December 31 2009

I spent close to three hours in a car yesterday with my children. To dull the constant screaming I turned my attentions to the radio. Being New Years Eve, CBC radio had special after special of resolutions, traditions, parties etc. I don't usually buy into the whole NYE thing. My husband and I like to keep it simple, a good meal, some bubbles and a relaxing evening. Party pooper's that we are, we don't even pretend that we are going to stay up until midnight. For us nothing can compare to Amsterdam 1998/9, and as my husband says "it just ain't New Year's until someone's hair catches fire".


But then I started to listen as one woman explain how we pin our hopes on the the single moment in time when the clock ticks over and we are frozen in place. How we are when the NYE bell's start tolling is how we will be in the year to come. What?! Really!! I didn't know this? Does that mean then I will sleep through the next year; should I stay awake?  What do I do to prepare? The closer I got to home the more the anxiety grew and it turns out with good merit. My un-potty trained three year old poohed in his diaper and I was just too close to home to stop. The smell was retched and soon filled the car. At home as I was changing him the potty trained three old peed her pants. I think they gang up on me. As I was cleaning up the floor and her, the other was tearing through the house at speeds not seen since man broke the sound barrier. With equal strength as speed he crashed and burned not once but twice - really those bruises are self inflicted. By now I am into dinner preparations, and the husband gets home from work, takes one look at the the mayhem and declares "I am making an executive decision, we are having the good bubbles now" and with that he popped the cork. At once I am relieved, the festive sound southed my soul and I began to cook.


Nothing says New Year's more than Paella... Well maybe not but once again I had to clean out my fridge and wanted to do something creative for the last meal of 2009. I have nicknamed it Bottomfeeder Paella after the BC Spot Prawns that my husband and I bought at the docks a few days ago.

Bottomfeeder Paella

• roughly 1lb shelled shrimp
• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup chopped leeks about 1 medium, white and light green parts only
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 tbsp butter
• 5 whole roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped (fresh or canned)
• 2 cups stock, chicken or vegetable
• 1 tsp salt and more to taste
• fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp spanish paprika
• 2 tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 cup short grain rice, rinsed

Preheat oven to 425 F. Heat stock and keep warm until needed. 

Melt butter in large oven proof 10-12 inch skillet or a paella pan if you have one, over medium heat. Cook, onion, leek celery about 5 minutes until translucent, add in garlic cook for another minute. Add and mix well salt, pepper, thyme, and paprika, stir in rice and fully coat, cooking until rice glistens.

Pour warm stock over rice, add bay leaf, tomatoes, parsley, and shrimp. Put the skillet in the oven, bake for 10 -15 minutes. Check the liquid level, and add more stock if needed to keep the rice moist.

Remove from oven cover with tinfoil for 15 minutes to finish cooking the the rice. Use more parsley to garnish.

Open the best bottle of bubbly you have and enjoy a home cooked meal. 

photo by me.

Pizza & Guests

I have already named my notional Pizza restaurant Harth*- Depending on who you ask Harth could mean Heart or Hearth, both of which are at the very core of our lives. The word hearth in Latin is focus and such expressions as "hearth and home" link heart and hearth suggesting that "home is where the heart is". To me the Harth is the place where a family cooks and communicates, where decisions are made, relationships forged, disputes resolved and where the heart beats. It is the place where love gathers in the form of a simple meal to an extravagant feast, where family and friends collect for all types of occasions. 

My dream is pure fantasy of course as I don't have the facilities to embark on such a massive enterprise... but maybe some day (wistful sigh).... For now I am content to cook for my family and friends (another wistful sigh).

Pizza Night starts with many hours of prep, it is not the most speedy family dinner but for every hour spent on preparation several more come back in appreciation. I have started to develop some techniques to reduce the workload. I let my fridge do the work when it comes to maturing my dough.I pre-make the dough and give it a long ferment. This builds flavour and develops texture. A day before I make a raw tomato sauce and again let the fridge do the work. I let the tomatoes marinate with garlic that I can remove just before saucing- the oven will cook the sauce as the Pizza is baked. Most other things can be done the day of and don't require lengthy preps.

• at least two days before dough is made.
• one day before sauce is made.
• and if I am inclined onions caramelized. 

day of

• 8:30 am Dough is set out to wake up. I have two different ones that I m trying.
• 11 am Take the babies to play group to get "their wiggles out".
• 12.42 pm Get home, check dough. The re-calibrated dough is rising faster than the first dough. Both have the same amount of yeast but different quantities of whole wheat flour.
• 1 pm Feed babies, clean the kitchen.
• 1:45 pm Onions in the oven to caramelize- no more standing over the stove keeping a watchful eye. Speaking of eye(s), give mine a rest. I have seen some pretty sweet onion goggles, I may have to invest in a pair. I am crying.
• 3:25 pm Check the doughs- the re-calibrated dough is in the lead (I think of them as racing, very slowly).
• 4:25 pm Onions done, husband takes over making the Hummus. Dips, dressings and bread cut.
• 5 pm Clean kitchen.
• 6 pm First guest arrives and then all hell breaks loose and suddenly  what I thought was so organized spirals out of control into full on madness. The mulled wine and extra bottles of red wine may have helped with that.

1cup w.w. flour1/4 cup w.w. flour

The rest of the night was making pizzas, reconnecting with friends, laughing, sharing stories and learning new things.

Photos by me.

*Disclaimer: My husband and spell checker thought it was best that I clarify that the word Harth is not a real word. Though others have used it in both Hearth and Heart's stead it is not in the english oxford dictionary. I liked it and it aptly describes what I want to say as it combines both concepts of Hearth  and Heart- besides language is constantly in flux and some times rules are meant to be broken or pushed.