Paella is a versatile recipe fit for local seafood

Posted on June 7, 2012 by bilrob

Rigor's Sunday Paella

Paella is a versatile recipe fit for local seafood

Paella is a Spanish dish that is accorded some fame, but the Spanish consider it a regional recipe from Valencia, an old city that had its origins as a Roman colony in 138 B.C.

Paella, in its first form, appeared after the introduction of rice to Spain by the Moors in the 15th century, but it has changed considerably since then.

The name, paella, itself comes from old French and means pan, and is still used by the people of Valencia to mean any pan, although a paella pan is unique. It is a round, metal pan that is shallow and has two handles for easy lifting on and off the fire. Purests consider it essential to making a correct paella and would never consider using any other style pan. They are not readily available, outside of specialty stores, so most of us will have to make do with a large sauté pan.

There are three basic recipes for paella, but there are endless adaptations by region. Basic paella is made with a combination of vegetables and meat cooked in saffron-infused rice. Traditionally it was cooked outside over a wood fire and the smoke played an important role, but that is not the case today.

In seafood paella the meat is left out and is replaced by combinations of shrimp, scallops, calamari, clams or mussels.

The third basic recipe is a combination of meat and seafood.

Given our proximity to the gulf, there isn’t any reason that we can’t devise a paella with a local touch and I have done so below. I have also tried to provide a few more healthy options, as my friend Myra Jones reminds me I can go a bit overboard with the fat and cream.

SEAFOOD PAELLA

2 cups shrimp/fish stock

1 cup rice

1 pinch saffron

6-8 frozen mussels (fresh if you can find them)

1 pound large shell on shrimp

4-6 squid rings

1/4 cup chopped onions

3-4 cloves crushed garlic

1/4 cup chopped tomato

1 pinch paprika

Make a seafood stock with the shells of the shrimp, a few pieces of leftover raw fish, 1 chopped onion, 6-8 crushed cloves of garlic, a bay leaf and 6-8 whole black pepper corns. Simmer gently for 1 hour, allow to cool and then strain. Discard the solids and reserve the stock.

Place the pinch of saffron in 1/3 cup of the stock and set aside. Sauté the onions for 6-8 minutes in olive oil, add the garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Remove the liquid from the tomatoes and add them to the sauté pan and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the mussels and cook over high heat until they open (if fresh) or just until warmed if frozen, then remove and set aside. Add the shrimp and the squid and cook until done and then remove them as well.

Add the rice and 2 cups of stock, along with the stock that has been infused with the saffron, season with the paprika and simmer until almost done.

Add the seafood and finish cooking. Taste and season as necessary.

Pair with a rose, Sancerre white or a Pouilly-Fumé.

MIXED PAELLA

2 cups chicken stock

1 pound peeled shrimp

3 chicken thighs

1/4 cup red and green bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped onions

4-6 cloves chopped garlic

1 diced tomato, liquid removed

1 pinch saffron

1 cup rice

Place the saffron in the chicken stock and set aside. Simmer the chicken thighs in water until just done remove, cool then remove the meat from the bone into bit size pieces.

Sauté the onions and bell pepper in a little olive oil until tender, add the garlic and cook for 2-3 more minutes, then add the tomato and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the rice and stock and simmer until the rice is almost done, then add the chicken and shrimp and continue cooking until the rice is tender and the shrimp are done.

GULF PAELLA

If you are of Spanish descent or are a culinary purest, you may howl at this recipe. I apologize if I offend your sensibilities, but the recipe does work and is quite good.

1 cup rice

2 cups shrimp stock

1 pinch saffron

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup red bell pepper

4-6 cloves chopped garlic

1 chopped tomato

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 pound peeled shrimp

6-8 squid rings (fresh if possible)

2 boneless chicken thighs

1/2 cup chopped smoked sausage (optional)

1 electric rice cooker

Place the saffron in the stock and set aside. Sauté the onions, celery and bell pepper in olive oil until tender, add the garlic and sauté for 2-3 more minutes. Season the chicken thighs with black pepper and just a pinch of salt and sauté in olive oil until well browned and cooked through. In the same pan cook the shrimp and squid until done, set them aside. Sauté the sausage in the same pan until browned. Add the rice, stock, sautéed vegetables, peas, tomatoes, chicken and sausage to the rice cooker and cook until almost done, add the shrimp and squid and allow the cooker to finish the job.

The tomatoes may also be added at the end for a fresher finish. Cilantro or fresh basil may also be used as a garnish, but don’t add them to the rice cooker as they will be cooked away and lose their appeal.

Serve with a cold bottle of Grüner Veltliner.

Julian Glenn Brunt, who has been a Mississippi Gulf Coast resident for more than 20 years, has a deep and abiding interest in art, culture and the culinary heritage of the South.

His column runs weekly in Taste. You can contact him at [email protected].

