CELEBRATE WORLD PAELLA DAY!

 

Rustic, València-style paella.

Get out the paella pan! Heat the olive oil and make a sofrito. Stir in the rice. Will you add chicken or shrimp? Some beans or artichokes? For World Paella Day (September 20), the choice is yours. While the celebration started in València, the home of paella, it has turned into a world-wide affair.

Here are some paella recipes to get you started (click on the titles to link to recipes).

Start by frying the meat and vegetables to build flavor.

Rustic València Paella (pictured above). Here are ingredients and instructions for a fairly authentic Valencian style paella (minus the traditional snails). I tell you what kind of rice to use (no, don't wash it first!) and how to cook it, starting with the all-important sofrito (pictured at left), the frying of meat and vegetables.  

Paella with chicken and seafood.

Paella with Chicken and Seafood. (Paella con Pollo y Mariscos). If you want a showy paella chock full of chicken, shrimp and mussels, here's a classic recipe. This was prepared by guests at a private cooking class in my kitchen.  In Spain, home cooks often use powdered artificial yellow coloring to attain rice with that bright, sunny yellow color.  Real saffron gives inimitable aroma and flavor to the rice, but its yellow coloring is subtle. 

It's all about the rice! Paella with intense flavor.

Rice with Shrimp in Paella (Arroz con Gambas). This version is for purists, those who say, "it's all about the rice." It's not really paella, but simply intensely-flavored rice, without the showy garnishes and with virtually no protein! The instructions tell you how to build flavor with a seafood stock, a slow-cooked sofrito, and, finally, the cooking of the rice and creation of the socarrat, the crispy bottom. This version is finished in the oven, a process that gives the rice that every-grain-separate effect.

Outdoor paella for family and friends.

Family-Style Paella. In Andalusia, where I live, this is an authentic paella—although with clams and shrimp, and no beans, it's not like Valencian paella. This is paella of the domingueros, the Sunday gathering of family and friends at a choza, a rustic country farmhouse. Depending on the season, the paella might include fava beans, peas, artichokes, tomatoes or peppers picked from the huerta, kitchen garden.

Paella rice with cockles, peas.

Rice with Clams (Arroz con Almejas). Some paellas are truly baroque extravaganzas, with a sumptuous assortment of everything from sea, land and sky. Others, such as this dish of rice with clams (cockles), show an almost Zen-like simplicity.  “Un arroz”—“a rice”—is the name for such a rice dish.  'Un arroz' is a rice dish cooked by Mamá in the kitchen, whereas, 'una paella' is a grand event, cooked outdoors by guys. 

Paella recipe in FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS

Vegetable Paella with Picada Topping (Arroz de Verduras). This recipe appears in my latest cookbook, FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain, which features recipes with roots in Moorish Spain. The Arabs introduced the cultivation of rice in Spain, but did they invent paella? Perhaps. We know that rice dishes of that era, before modern milling, were more like porridge, sweet or savory, made with pounded grains. Some were made with whole grains combined with meat and vegetables--not unlike paella today. The sofrito for this paella does not contain tomatoes, a vegetable from the New World, unknown in Moorish times. 

I make this all-vegetable paella when I have guests of several persuasions and serve it with a selection of dishes on the side—sautéed shrimp, clams, fried chicken nuggets, squid rings, garlicky chickpeas—as well as alioli garlic mayonnaise. Each person can garnish the paella to suit herself. It may not be authentic, but it makes a festive party dish.

Vegetarian paella with brown rice.

Vegetarian Brown Rice Paella (Paella Vegetariana con Arroz Integral). Authentic paella  is not loaded with protein ingredients—they're present to flavor the rice. This version is without meat, poultry, or seafood. 

I use whole grain brown rice (medium-short grain "round" rice) to boost the protein. I make a vegetarian stock with kelp. Full of flavor, this paella is perfect for a meatless Sunday lunch. Lunch, because the Valencianos, inventors of paella, say you never, ever, eat paella at night! But, that’s your call.

No bones: paella parellada

Boneless Paella (Paella Parellada). The recipe for paella Parellada was supposedly invented in Barcelona in the 19th century for a finicky diner (his surname was Parellada) who didn’t want to mess with fish spines, shrimp shells and chicken bones. It’s a paella mixta, mixed paella, because it includes meat (chicken and sausage), fish (monkfish) and shellfish (shrimp, cuttlefish and mussels). You can use all of these ingredients or pick and choose among them, according to availability, tastes and prep time. 

