The image of that paella-to-be just wouldn't get out of my head.On top of that, we had a sack of fresh peppers my dad had grown, and they needed using.
Two more incentives: A little freezer spelunking. It's always good to clean out and eat up old frozen food now and then, and there was a Spanish-style chorizo ready to go.
Plus, I had been berating myself for buying kitchen equipment and then not using it much. That pretty little paella pan we bought last winter has only seen the oven once before.
Well, it all added up. We had everything else on hand — rice, chicken stock, olives, garlic, onions, olive oil, oven-dried tomatoes, herbs from the garden, some funny fake saffron (don't ask) — and who cares if there's no shrimp or chicken. Oh, wait. I think there was some chicken in the freezer... Too late.
À la minute, baby.
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13 comments:
We have "depression weeks" to clean out the fridge, freezer and pantry. I refuse to buy anything until all my creativity (and food that would otherwise be wasted) are gone.
That looks great!
Oh, that's good. "Depression weeks." My husband likes to make what he calls "Cream of Bottom of the Refrigerator Soup."
Sometimes you luck out. Other times it's a real test of creativity. Good for you.
We just hauled all our food out of the fridge/freezer at the house where we're staying. Not so much to cook lots, but because we're tired of living in fear of having our food usurped (or worse, tossed!) by irritating housemates. Now, it's over at Chopper's parents' where we'll be housesitting this week.
Oh, and too bad we don't live nearby: our haul included a nice supply of Chopper's homemade chorizo... because you can never have too much chorizo, eh?
PS: I'm writing this in a coffee shop on my new Scrappy, I mean Snappy. Erm. Frappy?
I like the "freezer spelunking"! And Cream of the Bottom of the Refridge Soup! Egads! Sounds..um..tasty?
Mrs D: Ooh. Sitcom fridge sharing. Glad you have an escape this week. Have fun with Yappy. (erghhh. out of words that rhyme.)
Stacie: Yeah. Get in there and mine for meals! :D
cookiecrumb, this is prehaps one of the prettiest "clean-the-frige" meals i've seen. geez, your cleanign the frige is eating like kings, ours is eating pickles and dumplings until we've stomach aches! :-)
I love that term -- "freezer-spelunking". Too funny! So accurately describes the process of the search.
Amanda: Sometimes I'm embarrassed by all the uneaten food we have on hand. If I hadn't got all hoity-toity about eating locally, I could make a dent in the canned foods. As it is, they just sit there slowly expiring.
Nerissa: It's still scary in there, I admit. I have some homemade chicken stock I want to get to, but the commercial chicken stock had to be used first because it was near its due date... Sigh.
LOVE your blog (how can a native Bay Area girl not...)
And I've found some of my favorite blogs by checking links on yours. So, I thought I'd pass along my little brother's new food blog -- it's coming along rather nicely but I am sure he would love some comments once in a while...
http://sourdoughmonkeywrangler.blogspot.com/
Keep up the fabulous work!
KathyF: A vegetarian paella would probably be my favoritest of all. It took me years to like paella, because of all the yucky meat lumps. Let me know how yours comes out.
Anonymous: Why, thanks! My blog list is a little out of date, but it's a beginning. I'm so glad you told me about your brother's. What a nice thing to do for him; good sister. :D
Sorry but I just couldn't get past "rummage." That was a vocabulary word for my students this past week.
Dagny. You're cute. I looked up "rummage" to make sure it was also a noun, and it is. "A confusion of miscellaneous articles." Hah! Tasted good, though. :D
Ah yes, those things. I have a few myself. They're on the top shelf somewheres in the kitchen. A blender shaped like Micky Mouse, a pink ice cream machine and yes, a paella pan as well.
Mama made paella a few times, she said it was really good. I felt like my mowf was full of rice with a stanky return of anchovies or some similar salted and yet oily fish.
That being said, I did have the paella that Taylor & Toponia at their picnic and I liked that one. I think it was their rich broth that did it for me.
Biggles
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