Arroz con Pollo

My family ate this dish quite often when I was growing up. Essentially, it is an easier, simplified version of Spanish Paella. Traditional Paella was prepared for festive and larger family celebrations while Arroz con Pollo was kept for weekday dinners. Poor mans Paella cooked by his housewife, as I like to put it
Paella is cooked in a very, large pan outdoors on the fire. It contains a variety of seafood, as well as chicken. Arroz con Pollo, being somewhat uncomplicated, is cooked in a covered saucepan and apart from rice, contains only chicken as its main feature.
My mother used long grain Australian rice, but nowadays I prefer Spanish Calasparra, which is a round, short grain rice. It’s available from Spanish and South American food shops. You can replace with Italian risotto rice, if that’s easier for you.
Good quality, genuine saffron makes an excellent distinction, lending a delicate, but unmistakable floral quality. Although this dish is definitely superior with saffron, it isn’t absolutely essential. My mother often substituted luxurious saffron with inexpensive yellow food dye when money was tight. I don’t see the point of cosmetically enhanced food and I would prefer to leave out all together. Please yourself with whatever option best suits.
Serve this dish with a grated sheep’s cheese (Pecorino), sprinkled over at the table. The assertive, salty flavours of the cheese give a pleasantly pungent edge to the dish.

Components
Olive oil
1 Spanish onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ small red pepper, chopped into small cubes
½ small green pepper, chopped into small cubes
1 small carrot, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 tsp dried greek oregano
Fresh thyme, finely chopped
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 very generous pinch of Spanish smoked paprika
1 tsp of Spanish sweet paprika
1 pinch of dried chili powder
Fresh pepper, both black and white
800g chicken pieces (leg and thigh are best)
800- 1000ml chicken stock (fake is fine)
1 very generous pinch saffron threads
200g Calasparra rice
A handful of peas (I use frozen)
Pecorino cheese, to serve

Process
Choose a lidded saucepan that will accommodate the chicken and rice comfortably. Sauté the onion, garlic, peppers, carrot and herbs with the olive oil gently for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Add both paprika's and chili and cook for a further minute.
In a separate pan, heat some olive oil and lightly brown the chicken portions. Add the chicken to the saucepan containing the sautéed aromatics. Pour away most of the fat from the pan and deglaze with combined stock and saffron. Add the stock to the chicken and aromatics. Cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the rice, along with salt and pepper. Cover and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes. Add the peas and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the rice is just cooked. Should you find the rice cooked before it has absorbed all the liquid, turn of the heat, cover the pot and allow the dish to sit for 5 minutes or so.
Serve with grated Pecorino cheese.
Serves 2 – 4 people.

Torta Pascualina

I am convinced this pie, is the South American descendant of the Italian version with the same name. It is traditionally served during the Catholic week of Lent; hence the name. Torta Pascualina means Easter Cake (or Easter Tart) in Spanish (the Italian name is Torta Pasqualina). Obviously one is meant to eat this on Good Friday, but spoilt brats like myself don’t really care for religious observation. I eat what I want, when I want.
Originally, it was made with spinach. However proper, real spinach (not baby spinach) was not always available in Australia during past times, so silver beet was substituted. My mother tells me it can be very successfully made with frozen spinach- a convenient option, but I prefer to use fresh leaves.
I like a combination of fresh silverbeet and spinach, along with carrot, green peppers and peas for sweetness and texture.
Torta Pascualina is best eaten at room temperature. It is wonderful served at picnics and at family gatherings (religious or not).

