Sun-kissed Paella

Rick says I write too slow. Think too much. I need to say what needs saying and get on with it. I admit it—I am the queen of agonizing over every word. It takes me eons (literally!) to write e-mails. And it's not like I'm writing a bestselling novel here. I just want people to know that they can cook good food on a super tight budget, inside or outside, solar or conventional. So . . . here's today's entry before it's tomorrow.

I was horribly grumpy yesterday, and only slightly less so today. I was trying hard to get into a full blown funk, but in a reversal of roles, Rick kept trying to cheer me up. I could use his cheeriness now, too, but he's trying to redesign our Web site with a new program and there's a lot of muttering and sighing coming from the other room. Best to leave him alone. But, even without his unusual-for-him optimism to cheer me up, it was hard to be sad or worried today because it was just so darn nice. Warm and sunny. It feels like June, or maybe even July since it hit 88º yesterday, rather than April. Dry ground and low humidity, combined with strong, gusty winds prompted the National Weather Service to issue a red flag warning for critical wild fire risk several times over the past few weeks. We actually had a fire last week that they dubbed the Brookhaven Blaze of 2012, that had 2,000 acres of nearby woodland burning. When Annalee came home from work today, she said the pine barrens were on fire again. She saw the special fire trucks that go off-road, into the woods, racing down the street, sirens going, as she drove home. Very odd weather, and kind of troubling, but it's also been perfect for solar cooking. (As much as I'm enjoying the sun, though, a little rain might be helpful.)

I had defrosted a package of two chicken leg quarters, but wasn't sure exactly what to do with it. It wasn't a lot of chicken by itself. I flipped through several cookbooks and finally decided to make an improvised paella. Rick's mom was the first to introduce me to paella—and hers always included chicken, sausage, lobster, shrimp, mussels, and clams—but since we don't have shellfish hanging about our kitchen, and I had no inclination to run out and buy any, I did what you're supposed to do with paella: throw in anything that goes along with rice. According to several internet sites, there's a legend that the dish was created by the servants of the Moorish kings, who threw all the leftovers from the royal banquets into one pot to take home. Another (more popular and accepted) story has it that the folks that worked the fields in an area south of Valencia, Spain, mixed whatever they could find in a flat pan over a fire. And, certainly, that's the area most people associate paella with today. Well, I don't work for a royal family nor do I work out in the fields, so I foraged in my fridge and pantry. I dug out two sausages, some dehydrated zucchini, leather britches (dried stringbeans), frozen peas, green olives, and a handful of raisins to go along with the chicken. That'll do. So here's my improvised version, which served three people. For more recipe ideas, visit Spain Recipes.

• Chicken, cut into small pieces and dredged in flour seasoned with salt & pepper

   (I cut the two leg quarters into two drumsticks & eight small pieces)

• 2 sausages, thickly sliced

• 1 onion, chopped

• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 14 1/2 oz. can whole tomatoes, hand crushed

• 1 cup chicken broth

• rosemary
• teaspoon of paprika

• parsley

• zucchini, string beans, peas, olives, raisins 

• rice cooked with a pinch of saffron

Sauté the chicken until browned, place in black solar oven pot.

Brown the sausage pieces and place in pot along with chicken.

Add vegetables, garlic, rosemary, tomatoes, olives, raisins, and chicken broth to the pot along with the chicken and sausage.

Cover and place pot in solar oven.

I had the dish outside for about 3 1/2 hours with the solar oven averaging 300º. I probably should have checked it sooner, but I was busy and figured they always say you can't burn food in the solar oven. It looked and smelled heavenly when I brought it in, though. Next, I boiled some water and threw it over rice with a pinch of saffron and stuck that outside in the solar oven for 30 minutes or so. The rice was perfect. Dinner was done and it was only 3:00. At 6:30, I heated the paella and rice back up in a cast iron pot on the stove for a few minutes. It was super yummy.

If cooking this inside, after browning the chicken and sausage, throw vegetables in pot to soften, add tomatoes, herbs, and broth, and simmer it all for 30 or 40 minutes. Cook the rice either separately and add to the chicken mixture after it cooks, and serve. Or cook the rice directly in the pot with the chicken mixture for the last 20 minutes of cooking time. I've done it both ways. Serve with a simple salad and some crusty bread.

Oh, Deer

After a very noisy overnight storm, we woke up this morning to a foggy wonderland that eventually burned off for another gorgeous June day. I put some tomato sauce out in the solar oven at 10:30 a.m. and left it out there until 1:30 p.m. I replaced it with a schiacciata that is outside baking as I write. Photos and recipes on those to follow in another post.

But I wanted to share these photographs that I took of three deer that made their way into our yard. I have to admit to being a horrible photographer. I went to college for fine arts and, although I understood the how of taking a good photo, the actual doing was always a trick (pen & ink was my thing). Well, in order to do a halfway decent blog the ability to take a halfway decent photo is sort of a must. Digital cameras don't automatically mean you can take a good photo, though, they only mean you can take a zillion shots and hope for one that's passable. 

Anyway, I came home from my morning run to find three deer out in the backyard. The deer perked their ears up and watched me, ready to bolt if I looked at all threatening. I snuck into the house and started searching for the digital camera Annalee gave me, desperately trying to find it before the deer took off. Okay, some people are used to deer meandering through their backyard, but it's not usual in my neighborhood.

We're very lucky where we live. We're sandwiched in between a 5,200 acre preserve and the Long Island Sound (our house is 1,000 feet from the beach). RCA (Radio Corporation of America) operated a large transmitting and transmitter research facility on the 5,200-acre site, known as Radio Central, and began transmitting transatlantic radio messages from there in November 1921. In 1927, AT&T initiated the first transatlantic commercial telephone service from there. The site was decommissioned in the 1970s, although you can still see the concrete ruins, old telephone poles, and radio towers if you go back there. The site is now owned by the State of New York and is part of a natural resources management area, which is in the Long Island Central Pine Barrens. As close as the woods are, though, the deer still need to cross a fairly busy road and make their way one mile down to our house through residential streets. Rick says they head down to the beach where he often sees them in the early morning.

Me and the deer watching each other!

So there I was trying to take a photo to prove to the rest of the family that we had three deer in the yard. I tiptoed outside and made soothing noises (probably sounded deranged instead) while I silently cursed the camera and tried to figure out how the thing worked (Rick's been taking my food shots for me, guess I can take over now!) I eventually snapped some photos—or at least hoped I did. All proud of myself I came back inside and took a shower. Afterward I quietly went back out to see if they were still there. Yup. And they were eating the vegetables. Okay, guess it was time to scare them off and save the lettuce. I headed out to the garden and asked them politely to leave. Didn't happen. So I had to make a bit more noise and wave my arms, except they came running toward me instead of away. Being on a narrow garden path with nowhere to go, I turned around and dashed for the back door with the deer, much faster than me, charging right alongside. Well, that went well. If the neighbors were watching I'm sure they were on the floor laughing. The deer did make it out of the yard and continued on toward the beach, the garden looked fine, and I got some photos. I suppose all's well that ends well.

Now I just hope my tomato sauce and schiacciata come out better than my photos.