A Sunday Of Many Firsts

Three days ago, I made squid adobo.  For some reasons, the squid made a lot of juice.  There was so much juice that if I didn't get rid of some, my adobo would turn out too soupy.  So I ended up removing about 4 cups of squid broth.  I felt bad throwing it away and the first thing that came to my mind when I thought about what to reuse the broth for was Paella.

So today I made my very first Paella.  I've been thinking about making some for a while now. Charles likes it and he often talks about how he loved the Paella from Lighthouse in Cebu.

I used Arborio rice, a.k.a. Risotto rice.  My Paella turned out OK, but the rice was too fluffy and sticky for me.  Next time, maybe I'll just use Jasmine or regular white long-grain rice.

I wanted to make Chicken and Seafood Paella so I had a good mix of seafood in it.  I had frozen jumbo scallops, which I thawed and diced.

I had Prawns, peeled and deveined.

I had live mussels and clams, thoroughly washed.

I didn't only have squid broth, but I also had some leftover squid adobo which added so much flavor to the dish.

You gotta have meat and a Paella won't be complete without chorizo.  I had chicken and chorizo sauteed in garlic, onions and red bell pepper.

I used carrots and celery for the veggies.

And last but not least, what I think makes Paella a good Paella--saffron!  This is the first time I had real saffron in my kitchen, if I don't consider those mixes and saffron flavorings which I'm sure I had in the past.  This was sold in a small capsule, which I emptied into a cup and soaked in warm water. Each capsule goes a long way.  The wonderful smell and taste of saffron in the Paella was undeniable.

And why was I able to take photos while cooking?  I had to wait for my broth.  I mixed my squid broth with white wine, and added two large smoked ham bones that I had in my freezer.  I had to simmer the broth for about 30 minutes to an hour to get the smoked ham flavor.  It smelled so good in the house when it started simmering.

Meet my first Paella.  With everything in it, this made a complete meal.  This was all I had for dinner, but I had a whole lot!  The husband loved it too!  The two of us finished this entire platter!

For dessert, I made Apple Strudel.  This was a first for me too and it did not disappoint.  This was so easy to make. Everything was completed in about 40 minutes, 30 of which was baking.  I stuck it in the oven right before dinner and by the time we finished eating the Paella, we had a warm, crunchy fresh-from-the-oven apple strudel, which was excellent with our favorite coffee.

I ate so much today that I ended up in the pool, swimming a few laps as late as 10:30 at night.  Had to burn the extra calories off.  I've never been in the pool this late.  Another first.