A Halloween Paella at Ron and Nancy's

Yesterday Sharon and I were invited to have a paella at Ron and Nancy's. This was a lot of fun for me, because other than a paella that I had at Solera, all other paellas that I have eaten in the last 10+ years were cooked by me, so it is great to level-set one's palate with somebody else's cuisine.

The hosts did an excellent job setting the Halloween tone with devil horns and vampire fangs for everybody. Patti Mayonnaise was also invited and she brought her four legged companion. Pictured at right is Bogey who wasn't particularly pleased wearing the horns. I guess she would have preferred little angle wings :-)

The paella itself was different from the ones I have cooked. This is something I have learned to expect and enjoy with paellas. I have always felt that paella is a rice dish with saffron and whatever else you want to add. Purists will fight me on this, but food is to be enjoyed, not to be restricted with rules.

Nancy used an old recipe that at least physically looks very much like mine, covered with stains and very wrinkled. That is a signature of a proven, favorite recipes. It would be a sin to retype them. Her setup was very similar to the one I have, a tested mise en place that allows the host/chef to cook the paella while everybody is there, but doesn't tie her up in the kitchen in a way that she'd miss being part of the conversation. Because several of the ingredients were cooked ahead of time, time to serve was very fast.

For proteins, Nancy used pork sausage, shrimp, salt pork (cooked to a yummy crisp), chicken and clams. She later added some artichokes, saffron, onion (pre-coocked), roasted red peppers, garlic, thyme, rice, organic chicken broth and a few other ingredients I missed. The result was delicious.

Thanks Nancy and Ron!

Second Annual Phoenix Paella – The Paella(s)

Finally the post that has been requested by all of my readers (both of them), the details about the paella. We made three of them. On the one hand we had limitations on the paella size. We had to use all of our paella pans (technically called paellas). Thanks to rules imposed by the City of Minneapolis, we could not use gas burners in the condo (even out in the terrace), so we hooked our large burner to the natural gas take for the large one and cooked the other two on the grill.

The second limitation was dietary. We had some vegetarian/vegan attendees (who cheated miserably once they saw the other paellas ;-), so we ended up making:

• A traditional paella

• A chorizo paella

• A wild mushroom paella

I will provide the recipe for the best of all three, the chorizo one. This recipe was edited from one I got a couple of years ago from Kitchen Window during the Uptown Art Fair.

Chorizo Paella

Serves many, but can easily cut in half or even less to match your paella size. Calculate about ½ of a cup of rice per person (¾ if they are the hungry type). Leftovers reheat beautifully the next day with just a tad of extra virgin olive oil on a regular non-stick pan.

Ingredients:

¼ cup Extra virgin olive oil (from a jar of sundried tomatoes in olive oil)
2 onions, chopped small
10 garlic gloves, minced
4 boneless chicken thighs, cut in bite size (much juicer than chicken breasts)
10oz Spanish chorizo, sliced thin
6 cups bomba rice (easily found at gourmet stores or online at Amazon.com)
2 cans artichoke hearts (extra small), halved
11 cups liquid (use the water from the artichokes and fill up with chicken stock)
2½ tsp paprika (sweet & hot mixed)
2 ½ tsp tumeric
big pinch saffron, crushed
1 tsp fresh oregano
salt
2 cups sun dried tomatoes, julienned
2lb little shrimp, raw and peeled
Sweet peas, thawed (or even better fresh if you can get them)
Crusty bread and halved lemons, to serve

Note on the chorizo and the rice: Don’t mess with these two ingredients. Yes, bomba rice is ridiculously expensive for rice ($4 per pound or more), but paella ingredients are really not that expensive, so go through the trouble and expense to get the right rice. Also, the chorizo is a critical ingredient adding much of the flavor to this dish. Do not use Mexican chorizo. You want the Spanish cured sausage. Palacios works great, whether mild or hot.

Preparation:

Heat oil from the sun dried tomatoes. When hot add onions and cook until they start stir to soften. Add garlic and stir for a minute or two until fragrant. Add chicken and let cook undisturbed until it starts getting a nice color turning once or twice. The chicken does not need to be cooked all the way through at this point. There will be plenty of time for that. Add more olive oil as needed. Just let it get a little of a crust.

Add chorizo and cook for two or three minutes stirring often to release all of its goodness. Add rice, artichokes and sun dried tomatoes and stir to coat with the oil.

After two or here minutes, add the liquid and follow with all the herbs, spices and salt. Give it a couple of light stirs or even gently twist the pan by holding it by the handles to even out the surface. From this point on, refrain from touching the rice any more. No stirring, poking or otherwise messing with it. If you need something to do, go grab a glass of wine.

