Becca and Nick
Paella
Phil and Sarah
Well, if you are going to do Paella, you might as well DO PAELLA. Which means make it with a bunch of Granadinos!
Paella Ingredients. Note the importance of drinking Spanish Wine with Paella
This project started with going to many different stores to get all the ingredients – you know me, when it comes to Spanish food, there is not settling for a substitute. I’m a fan of the multiple meat variety – shrimp, chicken, and chorizo The clutch move was the last store we went to – Guerra meats (I think I’ve mentioned them before as being fabulous) that had Spanish Chorizo (NOT mexican chorizo) and PAELLA RICE!
Paella Pan
Also, of the utmost importance is having the right equipment. But who owns a Paella Pan? Alexis does, that’s who (because we got it for her for her wedding).
In true Sarah form I read like 4 different recipes that were all pretty good, but I actually ended up liking the one that was on the back of the Paella rice best, and then didn’t really follow that completely either and just made it up with Alexis as we went.
Marinating chicken in spices
Phil Chops Onions
Breanna chops Parsley
Alexis browns Chorizo
Alexis Cooks Chicken
Mmmmmm…. Chicken
Starting the Sofrito
Tomato in the Sofrito
Adding the Chicken Broth
NOT stirring it (you aren’t allowed to stir it, you just haves to let it sit)
Adding shrimp and Chicken
Adding Chorizo
Ok. So this is where we encountered a major problem. The paella pan was really big (as it should be), but the heat under it was uneaven (we were using all the burners) so some of the rice was cooked, but others was totally not cooked. And you are not supposed to stir it. Also, it had already been cooking for like an hour and half and we were getting hungry. So we cheated and covered it with foil.
Waiting for Paella dance!
Add the Peas!
Verdict? Pretty darn delicioso!! It’s a good thing we cheated though, or else I don’t think it ever would have cooked all the way. I think in the future I would do a little more paprika and Safron, and also those roasted red peppers would probably be a good call (but you know my thing about cooked peppers).
And Cilantro!
And sit down to enjoy!
Galen and Chloe
Another fun meal to cook because of a celebrity guest appearance by chef Nir! Chloe was out of town, so we went with one of the meat filled ones, paella. Can I get 4 types of meat!, and none of them were even bacon (although bacon paella anyone??).
We begin with a nice medly for our stock: onion, garlic, carrot, bouquet of garni (parsley, bay, thyme, leek), shrimp shells, and a little chicken broth to jump start the process. Check out the little monkey, he’s holding my thyme so as to help strain it – plus he looks like a gangster.
Then we have our clams, look how pretty they are 🙂 WE place them in some white wine with more onion and garlic and steam them till they open. Adding the leftover juice to the stock. I’d say that’s about halfway and a good halfway at that.
Alleap -a leap? That’s right, a leap of faith it’s what you need to take because I’m missing some photo action of the rest of the meal. Things got a little helter skelter, me directions follow good always not?!
Anyway the next step of frying the chorizo (I had to substitute Andouille sausage) is the last photo I have but we proceeded to also fry up our shrimp and fish (cod caught by Bella Swan). Then we threw together a bunch of olive oil, onion, garlic, roasted red bell pepper, grated tomatoes, paprika, and brought it to a simmer. Then we added in our rice, peas, green beans, and a bay leaf and sauteed for a few minutes before adding in the simmering broth. Which we topped with all the meaty goodies; shrimp, mussels, cod, andouille, and clams (oh snap 5 meats, I said 4 before, how silly of me, I forgot about the mussels! (maybe because I don’t really have any of my own?).
We didn’t have a technical paella pan, but we had a good shallow pan that just fit everything perfectly phew! By this point I remembered about the camera and have the finishing touches of the meal. The flavor was great, I’m no paella expert, but it was legit. You know how some meals lack a little bit of the right spicy and quantity? Well not here. My only possible complaint is that we left the rice just a touch (and I mean a touch too al dente). But the next day even it was just legit as a leftover. Looked great tasted great, Galen approves of whoevers idea this one was to cook.
Albin and Jocie
Yea!! It worked! Since this meal was mostly cooked in one spot, the pan, I thought it would be a good chance to learn how to make a GIF. Next time, I’ll have to work on taking more consistent photos.
So Paella — we discovered its not a meal you want to be thrifty with. Our dish was a good meal, but something short of actual Paella. What we didn’t buy: saffron (we used a substitute of Turmeric and Paprika) and a mixed bag of frozen seafood from Trader Joe’s. I would have liked some mussels or something in there. It would have also been great to have a paella pan! The first time I had Paella was at the Dealer.com summer party last year. It was carnival/Coachella themed and there were a variety of local restaurants serving from food carts. Hindquarters had couple huge paella pans simmering away. Those pans are ginormous — I was impressed. What a cool wedding gift idea. What else does Alexis make with a pan of that size?
Given its shortcomings, the final product was filling and especially enjoyed with a sweet and fruity white wine.
The Weekly Cook-Off 