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Seafood paella

Posted on June 5, 2012 by bilrob

Photography by Ben Dearnley

Seafood paella

The quintessential flavours of Spain are irresistibly teamed with succulent seafood and tender rice.

Paella (Valencian) is a Valencian rice dish that originated in its modern form in the mid-19th century near lake Albufera, a lagoon in Valencia, on the east coast of Spain. Many non-Spaniards view paella as Spain’s national dish, but most Spaniards consider it to be a regional Valencian dish. Valencians, in turn, regard paella as one of their identifying symbols.

There are three widely known types of paella: Valencian paella (Spanish: paella valenciana), seafood paella (Spanish: paella de marisco) and mixed paella (Spanish: paella mixta), but there are many others as well. Valencian paella consists of white rice, green vegetables, meat (rabbit, chicken, duck), land snails, beans and seasoning. Seafood paella replaces meat and snails with seafood and omits beans and green vegetables. Mixed paella is a free-style combination of meat, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes beans. Most paella chefs use calasparra or bomba rices for this dish. Other key ingredients include saffron and olive oil.

Paella is a Catalan word which derives from the Old French word paelle for pan which in turn comes from the Latin word patella for pan. Patella is also akin to the modern French poêle, the Italian padella and the Old Spanish padilla

Valencians use the word paella for all pans, including the specialized shallow pan used for cooking paellas. However, in most of Spain and throughout Latin America, the term paellera is more commonly used for this pan, though both terms are correct, as stated by the Royal Spanish Academy, the body responsible for regulating the Spanish language. Paelleras are traditionally round, shallow and made of polished steel with two handles.

A popular but inaccurate belief in Arabic-speaking countries is that the word paella derives from the Arabic word for leftovers, baqiyah,because it was customary among Arab sailors to combine leftovers of previous meals which purportedly led to a paella-like creation in Moorish Spain

Recipe for seafood paella

1L (4 cups) chicken or fish stock
1/2 tsp saffron threads
60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
30 medium green prawns, peeled leaving tails intact, deveined
1 squid hood, cleaned, cut into rings
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
125ml (1/2 cup) white wine
3 tomatoes, quartered, seeded, coarsely chopped
2 tsp smoked paprika
440g (2 cups) arborio rice
12 small black mussels, scrubbed, debearded
Chopped fresh continental parsley, to serve

Combine stock and saffron in a saucepan and cover with a lid. Bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a 38cm (top measurement) paella pan over medium-high heat. Cook prawns, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until they change colour. Transfer to a bowl. Heat 1 tablespoon of remaining oil in pan. Cook squid for 1-2 minutes or until just cooked through. Transfer to bowl.
Heat remaining oil in the pan. Cook onion and garlic, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add wine and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until evaporated. Add tomato and paprika and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until tomato starts to soften. Stir in the rice.
Reserve 125ml (1/2 cup) of the stock mixture. Add remaining stock to pan. Do not stir. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, without stirring, for 20 minutes or until the rice is tender and firm to the bite.
Push mussels into rice mixture. Top with prawns and squid. Ladle over reserved stock. Cook, without stirring, for a further 8-10 minutes or until mussels open and paella is slightly moist and liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat. Cover with a clean tea towel. Set aside for 5 minutes. Discard unopened mussels. Top with parsley.

paella Recipes with Bill & Sheila
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Mad about saffron, especially in paella

Posted on June 1, 2012 by bilrob

Mad about saffron, especially in paella

Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to 20–30 cm (8–12 in) and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel. Together with the styles, or stalks that connect the stigmas to their host plant, the dried stigmas are used mainly in various cuisines as a seasoning and colouring agent. Saffron, long among the world’s most costly spices by weight, is native to Southwest Asia and was first cultivated in Greece. As a genetically monomorphic clone, it was slowly propagated throughout much of Eurasia and was later brought to parts of North Africa, North America, and Oceania.

The saffron crocus, unknown in the wild, likely descends from Crocus cartwrightianus, which originated in Crete or Central Asia; C. thomasii and C. pallasii are other possible precursors. The saffron crocus is a triploid that is “self-incompatible” and male sterile; it undergoes aberrant meiosis and is hence incapable of independent sexual reproduction—all propagation is by vegetative multiplication via manual “divide-and-set” of a starter clone or by interspecific hybridisation. If C. sativus is a mutant form of C. cartwrightianus, then it may have emerged via plant breeding, which would have selected for elongated stigmas, in late Bronze-Age Crete.

Saffron’s bitter taste and iodoform- or hay-like fragrance result from the chemicals picrocrocin and safranal. It also contains a carotenoid dye, crocin, which imparts a rich golden-yellow hue to dishes and textiles. Its recorded history is attested in a 7th-century BC Assyrian botanical treatise compiled under Ashurbanipal, and it has been traded and used for over four millennia. Iran now accounts for approximately 90 percent of the world production of saffron.[14] Because each flower’s stigmas need to be collected by hand and there are only a few per flower, saffron is the most expensive spice in the world.

