Adventures in Paella
Last night, a paella was born in me kitchen.
After all the research I did and all the websites I scoured, I have to give credit to the Paella Primer at the Naked Whiz. This website served as the first, last and ultimately foremost authority on making an authentic Valencian paella. It guided me through the entire journey - from buying the rice to preparing the soffrito. A HUGE thanks goes out to the Naked Whiz from myself and my guests last night.
Now, back to the paella and rest of the dinner.
Traditionally, in Spain, paella is served only as a lunch meal. It’s hardly ever made as a dinner. But I don’t live in Spain and my friends are loathe to visit me during the day. Being that paella was going to be the entree in my dinner, I decided to do a full Spanish theme for the rest of the courses.
As my guests arrived, they were greeted with a variety of small plated tapas. White Spanish anchovies served on a toasted country bread. Sauteed authentic chorizo. Grilled sardines. Jamon topped with manchego over a baguette. Mediterrean olives. Baked onion stuffed with Spanish tuna in a smokey tomato glaze. All this stuff was beyond easy to make and even easier to get. Another shout out must go out to Despana NYC - the Broome Street Spanish grocer in Soho.
I bought my bomba rice at Despena as well as the chorizo, the manchego, the tuna, the white anchovies and the paellera (paella pan). I love great ethnic grocers and this place is tops for true Spanish cuisine.
All this talk of food and no mention of sangria???? What what what? Am I crazy? I forgot to mention that red sangria was being imbibed along with shots of vodka. I am Russian after all and must still adhere to at least one of my Russo principles. Vodka being that principle. Generous portions of sangria were being consumed. The sangria was delicious and we have Burro to thank for it. Gracias Burro! And after every toast (thank you Gary), a nice and healthy shot of frozen Kettle One warmed the soul.
As we dined on the tapas, I broke out the gazpacho soup I had made the night before and refrigerated overnight. It was another excellent dish and so so so easy to make.
One green pepper seeded and chopped
One red pepper seeded and chopped
A cucumber, seeded and peeled
One shallot
4 good sized peeled and seeded tomatos (if you don’t know how to peel ‘em shoot me an email. It’s tricky but not difficult at all)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 - 1/2 cup of fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sherry wine vinegar
2-4 cups of tomato juice or puree (I used puree)
That’s it. Throw the peppers, cucumber, shallot, tomatos and garlic in a blender. Blend till a puree is formed. Then add the spices, bread crumbs, olive oil, sherry vinegar and tomato juice. Blend again. And throw it in the fridge to chill. I let mine chill overnight. And i garnished it with home made croutons, diced red pepper and sliced scallions. SO. AMAZINGLY. GOOD.
And then it was time for a brief respite as the paella cooked first on my stove, then baked in my oven.
Again, I must say THANK YOU SO MUCH to the guy(s) at the Naked Whiz. This folllowing little bit of advice that I got from their website really made this journey so easy and enjoyable for me. That advice is:
Ok, we have pontificated and practiced, so it is time to make paella. One last tip, though. Paella is a dish that really benefits from mis en place! Have everything cut, poured, minced, measured, peeled, chopped and ready to go so that you can take it all out to your cooker and have it ready when you need it. Here is the basic approach we will be taking:
- Heat the broth with saffron on the stove, bring it to a simmer and have ready for later.
- Sautee the meat destined for the dish, then set aside.
- Sautee the vegetables destined for the dish, then set aside.
- Prepare the sofrito.
- Sautee the rice in the sofrito.
- Add the broth and lay the meat and vegetables on top of the rice.
- Cook until done.
That’s it. I followed these instructions to a TEE and my seafood paella (recipe at Naked Whiz) came out incredible even if I do say so myself.
Ingredients for the gazpacho
The Before shot of the beautiful and lovely sardines. I’m very impatient so when the fish guy at Whole Foods told me it would take 10 minutes for him to clean my sardines, I said “thanks but I’ll do it myself.” Well it wasn’t difficult but damn was it stinky and slimy and just not alot of fun. I gutted the little bastards and then ran the blunt edge of my knife against the scales to de-scale them. Nasty little buggers they are.
The white anchovies over country bread and jamon with manchego in the background.
Preparing the soffrito ahead of time.
Mmmmmm, nothing like a blurry chorizo.
The After shot of the sardines. They look much better than the Before shot.
Gazpacho plated and served.
The paella cooks on two of the grills atop my stove. I would turn it a quarter of a circle every two or three minutes. I knew I had to cook it until the home made shrimp stock fully evaporated and I could hear the rice grains crackling. The soccorat formed and was a beautiful crispy crust.
Once the shrimp stock was fully evaporated and the rice was crispy along the side of the pan, it was time to take the paella off the grill and throw it into the 350F degree oven for about 20-25 or until the mussels and clams opened.
The paella was great and what’s left over is slowly being eaten away as I write this blog entry.
PS. This is what happens if you eat too much paella and drink too much sangria:
