At least the Paella tasted good...

I wanted to swing for the fences and make a paella dish. In my mind, I thought...Well, I better swing for the fences and make a mixed (seafood, meat, and vege) paella. I had high hopes. 

I prepped for this dish for a good while. I looked all around for a recipe that looked good, found it. Studied it for a good while as well, and by study I mean read it over and over till I pretty much had it memorized... I could just about imagine myself cooking it. Let me tell you that every time it turned out AMAZING!  So I was ready to make a dish and have it turn out just how I imagined. There were so many steps involved but I was SO excited to work on my knife skills and to just spend time in the kitchen, it is so therapeutic. The vege was later sauted with the pork and set aside...

 Next, came the chicken which was browned on all sides...hmmm.... Yum. But the real kicker was the herbs and spices that were added: cumin, paprika, rosemary, thyme, and salt and pepper. This chicken was good on its own! Yeah, I snacked on some...so did Cas and Jo who came for dinner. It was about 8:15 when I finished the chicken phase... this is SOOOOOO late for me.... I usually eat around 5 so not having dinner on the table was starting to stress me out. Even worse I had guests who I invited for DINNER, but where was the dinner? 

So far I have the pork and vege mixture set aside and now the chicken is done. The seafood was also ready... no pictures needed. Did you notice that the grill pan made another appearance, I really should name the thing! Grill pan got a new friend... this stainless steel pan with a lid, the picture on the box showed a rice dish being cooked it it... So since I couldn't get a real paella pan in time I got this instead. Good thing is that it is so much more practical!!!  Oh the meals to come! 

 In the pan goes it all!!! And this is where the Saffron entered the party... that is one expensive spice, but well worth it. 

 NOW HERE IS WHERE THE PROBLEM STARTS!!! This recipe instructed that you put the paella into a 200 degree oven and bake for 25 min or until all the liquid is gone. This didn't happen! After 25 minutes NOTHING happened. I like to follow directions to the tee when it comes to cooking and with it not working I started to spaz out!! Good thing Cassandra studied in Spain and had a mother who taught her how to make this tasty dish. So after a while of inactivity in the oven she convinced me to move it to the stove top and cover it.  After that things started to happen!!! BOOM, paella.

 Here it is... Full of clams, mussels, shrimp, chicken, pork, and peppers. It really had good flavor, but you could tell that keeping it in the oven really did affect the moister of the chicken and the rice didn't form a curst on the bottom like in a tradish paella... that could also be because it was a non-stick pan... HA. 

It was nice to go through this cooking EXPERIENCE with some friends by my side. They were a total support as I started to get super frustrated. Like I said earlier, I imagined how it would turn out and that is what I expected. This "experience" taught me some things. First, expect challenges and learn to cope with them. Things don't always turn out the way that we plan. Second, just because its broken doesn't mean it don't taste good, it tasted quite YUM-O. I plan to try this again, but instead of using the oven(epic fail) I will leave it on the stove! 

This recipe said it could serve 6-9 people. You know what that means... LEFT OVERS! Good thing it wasn't a total fail. 

BBQ Chicken

This is a bbq sauce recipe from Giada. I absolutely love her! So in my mind I think that whatever she makes HAS to be good so why not try to make it!... So tonight I did. 

 This is the recipe for Giada's Balsamic BBQ sauce

 The ingredients before they are going to be transformed into something YUM-O!

 OH... And with BBQ chicken you have to have a great side dish... yes, SWEET POTATO FRIES! These were seasoned with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, parsley, and minced garlic. 

 One of my favorite terms is Simmer and Reduce (S&R)!!! The sauce had to simmer and reduce about 1/3 its original amount. Nothing special, I just like saying S&R!

 This is one of the best investments that I have made.... A GRILL PAN! Ask my roommate, Nicole, what my favorite kitchen tool is at this moment and she could tell you without a doubt that it is THIS grill pan! So much can be done on it, and it sure makes living in the mid-west easier when you want something with a real good grill taste without having the actual grill. I brushed the chicken with layers of bbq sauce as I turned it... There was a nice crisp outside with a good depth of flavor from the sauce. 

LET'S EAT!!! So we are still eating off our V-day plates because it makes clean-up so much easier!!! That was just a bit of a side note. 
I paired the dinner with one of my top wines right now, Snap Dragon Cabernet Sauvignon, it says it goes great with grilled meats... and I did use my GRILL PAN so it made sense to me! 


MY Thoughts: 
I really didn't enjoy cooking chicken legs, chicken with the bone-in is so much harder to cook verses a boneless chicken breast. It was the first time I made this kind of chicken so I won't totally give up. The Balsamic BBQ sauce was really nice. It had a strong balsamic taste and the sweetness from the brown sugar and ketchup really evened it out. Combined with the chicken made for a YUM-O meal. I must say the best part is sharing it with someone else, tonight I got to spend time with Nicole before she heads to Big Tens for the weekend. 

The start of something YUM-O

The title says it all.... YUM-O.  I have a passion for food, eating it and cooking it, but most of all I love how food brings people together. A meal is something to be shared. My neighbor, Bethany, said it best, "Food and wine bring people together for better or for worse, however in my experience it is usually for the better!"  Absolutely she is right! So learning from Bethany's life experience I am going to use new recipes to make new memories.... Sound corny?.... YUM, corn.