Berry Shortcake

Since my workout schedule has been interrupted since I have been on a jury in a murder trial, I figured I might as well go all out. I made seafood paella and a berry shortcake this weekend and both were yummy!  The paella recipe was a combination of several recipes I have, which I will type out later in this post.  The berry shortcake was a recipe from Whole Foods, of all places.  I had purchased a half flat of raspberries (favorite of mine) and a big tub of blueberries, to which I added blackberries from my garden. YUMMY!


The paella takes a dozen cloves of garlic, diced up and added to a splash of oil in a large, heavy skillet or paella pan.  To this cook about a pound of raw shrimp. Its nice if you can get shrimp with the shells on, but deveined, as the shells add a wonderful flavor, but this time I could only find raw, shelled (with tails on) shrimp.  When the shrimp turn color, remove them from the pan.  Add diced onion to the pan to soften and turn translucent.  Add the rice and cook until the rice also turns translucent. I used a combination of arborio and brown basmati rice this time.  Add white wine and stock (or better than bouillon made up into a broth, I used half lobster flavor and half chicken flavor) to the rice for cooking. I used 2 cups rice (1 cup of each) and 2 cups wine, 4 cups broth). Also add seasoning:1/4 tsp saffron,  1/2 tsp red pepper flakes,1/2  marjoram, 1 tsp paprika, and salt / pepper to taste. THIS TOOK FOREVER TO COOK! When the rice is almost cooked, add your veggies. This time was red bell pepper and broccoli from my sister's garden.  Peas or sugar peas are also good, as are artichoke hearts, green pepper, asparagus, or any favored vegetable. Live a little and experiment! Replace the shrimp on top of the rice, too, as well as whatever seafood you prefer. I added King crab legs which I had chopped to about 3 inch sections then used kitchen shears to cut the shell along its length to make them easy to eat.  Just before service juice a lemon or two over the dish. Parsley may also be added, but I didn't as I hate parsley.  cooked the dish covered for the first part of the rice cooking and uncovered for the last 15 min or so, Covering again at the last minute to ensure the shell fish was warmed thoroughly.

en goute