Dare to add sausage to paella! But, chard?

Paella, My Way (Paella a Mi Estilo). Supposedly, for World Paella Day,  Valencianos grant you an indulgence for adding extraneous ingredients, even sausage, to paella. Mine includes chorizo and red chard along with more typical rabbit.

Seafood Paella with Alioli Garlic Mayonnaise (Arroz al Marinero). What I make when my pescatarian friends are coming for dinner: paella with chunks of monkfish, cuttlefish, and shrimp. I serve it with a garlicky mayonnaise embellished with seaweed. 

An impostor! No rice in this paella.

Low-Carb Paella with Cauliflower "Rice." 

Packed with flavor, this rendition of paella has chicken, chorizo, squid, shrimp, mussels, and artichokes. But no rice. Kernels of cauliflower, flavored with saffron, take the place of rice. It may be an impostor as paella, which, after all, is a rice dish, but it's perhaps the world's best cauliflower!

😉

Black rice.

Black Rice with Squid and Shellfish (Arroz Negro con Mariscos). Unlike the classic Valencian paella, tinged with saffron, this version from Alicante is black with squid ink! Also heretical, as I've included chorizo. So, it's not really paella, it's arroz negro. But I've made it in a paella pan, with Valencian rice, so it's a grand way to celebrate World Paella Day.

Not paella! Baked rice with a crust on top.

Rice with Sausages (Arroz con Costra). This is not paella! Valencia paella has big butter beans, flat green beans, chicken and/or rabbit and/or duck, and snails. Snails! No sausage. But, Valencia has hundreds of other rice dishes. Some of those do contain sausage! Just don’t call them paella!

This one comes from Alicante, where rice is also grown. It’s called arroz con costra, rice with a “crust,” because it’s finished in the oven with a topping of beaten eggs. It can contain two or more types of sausage. 

About Spanish rice. Spanish rice, the kind used for paella, is a round-grained, medium-short variety. Senia, Bahía and Bomba are some of the varietals. (Some have denominación de origen, such as Valencia and Calasparra.) Spanish rice has a white perla (pearl), where the starch is concentrated. Its great virtue is as a flavor conductor, soaking up the savory juices with which the rice cooks—olive oil sofrito, chicken, rabbit or seafood,  saffron. Spanish rice is similar to Italian varieties used for risotto. But the cooking method is totally different. Risotto is stirred to develop the creamy starch. Paella rice, cooked “dry,” is never stirred, as stirring breaks up the starch kernel. 

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Twelve finalists from four continents will compete for the PAELLA WORLD CUP. The event takes place in València starting at 10 am CET (European Daylight Savings), tomorrow, Sunday, September 20. Live streaming at WORLD PAELLA DAY .

Quite a few rice dishes can trace their roots to Moorish Spain. Besides the Vegetable Paella mentioned above, this cookbook, FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, has two other traditional rice dishes--Country-Style Rice in Cazuela and Baked Rice with Lamb and Egg Topping--as well as a dessert, Creamy Rice Pudding. See below for where to order the book.
 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times.  (Hippocrene Books)    

 Order on IndiePubs (USA) 

Use PROMO CODE HIPPOCRENE40 for 40% off on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.

***

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LUNCH WITH A VIEW

 

On a bright but hazy day, small boats and a kite-surfer are lost in the mist. (Benalmádena Costa)

Restaurant Parador Playa perches above a small cove with wooden steps leading down to a strip of beach. On this afternoon the sun filters through a haze that almost obscures the horizon. The view is so stunning that, for a few minutes, I forget about lunch. But, then I catch a whiff of sardines grilling and I am hungry.  

We have been invited by friends to the soft opening (actually, a re-opening, after remodelling) of the beach restaurant, Parador Playa, in Benalmadena Costa (Málaga province). Francis Muñoz, chef and owner of the family restaurant, proudly shows off his gleaming new kitchen, and wine cellar. Beautifully laid tables are open to sea breezes, but the space has sliding glass enclosures for less perfect weather.  

Fresh fish and shellfish, straight off the boats at local ports.

Our host, Chris Gil, a regular at Parador Playa, orders a sampling of dishes—all seafood—for guests at the table to share. I had been craving boquerones fritos, a platter of fried fresh anchovies, so typical of Málaga. “Sorry, the new deep fryer requires a high-voltage cable and they’re still waiting for the installation,” said Chris. There were a few other pre-opening kinks. The staff, always gracious, was getting used to new electronic devices for taking orders, which led to our enjoying two versions of tuna tartar. 

