Last two days of lockdown. Our time is coming to an end and there are still 75 trees to plant so I’m making good progress with the birches as the blood and bone scattered around seems to be keeping the rabbits at bay – at the moment !!! The mornings kick off quote cool but the Central Otago inevitibaly heats up the day to the point that your back to a T shirt.
We were both over meat and usually eat fish serval times a week and 1-2 vegetarian dishes. We chopped up our last pumpkin into pieces that we bought on the way through to Tarras when lockdown began and roasted it with rosemary, garlic cloves and red onion. I made a pot of soup and will use some in a vegetable Paella – Not sure the Spanish would use Pumpkin in a Paella but it was delicious.
Vegetable Paella
3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 small red onion, chopped finely, 1 red/ yellow pepper cut into strips , 1/2 fennel bulb, sliced thinly, 2 cloves garlic, crushed 2 bay leaves, ½ teaspoon smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon turmeric, ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes, 200 grams calaspara rice- (short grain) , ½ cup sherry, ½ teaspoon salt, 500 – 750 ml hot vegetable/chicken stock water, 200 grams roasted pumpkin pieces 1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen) , 5 artichokes from a jar, quartered, 15 black kalamata olives, ¼ cup chopped parsley/coriander.
In a paella pan or large shallow frying pan, heat the oil and sauté the onion until soft. Add the diced pepper, fennel and garlic and cook until starting to soften and turn golden. Add the bay leaves and spices then the rice and stir thoroughly for 2-3 minutes to incorporate the spices, before adding the sherry, saffron and salt. Simmer for a 1-2 minutes. Add 500 mls stock and simmer gently for 20 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. You may need a little more. Don’t cover the rice and don’t stir. Pour boiling water over the peas and leave to cool. Drain. Remove the paella from the heat. Scatter the pumpkin, artichokes, and peas over the rice. Cover the pan tightly with foil and leave for 10 minutes. Take off the foil. Scatter with olives and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Next day was the left over paella with 2 eggs and a tablespoon of flour added. I heated a frying pan with 3 tablespoons of oil and added the rice mixture. Leave it to cook until the bottom is nicely browned. Place a plate on top and flip over, then slide the rice cake back into the pan to cook the other side. I had two fillets of sole in the freezer. They were thawed tossed in flour and cooked in a little oil – in the same frying pan as the rice cake. In another smaller pan i sautéed a little Florence fennel with capsicum slices. Meanwhile, there were 4 halved tomatoes grilling in the oven . So here is the end result. 1/2 the Paella rice cake topped with grilled tomatoes > sole fillet> sautéed vegetables > chopped coriander.
Actually very tasty …………..
Travel Memories
This year is disruptive, turbulent and very troublesome. Hopefully over a long period of time I will get to travel again with more amazing New Zealanders (and the occasional Australian). We do have a great time and laugh a lot. I am a people person and love the challenge of my tours and I am looking forward to the future.
xxxx Judith