August 2009 Daring Cooks Challenge: Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes

I'm so excited to have participated in my first Daring Cooks Challenge. August's challenge was hosted by Olga from Olga's Recipes, and the recipe was a Catalan dish: rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes. I had been meaning to make paella for some time now (I had even bought saffron!) so this was a perfect opportunity to try it out!

Modifications
Instead of using cuttlefish, I used pre-cleaned squid -- partly because Seafood Counter Guy at Whole Foods had never heard of cuttlefish and partly because I saw some pictures of not-cleaned cuttlefish (ink sac and innards and all) and I got REALLY scared.

I also substituted the fish head stock with chicken broth and a dash of Japanese dashi since I was scared of dealing with fish heads (yes, I know, I'm Chinese - how could I be afraid of some fish heads?)

Finally, instead of cleaning out 4 fresh artichokes, I bought canned artichokes.

Over all, this dish was a success! It met the HAF - Husband Approval Factor (actually, my husband's quite a foodie, so this means something. :) The allioli totally made the dish - the pungent raw garlicky essence on the rice really created a zing that made this dish incredible.

Thanks Olga!

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 4 Artichokes
  
• 12 Mushrooms (Baby Bellas)
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 glass of white wine
• 3/4 lb cuttlefish
  
• Sofregit (click here for recipe)
• 300 gr (2 cups) Short grain rice
• Fish stock (use 1 ½ cup of liquid per ½ cup of rice)
• Saffron threads
  
• Allioli (click here for recipe)

I had never bought or cooked squid before so I was slightly scared when I opened up the package. Yeeks!

I guess they didn't look too bad. At least they were clean, and quite easy to chop.

1) Add 1-2 T of olive oil in a pan and saute the squid.

2) Add a bay leaf, artichokes, and mushroom.
3) Saute until the artichokes turn golden brown. (since my artichokes came from a can and were already sort of yellow, I just sauteed until the veggies softened a bit ~ 5 minutes)
4) Add a splash of white wine so that all the solids in the pan get mixed together
5) Add 2-3 tablespoons of sofregit and mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with the sofregit. (I ended up dumping ALL the sofregit that I had made into the pan - it still turned out great!)

6) Add all the liquids (1 cup wine and 6 cups stock) and bring to a boil

7) Add all the rice. Let boil for 5 minutes.
8) Add saffron (I added like 10-20 threads)
9) Bring to a simmer and let cook for 8 minutes or until "al dente"
10) Remove pan from heat and let it rest for another few minutes

Serve with allioli on top.