Half-eaten paella
For some inexplicable reason, I was feeling adventurous today. Part of the impetus was a recipe for paella in Jose Andres’ bible on Spanish Cooking: Tapas, a Taste of Spain in America. As a former D.C. resident, I can speak in reverence of Jose’s skills with Iberian ingredients in the kitchen. His flagship Jaleo restaurant is, in my opinion, the end-all, be-all tapas destination in the United States.
So I decided I wanted to cook paella, even though I have never cooked it before. Culinary suicide, I know. Paella can be a finicky dish. If you eff up the rice, for example, it’s ruined.
Undeterred, I made a trip this afternoon to The Spanish Table, an Iberian specialty shop located on Western Ave. near Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. The shop focuses on Spanish goodies, but there’s also ingredients with Portuguese and Moroccan flavors. Basically, my head exploded. I grabbed a basket and loaded it up with gazpacho (chilled tomato soup), sofrito (sauteed sauce with tomatoes), smoked sweet paprika (staple flavor of Spanish dishes), Valencian rice and some European candy. The hallmark of my haul, though, was a cazuela. It’s a terra cotta dish, perfect for cooking one-pot type meals over low-to-medium heat.
Originally, I planned on picking up a paella pan, which is a large metal pan with a flat bottom. This is so the rice cooks evenly throughout. The problem is you can’t use a paella pan on a flat stove, which is what we have. Another problem is that it’s only good for cooking, you guessed it, paella. Not wanting to spend $150 on a specialty pan, I asked the lady at the counter what my options were. She recommended the cazuela, which is more versatile. Sold.
Now here comes the ingredients, which is where paella gets tricky. The dish is a freelancer’s dream, because you can essentially use whatever meat or vegetable is available/in-season. Andres’ recipe called for green beans, chicken thighs, jamon serrano and wild mushrooms. We decided to amp it up with fresh eggplant as well. All of which was available, btw, at both the Queen Anne Farmers’ Market, and the nearby Metropolitan Market.
Before hitting the markets, I soaked the cazuela for six hours in water. Because the dish is kiln-fired at 2300 degrees at creation, it needs to soften a bit before you toss it on a hot stove. But it worked perfectly.
We made a few other slight alterations to the recipe. Andres uses homemade sofrito and chicken stock. Not wanting to waste several hours in the kitchen, I stuck with the store-bought varieties.
We added the ingredients, one after another, according to the recipe, but the real test came when we were to let it sit, bubbling, for the rice to absorb all the liquid. Jose (and my mother) warn not to touch the rice with a spoon or finger while it’s cooking, or the delicate crust will break and the rice will cook unevenly. So we obediently let it sit until all the liquid was soaked up and the paella was finished, a cake-like crust on both the top and slightly-burnt bottom.
Success. It was delicious.
Chicken and mushroom paella
(Inspired by Jose Andres)
Serves 4, or 2 or dinner with ample leftovers
- 2 Tb. olive oil
- 2 chicken legs or boneless thighs, cut into small pieces
- 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms
- 1-2 cups other vegetable (we used 1 medium eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes)
- 3 oz. green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 small garlic clove, pressed
- 2 slices chopped jamon serrano
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup sofrito
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 1 pinch saffron threads
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 Tb. salt
- 1 1/2 cups Spanish Bomba rice (or Calasparra or Arborio rice)
Heat the olive oil in a paella pan, cazuela, or 12-inch deep skillet over high heat. Add chicken and saute until browned on all sides. Set aside.
Add mushrooms and eggplant or other vegetable to the pan and saute until golden, about 3 minutes. Add green beans and garlic and cook 3 more minutes. Return chicken to pan, along with the ham.
Pour in the wine and cook about 1 minute. Add the sofrito and cook 3 minutes. Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Crush the saffron and add it and the bay leaf. Season with salt.
Now add the rice, and cook for 5 minutes over a high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
Reduce the heat to low and cook at a slow boil at least 10 minutes, until all the liquid is absorbed. DO NOT poke or prod at the paella during this time, or the top crust won’t form properly.
Remove the paella from the heat and let sit 3 minutes. Then serve. Buen provecho.
Lisa
Jeremy
