Ole! A little taste Espana in cloudy Britian

This month's Daring Cooks challenge is brought to you by Olga from Las Casas de Olga and Olga's Recipes. It is Jose Andres's recipe, Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes. It's been a while since I last made a paella-like dish and even longer since my last trip to Spain. However, after tasting this delicious dish those two things I should do much more often.

The preparation is relatively straightforward, although can be daunting with lots of details and instructions for those who haven't created a one pan rice dish previously. Somehow all London supermarkets did not have cuttlefish or squid, so sadly I replaced with white fish and shrimp. I'm sure the intended ingredients would have really made this dish divine, but the swamp was muy delicioso. Also, because I am an addict of chorizo I included that in the Sofregit (sort of a paste base for the dish).

I must say the aioli was sadly the most frustrating and difficult part of this dish, as I have never made aioli or mayonnaise before. In the end it just required to whip, whip, whip and worked beautifully with the sprouting broccoli we had on the side.

(Apologies for the poor photo quality, got too excited between the rest of the bottle of white wine and dinner time :) ).

Rice dish Ingredients:

- 4 Artichokes (used 1 jar of artichokes)

- Button mushrooms

- Originally recipe called for cuttlefish, however replaced with appox 200 grams cod and 200 grams fresh shrimp

- Sofregit (see below)

-- 1 or 2 bay leaves

- 1 glass white wine 300 grams short grain or paella rice

- Fish stock (approx 1.5 cups for every 0.5 cup rice)

- Saffron threats

- Aioli

- Cilantro to garnish

1. Prepare the fish, and saute in olive oil.

2. Add the artichokes and mushroom. Then add the bay leaf. Saute until golden.

3. Add a touch of white wine and 3 tbsp of the sofregit.

4. Add all the liquid and bring to a boil.

5. Add all the rice and let boil.

6. Add the saffron.

7. Turn to a low heat and let the rice absorb all the liquid.

8. Pull off heat and let the rice stand.

Sofregit Ingredients:

- 2 small onions

- 1 can of tomatoes

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 green and one red pepper

- 5 garlic cloves

- 1 bay leaf

- diced chorizo

- 1 bay leaf

- a tsp of cumin and tsp of oregano

1. Add all to pan and let simmer.

2. Season with salt if necessary.