this month.

Jill @ Jillicious Discoveries said...

I think your dish looks very tasty! This challenge looked intense this month. :)

Angie's Recipes said...

The dish looks pretty yummy!

Angie's Recipes

Jenn said...

Looks delicious!

This shrimp and pea risotto is one of my favorites if you are still looking for ideas :)

Woman with a Whisk said...

I did exactly the same thing. I was so excited at first, but ended up completely underwhelmed by the dish (my own fault, I'm sure). Glad you liked the sofregit though!

nfmgirl said...

My allioli was a complete and utter flop! I skipped the cuttlefish and used chicken instead. I think next time I would try using some whitefish or shrimp instead of chicken, and fish stock instead of chicken stock. I, too, loved the sofregit!

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear that this didn't work out the way you wanted, Sofregit sounds good though :)

Audax said...

Sorry to hear that the artichokes killed the taste a bit but you have another rice dish in your skillset. Lovely photo of the finished dish. Cheers from Audax in Australia

♥peachkins♥ said...

It looks really really delicious! and love the new photo,olga.

Jenny said...

Sorry to hear that it didn't work out the way you had hoped, but it looks delicious!

Lisa said...

Well, even if it didn't really work out, I still think you've created a lovely dish! That photo is great.

isa said...

Your dish looks delicious - sorry that it didn't really work out for you. Beautiful photo!

BlueToYou said...

don't feel so bad. it looks great to me!!! how does cuttlefish actually taste? i can't wrap my brain around eating what i see in nature shows.