Paella In Three Acts

When Lindsey turned 50 we hired a bus to drive a group of her friends from Santa Cruz 40 miles to a wonderful Spanish restaurant, Iberia, in Menlo Park, CA. The twist was that we were going to learn to cook some Spanish dishes, the centerpiece being a couple of paellas. It isn't often you get to use a restaurant's kitchen under the guidance of the chef/owner and learn the secrets of a dish. This would be a blast - and it was.

The day was spent chopping, drinking mind-numbing sangria, cooking, continued drinking and then eating our creations. Our host chef, José Luis Relinque was simply the epitome of charismatic warmth. Luckily we had a big yellow bus to take us home.

So what follows is a rendition of that recipe, modified a bit here and there. In some ways there is more theater to making paella than cooking. You'll see what I mean as we go along. The end result is a dish stunning to the eye and the mouth. This takes time in preparing the myriad of ingredients but once collected, the dish comes together relatively easily.

The downside: again, sort of pricey if you include a lot of seafood and it takes work. The upside: make this in front of your guests and you will become a god. I swear - people will think you can just walk on water after eating this. But making it is simply a blast. And there are just a million variations on the creation. Except it cannot be made with tofu.

The Gestalt

OK, so when I first decided to make this I got a paellera (a large flat pan used to cook the paella). You must have one of these. They come in different sizes and I have 3 to accommodate different numbers of folks. To serve about 8 people I use a 21" pan. The problem was I had no way to use this thing on my stove. The gas burners delivered hot spots and could never throw enough BTU's and so it wouldn't cook properly anyway. What to do?

Traditionally a paella is cooked over an open fire, often on the beach. So not cooking on the stove shouldn't be a big deal but I didn't feel like moving the dinner party to the beach so I decided to use my Weber kettle. This is perfect for a paella but be careful and attentive because you are cooking with a changing heat; that ups the degree of difficulty a bit. Also, I like to cook with mesquite charcoal lumps (pieces of wood - not the pressed stuff). It imparts a great smokey flavor but has the downside of starting up roaring hot and then cooling relatively quickly. Don't sweat it. It's all gonna work out.

José told us that paella is a rice dish. Really? All that other stuff, all that work and this is a rice dish? Yep - all the goodies are just ways to make this rice simply mind blowing. So rice is important and you have to use the right type. I use aborio rice which is used for classic Italian risotto. There is a Spanish equivalent from Valencia (bomba) but is a bit harder to find although José insisted that it was superior. I've found the kernels of bomba are smaller than aborio and impart a different tooth feel. Don't use just any rice; you will waste your time, money and worst, your friends will not think you are a god.

We'll build a couple of required pieces for the dish - a tomato based savory flavor and a rich chicken stock with saffron. Then most of the rest is preparation of a gazillion ingredients which are cooked in a pretty rational sequence. The last bit, where the magic happens, is adding the rice and stock. Flare and aplomb during assembly are essential.

The Recipe

Act I - Prelude - The Sofrito

Here is a bit of versatility. Sofrito is a cooked-down tomato sauce reduced to nearly a paste and can be used to flavor many of your recipes. Make it and keep it around like stock. In contrast to tomato paste, sofrito contains garlic, onion and red peppers. Since there are no federal or state laws governing sofrito, you can probably add anything else but those ingredients will certainly overpower everything else. You can make the sofrito days in advance so do yourself that favor and make it ahead and refrigerate.

To make the Sofrito:
1 can of canned crushed tomatoes (22 oz)
1 sweet red pepper diced
2 large onions diced
1/2 c olive oil

There are a variety of recipes for this. Some will include garlic but since garlic will be added separately I didn't include in this recipe. Other people will add cilantro and parsley as well as other kinds of pepper.

Cook the onions and red pepper until translucent but not yet browned, then add the tomato. Cook until the mixture has lost a great deal of its water and has the consistency of wet tomato paste.

Act II The Chicken Stock
You could buy high quality stock but most of what I've found is a bit gross. I just haven't found chicken stock that is both rich in flavor and clear. Jose sells a wonderful stock, actually a double strength stock (make your stock using chicken stock instead of water!). Oy, talk about rich! The stock we will use is infused with saffron, a costly spice. More precisely it is the the stigma of the crocus flower (a female flower part to which pollen sticks). Always buy fresh whole saffron. Saffron like all spices contains essential oils which give the unique flavor of the spice. The oils and other organics are volatile and delicate so fresh spices are always better than old. Also, powdered saffron may or may not actually be saffron and the best way to tell the real thing is to see the saffron threads with your own eyes. Its expensive stuff so buy the real thing and make sure it is fresh.