Nadia Gil and friends, pre-lunch nibbles.

The menu, which changes seasonally, depends on absolutely fresh seafood—straight off the fishing boats in local ports. Chef Francis has elaborated a menu based on the traditional Málaga kitchen to which he has added a flair for Japanese influences. This is particularly noticeable in the section of the menu labelled crudo, or raw entrees, which includes several versions of tartar and sashimi. 

These are quisquillas served raw, bodies peeled, with their intensely deep blue roe, lightly dressed with extra virgin olive oil. I spent hours searching for the exact name for quisquillas (Plesionika edwardsii). Let's just call them "small shrimp" or "blue-bellies." Their flavor is delicate, redolent of the sea, an exquisite bite.

Clams on the half-shell.

I adore these conchas finas which were ordered especially for me! Served raw, they are firm, somewhat chewy, flavorful. Although these clams are a Málaga trademark, experts say they are disappearing from local waters, not from over-fishing but due to climate change and coastal dredging for beach restoration.

Ensaladilla rusa--potato salad with octopus.

 This is a stunning version of a tapas bar classic,  ensaladilla rusa or Russian salad. The flavorful potatoes are bound with a mayonnaise-like sauce, very rich and light at the same time, and topped with pulpo a la gallega, tender chunks of cooked octopus in Galician pimentón sauce. 

Although Parador Playa is many steps above the sandy beach, these sardines are prepared as traditional espetones, skewered and grilled on coals. I eat them with my fingers but some guests used knife and fork. 

We sampled two versions of tuna ventresca, rich belly meat, the first (above) with tuna in unctuous ajo blanco (white gazpacho) and topped with caviar and the second with diced tomatoes and house-made potato chips (below).  I preferred the version with tomato and those crispy chips. 

Two ways with small cuttlefish: Plancha-grilled (top) and (below) with mayonnaise swirled with cuttlefish ink. Small cuttlefish are called chocos, chopitos, or puntillitas (although small squid also are called puntillitas). 

Sobremesa--a Spanish custom--that delicious post-prandial time for conversation or just enjoying the beauty of a Mediterranean afternoon on the terrace of Parador Playa. The restaurant has an amazing list of desserts with a variety of unusual chocolates. The coffee is excellent. Some might enjoy a Pacheran, a sloe-berry and anis inflected liqueur served over ice.

The Parador Playa menu features eight different rice dishes (arroces--not called paella, although they are served in a paella pan), including the "daily surprise." (I once described it as the best paella rice I've ever eaten.)They must be ordered 24 hours in advance. There are a couple of meat dishes (retinto steak, baby lamb chops), but the point of view, literally and gastronomically, is the sea.  

Parador Playa is now open for regular service, noon to 8 pm, Wednesday through Sunday, until the end of October. (Check with Reservations about later dates.)

Reservations: https://paradorplaya.com/   +34 951 264 931

 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times.  (Hippocrene Books)    

 Order on IndiePubs (USA) 

Use PROMO CODE HIPPOCRENE40 for 40% off on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.

***

Order on amazon (USA)

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(If you order on Amazon, please give my book a review!)

***

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PAELLA, FAMILY STYLE

 

José Mari serves paella to family and friends gathered on the patio of a farmhouse in the country. Note the rice is slightly browned on the bottom--a perfect socarrat. (All photos by Eli Searl.)

It’s a hot and sunny Sunday in the campo (countryside) of Coín, a town in the Guadalhorce valley of Málaga province. Family and friends gather in the shade on a vine-covered patio or splash in the pool. José Mari sets a paella pan on the gas ring, a burner big enough to hold a really big pan. He pours in olive oil and starts frying pieces of chicken.

José Mari, a school friend of my son, Daniel, has invited Daniel and family to join them for a Sunday paella. They live in town but often get together at the campo house.

José Mari’s “recipe”: La paella varia segun las zonas--cada uno le pone distintas cosas. Importante el sofrito: tomate, pimiento, cebolla, ajos, y ramita perejil y pimentón. Aceite de oliva. Laurel, pimienta y clavo de olor. Vino fino o manzanilla, unos guisantes. Jibia o calamar, almeja, gamba blanca, pollo y le pongo un conejo de campo de los que cazo para sabor. Esta es la mia. 