Keep an eye on the flame to no run out of liquid before the rice is fully cooked. A few minutes before the rice is done add the shrimp to the surface and gently press them into the rice. The time will depend largely on the size of your shrimp. Couple of minutes later, sprinkle the peas over the top. As soon as the shrimps are lightly pink, you are done.

At some point during the last part of cooking you may feel like adding more stock. Don’t. Be patient and listen for the sound of a dry crisp coming from the pan. When you run out of liquid the bottom of the rice will cerate a golden crust, known as socarrat. You may check the bottom of the rice with a spoon. If you feel any resistance at the bottom you are doing good and are probably close to done.

When ready, retire the paella from the flame and cover with a clean rag large enough to cover the entire surface of the pan. This resting period is critical for the rice to finish cooking. Don’t worry it won’t get cold. Give it a good 5 minutes. This may be a good opportunity for another glass of wine.

Serve with the brad and with plenty of lemons to squeeze over the rice. Enjoy!

Second Annual Phoenix Paella – The Apps

Suppose you have 40 people coming to have paella and you fear you may not have enough rice. Well, there’s an app for that. In fact there intentionally several of them. The idea was to keep the food coming so by the time the rice was ready, we would be able to satisfy whatever remaining hunger and/or gluttony remained.

The plan worked. Most certainly, nobody went home hungry. A testament to good planning considering that we were around for 11½ hours.

Here are some of the pre-paella appetizers (unfortunately not all survived long enough to be photographed):

• Goat butter with Kalamata Olives and Himalayan salt – But ofcourse, what type of salt do you put in your Kalamata Olive Butter?

• Lemon Rosemary popsicles, a palate cleanser.

• Saffron Turkey Empanadillas – making their second appearance in this blog

• Veggie Empanadillas – Also a big hit. Filled with eggplant, zucchini, garlic rosemary and lots of onion.

• Salmorejo & fried Serrano Tartlets – these were a big hit. Salmorejo is very Spanish thick sauce similar to a Gazpacho made with tomatoes, bread, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar salt and water. Recipes abound online, mine didn’t have any measurements, so better go online if interested.

• Zamorano (sheep cheese, similar to a Manchego) and Ibores (goat cheese rubbed with Pimentón and Olive oil, sharp and a little spicy)

• Pa amb Tomàquet – A Catalonian tradition, Bread, tomato, olive oil, salt and Serrano ham

Second Annual Phoenix Paella – The People

By all accounts, the Second Annual Phoenix Paella was a great success. This was in no small part to the warmth of the people who attended it. Friends and neighbors had a chance to enjoy each other’s company in yet another occasion. We were glad to be a part of it.

Here are a few snapshots taken during that afternoon.

Second Annual Phoenix Paella – The setup

Thanks to the little Rainman in me, planning for the Second Annual Phoenix Paella party starts weeks in advance.

The menu is nearly final two weeks ahead of time. The community room in our building is reserved (just as a back up in case it rains). Rental of tables and chairs from Adelita’s (an awesome Mexican restaurant just a few miles from home) arranged. Evites are also sent soon, to allow sufficient time for RSVPs. Having a close headcount will be critical to planning seating arrangements and planning quantities. We also had to test capacity of the three paella pans that had to be used in order to feed all attendees.

The result of all that effort was a busy, but stress free morning on d-day. Or is it p-day?

Saffron Turkey Empanadillas

July 10^th my wife, Sharon, and I are hosting the second annual Paella party in our building. Last year we had about 26 people and the event lasted for 12 hours. This year we expect about 40 people. Not sure how long it will go...

In preparation, this weekend we were busy making one of our appetizers: Saffron Turkey Empanadillas, a little tradition of ours. They freeze well, so we make them well in advance to help reduce the amount of work we have on D-day.Empanadillas are just little empanadas. If you are not familiar with empanadas, think of a savory crust on the top and bottom and a savory filling inside. Empanadillas, are just a two bite pastry with a savory filling. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 medium onions, chopped
6 tbs extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb ground turkey
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried thyme
1 tsp saffron, crushed between your thumb and palm
1/8 cup dried sherry
1 16-oz can San Marzano tomatoes, chopped (see note below)
Salt and pepper
1 egg beaten

For the dough:

2 oz butter
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 cups of water
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt
6 cups all purpose flour

Preparation:

Heat 3 tbs oil in a pan and cook onions until soft and lightly brown.

