Featured Archives - Proud Italian Cook

Vegetable Paella, Italian Style

February 6, 2013 by Marie 25 Comments

I have a 14″ paella pan that I got from HSN many years ago, it was a Todd English pan, I think he makes a different one now but you can still get it. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve used that pan, I’ve made so many things in it. I love it for frittatas, they come out perfect in it and you can feed a ton of people. You can use it on top of the stove, in the oven or under the broiler. When ever I need to bring a big side dish somewhere I often use my 14″ paella pan. I recently made a huge primavera pasta pie in it, which I’ll post about in the near future. I think I’ve only used it once to make an actual traditional paella, saffron and all, with chicken, seafood and sausage.

By now all my regular readers know the”veggie issues” that I have, and since I needed to bring a side dish to someones house recently I decided to make a vegetable paella with an Italian twist. I’m here to tell you it was a big hit!

I’ve always been attracted by the way paella looks, pinwheels of color all in one pan, it’s very impressive looking when it gets placed on the table!

With small amounts of veggies and a little bit of rice you could recreate this for your next party, serving it as a side or a main course.

There is no saffron here in my version, instead I infused the rice with roasted red pepper puree which gave it my little Italian twist.

Hope you like it!

Vegetable Paella, Italian Style

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of short grain arborio rice
4 cups of warmed chicken or veggie stock
1 cup of roasted red pepper puree made from 4 peppers, blistered, peeled and cored and placed into a food processor until pureed.
1 medium eggplant
1 zucchini
1 each, red, yellow and orange bell pepper cut in strips
8oz. crimini mushroom caps
1 bag frozen artichoke hearts
a handful of haricot vert beans
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion
olive oil
grated romano or parmesan cheese
chopped basil for garnish

Instructions

14" paella pan or a wide skillet, if smaller just adjust rice by 1 cup
Roast the eggplant, mushrooms, zucchini, artichokes and the peppers ahead of time, and set aside. 400F drizzled with olive oil.
Purchase or make your own red pepper puree, have that ready made also
Drizzle the bottom of the pan with olive oil, saute the garlic and onions until light golden, add rice and stir until coated then add in 1/2 cup of the roasted red pepper puree and stir until mixed through.
Smooth rice until it is flat all over the bottom of the pan, then gently pour in the heated broth being careful not to move the rice, sprinkle with a generous helping of grated cheese, a little salt and black pepper.
Arrange all your veggies on top of the rice and broth in the order that you would like, sprinkle with more grated cheese.
Let it cook med low until moisture starts to disappear then cover with foil until rice is tender, mine took about 40 minutes, you might have to add a little more broth just keep checking. Dot some of the remaining pepper puree all around for added flavor.
Garnish with fresh chopped basil and a drizzle of olive oil
Note: You might have a few extra veggies left over after you fill the pan

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25 Comments Filed Under: Featured, Rice and Risotto, Side Dishes, Vegetables Tagged: Italian style paella, vegetable paella

Summer Veggie Slaw

July 23, 2012 by Marie 27 Comments

Here’s another way to start using up all the zucchini and other veggies and herbs that your garden is producing, just gather everything together and make this Summer Slaw!

It’s quite easy to do if you have this handy julienne peeler, otherwise a mandoline slicer would work as well.
Note: I cut my squash in the middle so that when I used my peeler I wouldn’t have long “spaghetti” like strips but rather shorter ones like in coleslaw.

The ingredients I used were:

Yellow squash
Zucchini
Red pepper strips
Match stick carrots
Radish, sliced and cut into strips
Green onions sliced diagonally
Red onion strips
Very fresh shucked corn or precooked
Fresh picked basil and parsley
Torn spinach leaves

No exact amounts here, just use what you have and place everything in a big bowl like I do, tossing and adding until you have a nice color balance with your veggies and herbs.

For added flavor I tossed in strips of Parmigiano Reggiano, but you can get creative and use any aged cheese you like, Fontinella and Provolone work as well because the cheese can easily be cut into strips.
For my dressing I used a simple olive oil and fresh lemon juice but if you wanted something creamier that would work also.

All the ingredients are raw except for the corn, I had two cooked cobs leftover, but feel free to use super sweet fresh corn straight from the cob uncooked.
Gently toss everything together, taste for flavor adding salt and pepper and a little grated cheese if you like, then pile high on a platter. If I had pine nuts I would have added them.
After I took the photo I added in some slivered almonds and a little crumbled feta.

This was a great side dish to my cedar planked salmon!

The perfect summer meal on a very hot day!

27 Comments Filed Under: Featured, Side Dishes, Summer, Vegetables Tagged: garden vegetables, julienned zucchini, summer bounty, veggie slaw

Cedar Planked Grilled Portobellos Stuffed with Summer Veggies

July 16, 2012 by Marie 18 Comments

I normally use grilling planks for salmon or scallops but this time I thought I would try using vegetables, in particular big “meaty” portobellos!

Make sure you buy natural untreated wood that is free of chemicals, strictly sold for cooking, You wouldn’t want to use just any old type of wood from a hardware store, it could be very toxic!

There are various cooking woods on the market, some of my favorites as well as the cedar are maple, cherry, alder, apple and mesquite just to name a few.

Just make sure you soak them submerged and weighted down in water for at least 2 hours before placing them on your grill, otherwise they will just burn up and you don’t want that.

While your wood is soaking you can be grilling up your veggies. I used yellow squash, zucchini, corn, and red, yellow and orange peppers. They were tossed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper then placed on the grill.

For the mushrooms, the gills and stems were removed, this will give you a nice flat surface for stuffing.

Brush your mushrooms on the bottom with olive oil and only place them on the grill for 2 to 3 minutes just to get grill marks, caps up. Remove and let them cool completely. If moisture appears just pat with a paper towel.
Remember, only grill them for a couple of minutes, they will continue to cook on the plank.

I filled my caps with shredded asiago cheese but you could use just about any cheese you want. Now it’s time to layer your veggies making sure you can see all the different colors. Sprinkle a tiny bit of cheese on top then stick them on the plank!

Try to keep your grill temperature around 350, as their cooking you’ll hear the wood cracking a bit and the sweet smell of the cedar will fill the air.

The cheese will melt underneath and the veggies will become a little more golden, mine took a good 15 minutes.