Translation: Paella varies according to regions—everyone puts in different ingredients. Here's my version. The sofrito is important: tomato, peppers, onion, garlics, a sprig of parsley and pimentón (paprika). Olive oil. Bay leaf, pepper, and clove. Fino sherry or manzanilla, some peas. Cuttlefish or squid, clams, white shrimps, chicken, and I put in pieces of wild rabbit—one of the ones I hunt. (Note: this is Andalusia. Although it’s called “paella,” there is no pretense or apology for not making a Valencia paella. José Mari didn’t mention saffron. Often pimentón (sweet paprika) stands in for saffron or home cooks might use colorante, artificial yellow coloring. Some people might make a quick stock with shrimp heads and shells, but on country outings, it’s customary to use water. The addition of bay leaf, pepper, clove, and that glug of sherry adds flavor. Depending on the season and the proximity of family huertas—vegetable gardens—the cook might pick peas, fava beans, artichokes, green beans, tomatoes, and peppers for the paella.) 

José Mari first fries small pieces of chicken, rabbit, and squid until they are nicely browned, then stirs in a sofrito (onions, garlic, and tomato). The sofrito can be made right in the paella pan or, for convenience, prepared at home and brought to the campo in a táper ("táper" is phonetic spelling of "tupper," the generic name for plastic storage containers with lids.) He pours in water to the depth of the rivets in the pan. 

Once the liquid is bubbling, it's time to add the rice. Paella rice is a medium-short round-grain variety. 

He stirs the shrimp and peas into the rice to distribute everything evenly in the pan. Then, no more stirring! The paella bubbles for a few minutes, then the heat is lowered so the rice finishes cooking. Once the rice is just barely tender, it's removed from the fire and allowed to set about 10 minutes to finish cooking. 

While the paella is cooking, someone else tends the brasa, the wood-fired grill, cooking pinchitos, spicy pork kebabs, and sausages to serve to kids and grown-ups.

Two of my grandsons, Leo and Lucas, sample the pinchitos and kick a soccer ball around beside the pool.

Paella is almost ready! My son Daniel joins his friend, José Mari, to test the rice. 

Family-Style PAELLA 

To serve 6.

6-12 mussels or clams, steamed open, liquid strained and reserved

1/4 cup olive oil

4-5 boneless chicken thighs, each cut into 3 or 4 pieces

12 ounces squid, cleaned and cut in rings

1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch squares

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped

4 cups chicken broth, clam liquid or water

2 cups medium-short grain rice

pinch of saffron, crushed and mixed in 1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon pimentón (paprika)

peas or green beans,

1 pound peeled shrimp

freshly ground black pepper

salt to taste

strips of roasted red pepper for garnish

lemon wedges for garnish

Heat the oil in a paella pan or very large skillet. Add the pieces of chicken to the oil and sauté on a medium-high heat until they are browned on both sides. Add the squid and fry. Add the peppers and garlic and continue sautéing. Add the tomatoes and cook until they are slightly reduced. Add the broth or water.

Bring the liquid to a boil and add the rice. Stir it to combine all the ingredients. Stir in the saffron, pimentón, peas, shrimp, pepper and salt to taste (depending on the saltiness of the stock). Let everything cook on a medium- heat for 5 minutes, then turn the heat down to low and continue to cook until rice is just tender, about 15 minutes more.

Place the cooked clams or mussels on top and garnish with strips of red pepper. Remove from heat, cover with foil and let the paella rest 10 minutes. Serve garnished with lemon wedges.

Another home-style paella recipe: Rustic Valencia Paella (cooked on a gas barbecue).

My latest cookbook, FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain, has a recipe for Vegetable Paella (with instructions for making a deeply flavorful sofrito with no tomatoes, a vegetable unknown in Moorish Spain) as well as paella-related rice dishes with lamb and with rabbit or chicken. 

. 
 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times.  (Hippocrene Books)    

 Order on IndiePubs (USA) 

Use PROMO CODE HIPPOCRENE40 for 40% off on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.

***

Order on amazon (USA)

Order on amazon.es  (Spain)

Order on amazon.co.uk (UK)

Order on amazon.com.au (Australia)

(If you order on Amazon, please give my book a review!)

***

Order from Kitchen Arts & Letters

Order on ark.no (Norway)