Components
For the filling
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
¼ green pepper, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
Olive oil and butter (20ml of each, or so)
650g silverbeet and spinach leaves, finely chopped
(Combined weight, I include some of the silverbeet stalk)
100g peas (I use frozen)
1 tsp dried Greek oregano
1 tbsp fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
A pinch of chili powder
A pinch of sugar
Freshly grated nutmeg (I like plenty)
Sea salt
Black and white pepper, freshly ground
1 free-range egg
50g pecorino cheese, grated
2 tsp concentrated tomato puree

For the pastry
400g flour (Tipo 00)
1 free-range egg
20ml olive oil
Water
Sea salt

Process:
Preparing the filling
In a wide saucepan, soften the onion, garlic, carrot and green pepper in equal quantities of oil and butter. It will take about 20 minutes, done over a low heat-the aromatics should not brown. Add the silver beet, spinach, peas, herbs, spices and seasoning and continue cooking for another 20 minutes or so. The silver beet and spinach should cook right down, becoming dark green, smooth and sweet in flavour. Allow to cool. Check the seasoning- there should be plenty of nutmeg and pepper, with only a pinch of chili. Add the tomato paste, pecorino cheese and the egg. Set aside.

Preparing the pastry.
Mix all the ingredients together (add enough water to make a dough which is neither too soft, nor too hard). Knead for a few minutes until smooth. Wrap in cling film and allow to rest for a while. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll into rectangular pieces (15cm by 35cm). My grandmother almost always uses the pasta machine to roll out pastries (the machine gives a uniform, smooth result), and thus I do the same.

Construction and Baking.
Pre-heat the oven to 200c.
Place one sheet of the rolled pasrty onto a greased baking sheet. Spoon one half of the filling mixture onto the pastry.
Flatten the mixture so that it is evenly spread out over the pastry. Make sure you leave about 1cm around the edge of the pastry. Dampen the edge of the pastry with water.
Drape the next sheet over the top of the mixture and gently stretch the pastry so that the 2 edges meet.
Press firmly all around the edges to form a nice tight seal. Dampen the edges again with water then fold the edge over and press down with a fork to double seal the pastry edge.
Repeat the process to make a second pie.
Glaze the tops with beaten egg and pierce a few air holes in the top of the pie.
Bake until golden- about 15-20 minutes.
Allow the “torta” to cool and cut into slices.
You can also make smaller individual pies (perfect for work lunches), not traditional but charming nonetheless.

From the Land of Kimchi

This is my best friend Daniel plugging me on YouTube.
I have known Daniel for over 10 years and we have done a lot of bad, mad and dangerous things together over the years, even teaching me Korean Chicken Soup. He is possibly the coolest guy I know (apart from me).
We are going to be collaborating on another Internet project when he comes back to Australia. But I can’t say too much about that now. It wont be food related, just glamorous and fabulous, like us.
Here’s Daniel!

Paul's Heritage

Before I begin to document the foods of my childhood, I should better inform you of my background.
Both my parents are of Latin American descent.
My father is Argentine and his relatives have lived in Mendoza, Argentina for many generations.
My mother is of European descent. Both her parents were born in Portugal, but she was born in Montevideo, Uruguay- her parents migrated to Brazil and then settled in Uruguay.
My father and mother met in Sydney, Australia during the 1970s, fell in love and married. I was the first of four children.
I am Australian, but I don’t consider myself typically “Aussie”. Even though I was born here, my first language was Spanish. So for that reason I felt different to the other kids (as well as being gay- but that’s another story). For the first 5 years of my life I spoke only Spanish. It wasn’t until I started school that I realized Spanish was not the spoken language in Australia and that I had to learn English. And very quickly too! Apparently kids are better than adults at learning new languages. My mother struggled with English, and that is partly the reason why we only spoke Spanish at home (I’m sure my parents didn’t want to lose their South American identities either). She speaks English well enough now but with a strong Latino accent, whereas my fathers pronunciation is pretty much “true blue” Aussie.
Aside from language, I struggled with culinary differences. There was no vegemite, sausage rolls and scones for us at home. It was alfajores, dulce de leche and empanadas. In hindsight I am so glad for that now- South American food is much tastier than traditional Australian tucker!
Argentina and Uruguay have very similar traditions- both speak Spanish and eat similar foods. The main culinary influences of both countries are Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. We ate a lot of Italian style food modified to suit the South American palate. Later, I will be exploring the Italian- Latino fusion of pasta dishes. Argentines and Uruguayans are very serious about fresh pasta. My grandmother is an expert in the art of fresh pasta.
And of course, this legacy would not be complete without the South American obsession of barbequed, braised, grilled and roasted meat. Huge quantities of meat were consumed at home. In fact, when I think of my father, the first image that comes to mind is that of an enormous slab of Argentine style beef ribs and grilled chorizo.
I promise this to be a most authentic documentation of South American cuisine as I have experienced it- true and genuine, and to be revealed shortly.