My first experience with saffron turned into love at first scent. Although pungent at first, saffron adds a wonderful floral note to dishes once cooked.

It’s the world’s most expensive spice, and no wonder. Saffron comes from the dried stigmas of a purple crocus, and each flower has only three stigmas, which must be hand-picked. It takes more than 14,000 of those tiny stigmas to make an ounce of saffron.

At Penzeys Spices, a half-gram jar of Spanish saffron runs $8.49-$9.59. Other varieties from India or Kashmir cost upward of $13 for a half-gram. It may be expensive, but a pinch goes a long way.

Saffron looks like a small, tangled mess of red threads. The redder the threads, the higher the quality. You can crush the tiny threads and add them directly to what you’re making, or steep them first in a small amount of liquid.

One well-known use of saffron is in the Spanish dish paella. It’s used not only for flavor, but to tint the rice. Saffron also is used in risottos and in some seafood bisques.

Paella seems like a lot of work, and many paella recipes have a laundry list of ingredients. But that’s what makes the dish great, especially for a party. It’s a huge mix of ingredients and flavors that meld incredibly well. You can make paella with all seafood or all chicken, or add more of your favorite vegetables. And though the signature paella pan is wide and shallow, any large skillet with a lid will do.

Today’s recipe

is adapted from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine. It goes together in less than an hour. Instead of using chicken thighs and Spanish chorizo, it calls for chicken sausage. I used shrimp because that’s what I had on hand, but you can add clams, mussels or even lobster.

Spices – saffron at Bill & Sheila’s Cookbook

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No Place Like Home: Pinot and Paella

Posted on May 31, 2012 by bilrob

Pinot and Paella

There are some wonderful wines to be found along the Central Coast. And when they are paired with the perfect food, they are fantastic. Well you’ll find a lot of fantastic wines being poured this weekend in Templeton, because a couple dozen chefs have been working on recipes that will compliment them perfectly. At the Pinot and Paella Festival, you’ll find all kinds of proof, There’s No Place Like Home.

When it comes to wine, Marc Goldberg and Maggi DiAmbrosia are kind of focused….at least on what they produce. “Well it took twenty years of hard work and never taking our eyes off of our goal.” says Goldberg. “Our mission was to make just one wine, a great Burgundian-style American Pinot Noir.”

And that’s what they’ve done. Windward Vineyard produces ONLY pinot Noir….not a lot of it, but good enough to win them awards all over the world. And their goal wasn’t always embraced by fellow winemakers. “You know people thought we were crazy.” says DiAmbrosia. “And other people would come and they would say build bigger, do more and we just said ‘No we’re gonna do this and do it correctly.’ and we just hung with it and stuck with it.”

Their perseverance earned them one of the most humbling awards there is for Central Coast vintners…to be honored as Winemakers of the Year by their peers. Even Goldberg was speechless. I was so shocked that I was almost stunned into silence which is very unusual for me, as you well know.”

Right now, Mark and Maggie’s focus is an annual event they started 9 years ago that combines their love of good wine paired with good food for a good cause. Pinot and Paella happens this Sunday in Templeton and raises money for the youth arts foundation. “We’ve been doing that every year now for nine years so accumulatively I mean it’s been well over 100 thousand dollars.” says DiAmbrosia. “because we don’t keep any of the money at all.”

There will be twenty different versions of Paella this weekend, created by twenty different chefs and twenty different vintners pouring. “The first one we only poured Winward Pinot Noir and then all the eight years following we invited all of our friends who make Paso Robles Pinot Noir to be part of it.”

And for Marc and Maggie, surrounded by their friends, listening to Spanish music, pouring some amazing wine and tasting gourmet paella, the afternoon in Templeton Community Park is a celebration of the path they’ve paved for Pinot Noir. “You know we’re here to plant the flag and say ‘You know this soil on the west side of Paso Robles is beautiful for Pinot Noirs, all you have to do is taste them and you’ll figure it out.” And find more proof there’s No Place Like Home.

Pinot and Paella is this Sunday from 2-5pm in the Templeton Community Park. Tickets are $65 and do sell out, so get them now if you want to go. For tickets or more informaton, click here.

paella Recipes with Bill & Sheila
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Paella Adventure

Posted on May 31, 2012 by bilrob

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Paella Adventure

Food Network magazine is one of my favorite cooking magazines. It is well made, has good articles, great recipes, and every issue comes with a handy pullout booklet. It is a small booklet, but always contains 50 of something: 50 ways to dress a baked potato, 50 things to make with bacon, etc. Our latest issue came with 50 Things to Grill in Foil. Seeing as how Memorial Day Weekend usually involves grilling, we did the hot dogs Friday night, and planned on the Paella recipe from the magazine for Monday evening.

