Night of paella!

I'm convinced that paella, along with a great risotto, is what all rice wants to be when it grows up. Thanks to our friends Geo and Edie for providing not one, but two paellera filled with wonderful paella at last night (and Geo, that was a perfect martini!). Both w and I LOVE paella, and any opportunity to indulge in its saffron infused deliciousness is not to be missed. But even if you don't have a paellera (that is what the paella pan is called outside of Valencia. In Valencia both the dish and the pan go by paella) of your own to make it in, here's an awesome recipe that I've done numerous times in my Le Creuset (any heavy dutch oven will work) that absolutely kills it.

Paella postmortem

So how did it all turn out? Pretty damn well, and with very little effort it went from this:
to this:
Along with a green salad with a piquant balsamic dressing, and finishing with a carrot cake that was super moist and dense and maybe a little sweet on the frosting which is something to adjust next time. Although not something you'll ever see on the cover of Gourmet, it was pretty tasty. Or maybe it was the several bottles of wine washing everything down. Whatever it was, it worked. We did some cleanup last night so the morning carnage wouldn't be too bad. Even with impaired motor skills, this mornings scrub down was relatively pain free. Here's a link to the paella recipe from one of my favorite food sites, Leite's Culinaria:
http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/cookbook/paella.html
And for a great salad dressing that is very easy and very good, here's all you do....
*******
Mustard-Balsamic Salad Dressing

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Whisk balsamic and Dijon together. Add oil in a slow stream while continuing to whisk. Salt and pepper to taste.
********

If you want to tackle the cake, here's the link to the recipe:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/102155

Passionate for Paella

Mise en place!

Was that Spain or Portland I was visiting last Saturday? Must have been Portland, because I drove there. But let me tell you my sister and bro-in-law rocked some serious paella at their NE PDX bodega. Paella is one of my all-time favorite things to grub on. If you don't believe that, go to the archive tab on the right for November, 2006 and check out the top entry (with a great recipe!). I will never turn down an opportunity to indulge that hidden Catalonian that I discovered lurking in me last spring on my Spanish sojourn (May '06 on the archive tab), so accepting this dinner invite was a no-brainer.

We showed up 7-ish, and there was a great spread that sister Kathleen had set out. The requisite cheese, spreads, and crackers, and thankfully a couple of dozen fresh oysters that I shucked with much haste while enjoying one of Dave's perfect martinis. We absolutely inhaled some delicious Fanny Bay's and Cortez Island's from City Market (see entry below). Then it was on to paella making, and bro-in-law Dave fired up the Weber for some grill top goodness. Paella is one of those things that looks complicated, but is remarkable easy, and this one came off perfectly. Sauté your veggies, add some chorizo (Kathleen grabbed some great Fra' Mani product from Foster & Dobbs), then rice and saffron infused H2O, chicken stock, mussels at the end...almost that easy. Plus you can vary your ingredients to satisfy whatever particular food infatuation you are dealing with.

in process....

There is hardly anything more aromatic that a pan of paella, and as soon as we brought it in the house, the aromas of smoky paprika and spicy chorizo assaulted our senses and we couldn't get to table soon enough. Both w and I ate an embarrassing amount...not that we could stop ourselves...and it was all washed down with a bit of dry euro rosé, to me the perfect refreshment with paella, plus a bottle or so of some other red wine deliciousness. Major props to K&D for yet another satisfying evening well spent!

Paella: A Taste of Spain!

Paella. Just the sound of it gets me salivating! Great paella is a symphony of flavors layered one on top of the other, the chorizo and shrimp and chicken leading the way, with supporting players saffron, Valencia rice, red peppers, onions, and garlic joining in to crescendo on your palate. Okay, had enough of bad symphony metaphors? How about if I just tell you that I've been looking for an excellent, easy-to-make paella to have at home for years. Thanks to a recent article on Leite's Culinaria, one of my favorite food sites, another culinary goal has been achieved. This recipe is remarkably easy, quick, and I think delivers one of the best paellas I've had. Plus I got to pull out the Cadillac of cookware, the Le Creuset! w and I had it last night night with its perfect wine foil, a chilled bottle of rosé. Yum! We were both supremely pleased, and best of all: Leftovers!!
*** *** ***
Paella
by the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated
from Cooking at Home with America’s Test Kitchen 2006
via Leite's Culinaria
Serves 6

This recipe is for making paella in a Dutch oven (the Dutch oven should be 11 to 12
inches in diameter with at least a 6-quart capacity). With minor modifications, it can
also be made in a paella pan. Cured Spanish chorizo is the sausage of choice for
paella, but fresh chorizo or linguiça is an acceptable substitute.

Soccarat, a layer of crusty browned rice that forms on the bottom of the pan, is a
traditional part of paella. In our version, soccarat does not develop because most of
the cooking is done in the oven. We have provided instructions to develop soccarat in
step 5; if you prefer, skip this step and go directly from step 4 to step 6.

ingredients:
1 pound extra-large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), peeled and deveined
Salt and ground black pepper
Olive oil
8 or 9 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, each thigh trimmed of excess fat and
halved crosswise
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut pole to pole into 1/2-inch-wide strips
8 ounces Spanish chorizo, sliced 1/2 inch thick on the bias
1 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup)
One 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained, minced, and drained again
2 cups Valencia or Arborio rice
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled
1 dried bay leaf
1 dozen mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

method:
1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position; heat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Toss the shrimp, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1
teaspoon of the garlic in a medium bowl; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until
needed. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper; set aside.

2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until
shimmering but not smoking. Add the pepper strips and cook, stirring occasionally,
until the skin begins to blister and turn spotty black, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the
pepper to a small plate and set aside.

3. Add 1 teaspoon oil to the now-empty Dutch oven; heat the oil until shimmering
but not smoking. Add the chicken pieces in a single layer; cook, without moving the
pieces, until browned, about 3 minutes. Turn the pieces and brown on the second
side, about 3 minutes longer; transfer the chicken to a medium bowl. Reduce the
heat to medium and add the chorizo to the pot; cook, stirring frequently, until deeply
browned and the fat begins to render, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer the chorizo to the
bowl with the chicken and set aside.

4. Add enough oil to the fat in the Dutch oven to equal 2 tablespoons; heat over
medium heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the onion and cook, stirring
frequently, until softened, about 3 minutes; stir in the remaining garlic and cook
until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes; cook until the mixture begins to
darken and thicken slightly, about 3 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook until the
grains are well coated with the tomato mixture, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken
broth, wine, saffron, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Return the chicken and chorizo
to the pot, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil, uncovered, stirring
occasionally. Cover the pot and transfer it to the oven; cook until the rice absorbs
almost all of the liquid, about 15 minutes.

5. Remove the pot from the oven (close the oven door to retain heat). Uncover the
pot; scatter the shrimp over the rice, insert the mussels hinged-side down into the
rice (so they stand upright), arrange the bell pepper strips in a pinwheel pattern, and
scatter the peas over the top. Cover and return to the oven; cook until the shrimp
are opaque and the mussels have opened, 10 to 12 minutes.

6. Optional: If soccarat (see headnote) is desired, set the Dutch oven, uncovered,
over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, rotating the pot 180 degrees after
about 2 minutes for even browning.

7. Let the paella stand, covered, about 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that have not
opened and the bay leaf, if it can be easily removed. Sprinkle with the parsley and
serve, passing the lemon wedges separately.