Family Legacy

I think that by now most readers have a fairly good idea of what Mike and I like to eat. What remains a mystery though, is what we ate growing up as children.
In this modern, fast lifestyle we feel it is significant to document the foods and recipes of our traditional heritages. People don’t really seem to be concerned with the past anymore- especially when it comes to food.
We certainly do not wish to lose those dishes that brought celebration, comfort and joy to our respective families.
For now, Eat Me! will become our legacy to preserving the foods we both remember fondly from times past, both simple and festive.
Some recipes will be presented as they were, while others may be reinterpreted to represent contemporary tastes. Always we will strive to keep the true essence and authentic nature of these dishes.
Mike will describe the foods of his heritage, as I shall from mine. Our backgrounds are very different, but more about that later. We hope readers will find our recipes as exciting as we are looking forward to presenting them for you.

Happy Birthday Eat Me!

It has been 12 short months since Mike and I created “Eat me!”
Since I can’t do the same thing all the time without become bored, we have both decided its time for a new look.
Mikey and I are currently discussing ideas for the blog and will be taking a short break. We would like to thank all our friends who read and visit here regularly and we will be back very, very soon.

Pink Veal in Pink Wine

(How gay can I get?)

This is my interpretation of the famous Milanese Ossobuco. I have swapped the white wine from the traditional recipe with a semi dry Rosé. I have been cooking with pink wine for the past few months where recipes call for white wine. The end result seems more balanced- white wine can sometimes taste too sour.
The traditional partnering for ossobuco is saffron risotto. With all the confident flavours of the braise, I think risotto becomes a bit misplaced. I prefer potato puree as an accessory. Playing on that theme, I have taken liberty to add saffron to the puree. The primrose hued puree looks wonderful on the plate alongside the orange of the carrot and green celery. Lots of pretty colours for the springtime!
This dish perfect right now while the weather is still cool at night. High quality pale veal is in abundance and available at the butchers at Prahran Markets, rather inexpensively I might add.

Components
1 kilo white veal ossobuco
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
Flour
50g butter
50ml brandy
2 anchovy fillets
250 ml rose wine (not a sweet wine)
Stock (beef or chicken is fine)
Small carrots, peeled
Celery stalks, peeled to remove the strings
For the “gremolata”:
Orange zest, very finely chopped
Lemon zest, very finely chopped
Garlic, finely chopped
Parsley leaves, very finely chopped

Process
Season the veal with salt and pepper, and dust lightly with flour.
Melt the butter in a pot large enough to fit the veal and brown the veal on all sides. Keep an eye on the butter- it must not burn.
Add the cognac and flambé (very spectacular).
Add the anchovies, wine, and enough stock to submerge the meat. Simmer gently for about 1 hour, or until tender. The meat should be extremely tender (and it will be, if it is genuine veal), but it shouldn’t be falling of the bones. Again keep an eye on it, and stop cooking before the moment. There is nothing worse than a pot of bones with pieces of veal floating about separately.
Gently remove the delicate veal to a plate and keep warm.
Add the carrots and celery stalks to the liquid in the pot and simmer until both are cooked to your liking- the carrot will take longer than the celery. Remove the veggies and keep warm with veal.
Boil the liquid in the pot until it has reduced to a glaze.
Whilst this is happening, mix citrus zests, garlic and parsley for the “gremolata”. I use less garlic than everything else (I’m not a fan of raw garlic).
Return the veal, veggies and a few spoonfuls of gremolata to the pot. Allow to heat through for a few moments.
Serve immediately with more gremolata sprinkled over and with saffron potato puree, or risotto as you wish. Serves 2-4 people.