Act III  - The Fire and the Assembly

(This is for a 21" paellera and will serve 10)

1/2 cup sofrito
10 Chicken thighs
1/2 lb Spanish chorizo sausage (about 1/2 died sausage julienned)
1/4 lb Spanish  Serrano ham diced (hard to find!)
2 green bell peppers diced
8 clove garlic, minced
1-1/1/2 lb squid, cleaned and cut into rings with tentacles separate
1 tbs sweet Spanish paprika (+ 1tsp hot Spanish Paprika)
1/2 lb cooked bay shrimp
3 cup Valencia Bomba or Arborio rice
6 cup chicken stock infused with saffron
1 lb shelled prawn 16-20 count (Reserve the shells for roasting and cooking with wine - see below)
1.5 lb fish cut into 1" chunks (Should be a reasonably oily fish like monkfish or cod. I used Ono last time and it ended up dry and tough)
1.5 - 2 lb clams
20 mussels
6 artichoke hearts (don't use canned)
Pimento for a garnish (or sweet red pepper)

Lots of other things can be used. I once did a dish with sausage and rabbit. I would not use chicken breast primarily because they can get dry and unappealing. Thighs and drumsticks are a better choice.

The chorizo should be the dry Spanish variety. Mexican chorizo will NOT WORK! I've had a hard time finding Serrano Ham and when unavailable I just omit. I am not a big fan of cured hams but love Spanish ham. Use it if you can get it.

Often scallops are included with the seafood. Since I am allergic I have not included it in the recipe but feel free to drop some into your creation. Since cooking time for scallop is short I would add it right at the end of cooking along with the other fish.

I cook over a 23" Weber kettle using plain briquettes. I've used mesquite charcoal (the whole wood pieces) but mesquite tends to get very  hot and then cool faster than standard briquettes. Either fuel works but mesquite is trickier to manage. The coals should cover the center of the grill. Note that the Weber is perfect for the large 21" paellera.

Now after you have collected all of your ingredients add in the following order:

1. Salt seafood generously and the chicken lightly
2. Heat broth add the saffron. I roast the the shrimp shells and then cook in some white wine to extract the flavor adding the filtered reduction to the broth.
3. Heat about 1/2 cup olive oil and brown chicken
4. Add chorizo and green pepper. When green pepper browns
5. Add garlic until it just browns
6. Add squid  let some moisture evaporate
7. Add paprika
8. Add bay shrimp and sofrito and mix thoroughly
9. Add rice and distribute let pan get hot again
10. Add stock
11. Push everything else into the rice mixture except mussels
12. When the clams start to open push in mussels
13. Jiggle occasionally and allow the rice to finish cooking
14. Rest for 10 minutes. Carnish with peas and red pepper (pimento)

Tom's Cioppino

Last night I made a Cioppino for Caitlin's birthday. She's always had a passion for food and even as a 3 year old, appreciated a good piece of nigiri sushi. Now, at 26 she's become quite a good cook. So, it's always a pleasure to put a meal in front of Caitlin.

I thought cioppino would be fun, after all it is Dungeness crab season and a good one at that. But cioppino is not really a single concept. It invites experimentation and individualization. Basically it is just a fish stew and a variant can be found from just about every culture that develops near a body of water big enough to harbor fish (which is just about everywhere). Most people ascribe cioppino to San Francisco Italians; I grew up in an Italian home in New York and we never had anything called cioppino.

It turned out pretty well and I tend to be critical of my cooking. The broth was complex and as Lindsey observed, carried a rainbow of complimentary notes all happily sopped up with warm francese bread from Gayle's.

So here is the recipe - upside: really yummy, downside: a bit pricy (fish is getting ever more expensive) and takes a bit of time.

Tom's Cioppino

Ingredients:

1 1/2 onion diced,

1/2 carrot diced fine,

1 celery stalk diced,

1/4 fennel bulb diced,

4 clove garlic chopped fine,

1/2 sweet red pepper diced,

1/2 green pepper diced,

1/2 lemon,

basil,

peppercorn,

bay leaf,

parsely,

1 1/2 can canned San Marzano italian whole tomato - remove the tomatoes and chop fine adding to the stew before the juice,

1/2 c white wine (if you wouldn't drink it don't cook with it),

1 6oz(?) bottle clam juice,

1 tbsp Thai fish sauce,

24 clams,

1 lb medium-large prawn (about 20 count)

1 lb Mahi Mahi or any firm fish cut into 1" chunks

2 large cooked Dungeness crabs cleaned or uncleaned

Basic Idea - anyone who knows me realizes that I cook from the seat of my pants (not literally) and just go from a basic notion of what I want to do. Then things just sort of take on a life of their own. Recipes are difficult for me to follow (and write) because my brain is always tasting and coming up with its own ideas of taste and texture.

This is a fish stew so building the flavors from a good base is essential. I start the base with onion, green pepper, sweet red pepper, carrot, fennel, celery, salt, crushed red pepper and black pepper. Sauté everything slowly and well in a liberal amount of olive oil but don't caramelize the onions.

