It's been a while, but I'm back!

First I have some fun news, and then I'll tell you about a savory recipe I tried last night.

The news?

I'm beginning culinary school this fall so I should be turning out many new trips for you.

The recipe?

Paella!

This is a dish may not be familiar with, but it's basically a savory, Spanish rice with all kinds of tasty sea food & veggies. Saffron makes the rice a bright yellow colour!

I remembered the flavors from when I was a child living in Spain & always wanted to recreate them. As a child I loved the savory rice and would eat every bit of it, though my picky palette drove me to remove all those "strange looking" sea creatures.

Long story shot, I was dissuaded many times from attempting to make it. First I needed this special pan that could go on the stove and in the oven, and then it all just sounded too complicated. Well, last night my 11 year old son and I attempted Paella and I discovered that it can be a simple, fun, one pot meal.

Here's what we did:

1. We cheated and bough the already flavored Spanish rice. (To make it healthier you could use brown rice.)
2. We heated some olive oil in a pan (Yes, I bought that special Paella pan, only to discover that any pan with a metal handle will do).
3. Then we toss in crushed garlic, onions, colourful bell peppers, tomatoes and an array of herbs that Richard helped me pick from the garden.
4. Once tender we added the rice, and some white wine, and some tomatoe paste. Here we tossed in some peas, but you can add any veggie you like. And we couldn't forget salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, and I can't even remember what else.
5. I had put a tea pot full of water (broth is even better) on to boil when we started and after the rice was nice and fried we began adding water a bit at time, while stirring.
6. While this was happening we began sauteing some scallops and shrimp.
7. Once the rice was almost cooked we added the sea food (chicken works too!) and put the whole thing in the oven for about 20 minutes. Altogether dinner took us a little over an hour. My son learned a lot of cooking techniques, and we got in some good bonding time, and we got a thumbs up from all the family on our one pot colourful meal.

Drink Tip: On the side I blended up some left over watermelon, a few peaches that had gotten over ripe, & some frozen strawberries, which made a refreshing drink to complete our meal!