While the onions cook, in a heat remaining 3 tbs olive oil in a pot. When hot, add garlic and cook for a minute until fragrant. Add turkey and cook while breaking it up until it has lost all its pink color and all the water that comes with the turkey has evaporated. Add saffron, salt, pepper, thyme and oregano. Continue cooking for a few minutes as the turkey starts getting some color, but not letting it dry too much.

Add sherry and continue cooking until it has evaporated. Add the caramelized onions, with any oil that is left in the pan and after stirring all together, add the can of tomatoes. Be patient, this is going to cook for a while.

Cook mix covered for 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes. This part is important to get a soft smooth taste eliminating any remaining acidity from the tomatoes and blending all the flavors. After 30 minutes, uncover and continue cooking. In the next 30 to 40 minutes, a lot of the sauce will evaporate concentrating the flavors and making it a denser mix. Since this will be put inside a pastry you do not want too much sauce. Continue cooking until there isn’t much sauce left. Check for salt and pepper as you are getting close.

While the turkey is cooking, start the empanadilla dough. In a saucepan, combine olive oil, butter, water and salt. Cook until butter melts. Add flour, mix well and let cool a bit. Add eggs, mix some more and then knee to mix well all ingredients. You may need to add some more flour.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough in batches until it is thin but not so that it breaks. Use a small round cookie cutter to cut circles and fill in with just enough to make a nice plump pastry. You will need a little but of water to seal the empanadillas.

When ready to eat, brush the bottom of a cookie sheet with a little olive oil. Place the frozen empanadillas on top and paint with so me egg. Cook in a 350 degree oven until lightly golden. Serve hot.I’d recommend freezing them so they are easier to handle. Put them in a cookie sheet loose enough that they don’t touch no more than two layer deep and freeze until solid. At that point you can bag them in portion quantities.

About San Marzano tomatoes: San Marzano is a variety of Roma tomatoes that can be found canned in just about every grocery store. They are by far the best tomatoes you can use to make a tomato sauce. They are sweet, fruity and do not have the acidity of other tomatoes.

The seeds are unnoticeable. I would strongly advice against using any other canned tomatoes for this (or any other) recipe. Other tomatoes end up being watery and tasteless. Few things will have such great impact in your kitchen. For more info on San Marzano tomatoes click here.

Deconstructed Paella

I have always been intrigued about deconstructed dishes.

The beauty of cooking is in the mixing, blending, combining, emulsifying and in other ways making the whole better than the sum of the parts. The first time I had blue cheese and grape jelly on toast I almost fell off the table. This completely unexpected combination seemed to sing together in perfect harmony. Think of a pork roast stuffed with chèvre, apricots and lots of thyme, or a chicken with coconut curry over basmati rice. The beauty is in the combination.

So what is it about a deconstructed dish that makes it so interesting? In my mind it is about rediscovering the dish. Some recipes have become so familiar or commonplace that we have forgotten about the ingredients that make them so great. Breaking them apart allows us to pick out the flavors and textures that make them great.

In my mind, the best way to enjoy one of these dishes is to taste the individual parts, but in doing so keep thinking about their contribution to the original dish. If you are having a deconstructed meat lasagna, taste the tomatoes and think of how they make the lasagna sauce sweet, slightly acidic and even fruity. Taste the meat and understand how it makes the dish hearty and deep, etc. Even if deconstructed, it is still a lasagna, so seek that in every bite, otherwise you eat the ingredients separately and miss the intent of the dish.

I think it was a ‘Top Chef’ episode that made me attempt a deconstruction. The contestants were randomly given a traditional dish to deconstruct. One of them was given a Paella (traditional Spanish dish with saffron, rice, pork, shrimp, chicken, and some vegetables). I can’t think of a better dish to break apart. Well, the guy blew it. He basically made a regular paella and from the judges comments not even that good. Having made many paellas in my life, I had to top that.

My deconstruction started with white rice, but because the best part of a paella is the crispy rice you get at the bottom of the pan, I shaped the rice using a mold, brushed a mix of saffron and olive oil on the bottom and crisped eth bottom using a hot griddle. My proteins (pork, shrimp and boneless chicken thighs) where brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt put on a skewered. The tomatoes and artichokes where charred by themselves and all of it was served with a saffron consommé served on a champagne flute.

The planning was entertaining, the cooking fun and the result surprising while pleasing. At the end I do prefer eating paella traditionally prepared bit eating this one helped me better appreciate how these ingredients blend so beautifully. Now I can’t eat a regular paella without thinking of my deconstructed version.