Lobster Stock Paella

Remember how I made 14 pints of lobster stock about a year ago? Well, I haven't forgotten. They've just been sitting in the pantry, calling to me, saying, "When are you going to USE us?" I just never got the energy to do anything with them. Bisque? Risotto? My sister suggested paella would be easier, so I threw together this recipe:

1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups long grain rice (I used basmati)
7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, chopped, juice reserved
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground saffron
1 pound shrimp, shells removed
1-2 cups chopped green beans

Sautee the onion and garlic in olive oil in an oven-proof pot. Add the rice, peppers and juice, and saffron. Add 2 pints of lobster stock and bring it to a simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat, arrange the shrimp on top, then add the beans. Cover and bake at 450 for 30-40 minutes, until the rice is done. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Mmm! Now I only have 12 more pints to use up.

Meyer Lemons are Back

Ahh, Whole Foods. Just when I think I've quit you, you pull me right back in again. You know my weaknesses. And right now you are stocking both blood oranges and Meyer lemons. Why did I even stop by to visit you? I hate you. I love you.

And now I have 6.5 pints of Meyer lemon curd. It's an addiction.

Snowed In

Well, not really. But it feels like it. The snowbanks are as tall as I am. We've had 1-2 snow days every week since school started in January. If this keeps up, the kids will be in school until July. I am not joking.

What this means is that I am spending 1-2 days every week stuck at home. The kids at least have playdates today. Usually they just drive each other (and, by extension, me) crazy. So while the kids are busy, I'm canning. I've made another double batch of Boston Baked Beans and am canning 5 pints. I like taking these to work; they are filling and I can get through a whole shift with minimal snacking. Even better than the soups.

5 pints, 80 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. This time around I added extra liquid at the beginning and halfway through the cooking time, since the last batch was a little dry.

I hear the groundhog did not see his shadow today. Maybe there is a light at the end of this tunnel!

Dinner in a Jar

When I have to work in the evening which, unfortunately, happens often, my husband looks in the fridge and says, "So, what am I supposed to cook?" If I've had time to go shopping, I try to have a meal planned for him, so he doesn't have to go to the store after he gets home from work. Lately, I have hardly had any time to do anything useful like get groceries or sleep or even breathe, I've been working so much.

Tonight was my one night home for dinner out of the week so, since I was going to cook, I made a double batch of Beef Stroganoff. This recipe comes from my mother-in-law, and is one of my husband's favorites. After everything had simmered for a hour I put up 2 quarts and processed them for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. Now there will be a couple of meals, at least. Just add sour cream and serve over noodles. The 5-year-old eats the noodles, anyway.

Too Much Rice

I had intended to make chicken and rice soup. I seem to have made, quite by accident, chicken and rice casserole. This is what happens when you get distracted by the TV and knitting while cooking and when you add too much rice to something. After all, if 2 cups is good, 3 must be better, right?

Wrong!

Today's recipe: 2 frozen chicken leftovers (bones and some meat) plus 8 pints of water, simmered with kosher salt, pepper, bay and thyme.

4 pints of chicken stock were processed, 20 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

The meat, the rest of the stock, 5 more pints of water, were added to chopped leeks, celery and carrots which had been sauteed lightly in olive oil. More salt and pepper, and some sage. Simmered for about an hour then the 3 (should be 2) cups of rice were added. When I got back to it about 20 minutes later, all the liquid was absorbed and the "soup" filled the pot. I added about 4 more cups of water and more salt, and processed 6 pints of this mixture. 75 minutes, 10 pounds of pressure. We'll have the rest for dinner.

There is a lot of it.

Day O'Frustration

We've all had these days, right?

This weekend I had plans. The kind of plans that involve cooking a lot of unrelated things all at the same time because I have lots of different things on my mind. Today's plans revolved around canning soup, making bread, and making cookies. All double batches, mind you.

The only thing that worked as planned was the soup. Somehow I killed the yeast in the bread and the loaves didn't rise, and we ran out of brown sugar for the cookies and the texture was off - probably partly due to using regular sugar and molasses in the place of the brown sugar, and partly due to the "light butter" that has replaced my usual butter blend in the store. NOT buying that again. It's lousy for tadic, too. I couldn't salvage the bread but the cookies are at least edible, even if they don't look the same.

Here's the soup recipe:

Beef, Broccolini and Rice Soup
1 thick slab of prime rib
1 package stew beef & bones
2 leeks, sliced thinly
2 shallots, minced
5 ribs celery, diced
2 cups chopped cooked broccolini
1 package crimini mushrooms, sliced
kosher salt, pepper, bay, thyme
Worcestershire sauce (about 1 T.)
1 large can whole pack tomatoes in puree (about 3.5 cups)
17 cups water
3-4 cups of rice

I browned the stew beef, shallots, leeks and celery in oil and added the tomatoes, water, Worcestershire sauce and spices. This simmered for about an hour and then I removed the bones. I added the prime rib, cubed, and the broccolini and mushrooms. After about another 30 minutes I added the rice, cooked it through, and then canned it. This yielded 14 pints, the maximum the pressure canner holds, and 1 bowl for later. Processed at 10 pounds of pressure for 75 minutes.

They all sealed. That's one food thing that went right. After all that work, we ordered a pizza for dinner.

First Jam of the New Year

For New Year's Eve I slow cooked a ham in pineapple juice. Which meant I had a large can's worth of crushed pineapple sitting in the fridge. What to do? (What do you think?) I found the following recipe on Pantry Eats and added a little extra pineapple and didn't crush the pears.

Today's jam is Pineapple-Pear Jam:

1 can crushed pineapple, drained
4 pears, chopped
1.5 T. lemon juice
4.5 c. sugar
1 pouch liquid pectin

Mix it all together the usual way. I got 7 half-pint jars out of it. It smells really tropical; I almost put some coconut in it but I thought that might be too much...