Well, I know that I'm supposed to begin a blog with a preview of the content so you will know you should expect in the future. The trouble is, there is not much too it. This is yet another food blog. I live in San Francisco, in one of the most charming neighborhoods, the tenderloin. The charm of the tenderloin comes mainly from the crack, the hookers and the overwhelming smell of human excriment. Another charming fact about the tenderloin is that there are no supermarkets in the neighborhood. There are plenty of good restaurants and plenty of corner stores to buy pre-packaged food, yet no places to buy fresh food for several miles. My solution? Well, I grab a messenger bag and a bicycle, and do my best. The main trouble is that my girlfriend and I have expensive taste in food, but not much money or space in which to cook.
Oh, did I mention that a friend of mine decided that I should learn how to cook food from as many countries as I can figure out how to cook? Well, she did, and I am. I guess that brings us to today. Today, in honor of Spain, I made paella. I had to run to an italian grocer in the mission to get the saffron I could afford, but it was worth it. It was delicous. Good recipe. Basically, it involved sauteeing beef sausage with onions, peppers, garlic, summer squash and tomatoes. That got mixed with rice that was sauteed and then boiled for a few minutes in white wine, saffron, oregono and shrimp stock. The whole lot of it was mixed together with peas, shrimp, mussels and snapper and baked for 20 minutes or so. It came out quite well, and we have a ton of it.
Here is a picture of it before it went in the oven,
And here is a picture of when it came out of the oven
And, finally, a picture of the paella served:
It wasn't quite as good as the paella I have had in Spain, but it was delicious nonetheless. When I make it again, I will add capers or green olives or some salty briney sort of flavor. Otherwise, Spain was a great success.