Add the garlic and continue cooking (but don't brown or (gasp!) burn the garlic) then the tomatoes. I think it is essential to use very high quality San Marzano canned tomatoes. They are imported from Italy and are deep red and rich. Of course you can use your own canned tomatoes but not many people do that and Dungeness season comes well after the best fresh tomatoes are to be had. Cheap canned tomatoes will not be the same and since you are going to blow a bunch of money on the fish, you really should spend the extra few dollars for excellent tomatoes since they constitute the fundamental note of the stew.

Cook the tomatoes with the onions & friends for a little bit before adding the tomato juices. Build the stew from here - white wine, clam juice, tai fish sauce. Cook about 3 hours slowly and lovingly with a bouquet garni of fresh basil, bay leaf, fresh parsley and black peppercorn. Fuss over it, periodically tasting to make sure you are on track.

You can probably stop here and refrigerate. I just turned the heat off and left the stew on the stove until about an hour before dinner.

Most of the rest is simply assembly. First, remove the shells and clean the prawns. Don't throw the prawn shell away - put them in a pan, cover with water (or light vegetable broth if you have some around) bring to a boil and simmer for a while. Add this light stock to the stew.

Clean the crabs and retain the tamale and juices adding them to the stew (unless you can't deal with that level of intimacy).

Cook the clams in a small amount of water and when they open remove them to the stew. Finally add to the stew the juices thrown by the cooked clams. (Some would just add the clams to the stew and let them cook there - I prefer to keep separate so I don't end up cooking dead clams (the ones that don't open). It probably does not matter at all - its just me).

Add mahi mahi or whatever firm fish you are using, then the shrimp and cook another 10 minutes, finally add crab . Sit covered in the pot to warm the crab.

Just before serving squeeze half a lemon over the stew, taste and adjust. I think this is really important - it gives the dish a light fresh taste. I'm half Sicilian and a recent trip to the mother land taught me how they incorporate lemons and limes into their dishes to bring out other flavors.

Remove the crab pieces to another bowl to make serving easy. Serve the broth in pasta bowls making sure to include fish, prawn and clam for every guest. Place crab on top. Serve with warm sourdough or francese bread.

(I highly recommend a finger bowl of warm water with a slice of lemon for each guest since there is a lot of finger work to be done with this dish).

This dish can hold up to just about any dry white wine or even a light red. Personally, my accompaniment was champagne but we also served a chardonnay.

Chicken breast on rainbow chard

The other night I had some leftover chicken breast. Wait, lets take a detour.

I like to make my own chicken broth for soups and other things. I generally use a fresh chicken and in the course of slowly cooking the bird I remove the breast after about 40 minutes. Remove the meat from the bone, returning the bones to the pot. Shred the reserved breast meat then liberally season with salt and pepper and lots of extra virgin olive oil. Save for whatever. In this case, some chard.

After making this vegetable a million times I've settled on the method I like.

Need: 1 Bunch of Rainbow Swiss Chard (or just chard)

olive oil

salt

garlic - at least 4 cloves

lemon

Clean a bunch of rainbow chard, removing the tough stems and breaking the leaves up a bit. Put the washed, wet chard in a large pan and cover, use a medium high flame until it is just tender (about 3 minutes). Then remove, plunge into cold water and then dry. I take the whole mess and wrap in a bunch of towels and gently but completely dry.

I'm going to cook this with garlic but I don't want an overpowering garlic taste. To tone garlic down mix it with salt. I chop about 6 cloves very thoroughly then chop in about 1/2 tsp of kosher salt.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet and briefly cook the garlic (don't burn or even brown), then add the chard (please, nicely separated, not in some gross clump!). Cook briefly then off the flame and hit with a squeeze of lemon. Taste.

Plate, and on top layer some of that chicken breast. I finish with some thinly sliced avocado topped with a few drops of balsamic vinegar.

Lindsey liked this one a lot.

Christ, not another recipe site!

Yea. But this I'm doing mostly for my dear and loyal friends who just seem to love the food I make them. I think it is only part due to my cooking skills - mostly I keep them hungry and in the presence of cooking smells while we visit and drink. It's just amazing what you can get away with.

(Aside: You will I hope, please excuse the lapses into New York City English syntax.)

So, if you know me you know that for cooking, I don't know from quantities. Cooking is qualitative. Baking is often quite another story but I don't often bake. It is interesting to note that my sense of quantity is something akin to perfect pitch. Years in the laboratory have given me a keen sense of how much of anything is sitting in front of me. It's just that quantities can be misleading. (Does half a teaspoon of fresh Spanish paprika give the same taste and experience as half a teaspoon of 14 year old, market bought paprika?) You get it.

So, if there is something which I really think you need to pay close attention to in a recipe, I'll note it. Otherwise, consider these recipes to be starting points for your own exploration. Don't follow the recipes, walk with them.