Best laid plans…right? But first, let us begin with the putting together of the paella meal. I’ll get to where it all fell apart later. The ingredient list is a little long, but aside from roasting peppers, the preparation of the paella was easy. Getting the ingredients was not. I could not find chorizo in our grocery store. Finding a Spanish rice mix that did not include bad things (i.e. HFCS or MSG) proved impossible. Next time, I’ll make the drive to Wegman’s and possibly just make my own saffron rice.

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All you need for this are the ingredients: skinless chicken thighs, jumbo shrimp, chorizo (or, if you’re me, another dried Italian sausage), packet of Spanish rice mix, olives, and roasted red pepper strips. This all gets put into a disposable pie place and mixed with chicken broth, then covered with foil and thrown on the grill.

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Evie helped with the meal preparation until the raw meat came out.

Here’s where the fun started. Mark heated up the grill to roast the red peppers. The gas ran out for the grill. He suggested we just use the oven. I balked, stating that this recipe was for the GRILL, we should use the GRILL to make it! Out goes wonderful hubby for more gas for the grill. Comes back, it doesn’t work. Trouble shoots for awhile (did I mention I’m married to an engineer?), decides it must be a defective tank, goes out AGAIN for another tank.

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In the meantime, peppers go under the broiler.

Turns out, after all of that, our grill is shot. SO, the GRILL meal became the “cooked in oven meal.” It was wonderful. I imagine it might have been even tastier from the grill, but cooking it for double the time (30 minutes on grill at medium high, we cooked it at 400° in the oven for an hour and that did the trick). As we say in this house, it is a definite repeatable recipe.

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My picture of the meal

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Evie’s portrait of her plate.

paella Recipes with Bill & Sheila
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Less-Fuss Paella Arrives in Time for Summer

Posted on May 27, 2012 by bilrob

Less-Fuss Paella Arrives in Time for Summer

It comes in so many variations; if you want to learn more about the process, consider the works of Penelope Casas, a wonderful cook and author who has written prolifically about Spanish cuisine, or Marimar Torres, whose cooking talents are well known at her famous California winery. And chef Seamus Mullen has revealed his method for paella on a New York rooftop in his new book.

But sometimes the simplest paellas can be the most satisfying. Consider this week’s recipe as a sort of primer for an easy home-cooked stovetop and oven version. That’s not to say some of the prep work isn’t a bit time consuming, but the actual active cooking time is more or less a breeze.

The ingredients are relatively few: onion, chorizo, garlic, shrimp and fava beans, plus a little saffron and smoky pimentón, the spicy Spanish paprika. If you can’t get fresh fava beans (or don’t want to deal with peeling them), you can substitute peas or even frozen baby limas. To achieve a truly authentic taste, try to find imported chorizo and Bomba rice. As for the shrimp, choose spanking fresh wild, preferably medium size. I recommend peeling and deveining the shrimp, then using the shrimp shells to make the cooking broth. You could also leave the shrimp unpeeled and use chicken broth instead.

Most paella cooks I know agree that it’s important to take great care with the initial cooking of the aromatic base known as sofrito, which often contains tomato and peppers. For this recipe, though, it means simply stewing an onion and chorizo mixture very slowly in olive oil to concentrate the flavor. Once the rice goes into the pan and the liquid is added, an easy technique to employ is the 10-10-10. That’s 10 minutes over a high flame, 10 then minutes over a medium flame (or in the oven) and 10 minutes resting, lightly covered with a clean towel. The paella needn’t be served piping hot, just warm.

The usual condiment is a good dab of allioli, a thick garlicky sauce similar to the French aioli. Though nowadays most people make it like mayonnaise, using egg yolks, real purists insist on an emulsion of nothing but garlic, salt and olive oil, pounded in a mortar. That takes practice and a little luck. Or a Spanish grandmother.

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A Paella Picnic, With Favas

Posted on May 27, 2012 by bilrob

A Paella Picnic, With Favas

paella
paella
paella Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

In this week’s City Kitchen, I’m making paella, the indoor version. Though classically cooked outdoors over a fire, it’s not a hard and fast rule, and what with the current bout of rainy weather, at my house both the picnic and the cooking happened inside one recent Sunday.

Paella is really picnic food, ideal for a casual gathering. The idea is to hang out, slowly preparing the ingredients and then lazily sipping a drink or two while the rice cooks. And if there are friends who want to help, all the better. Especially when it comes to fava beans. They require a little fiddling.

First they are shucked out of their giant pods. But the beans inside are covered with a secondary skin that needs to be removed. This is accomplished by dropping the beans into boiling water to loosen the skin, then transferring them to a bowl of cold water. Then, one by one, each bright green bean is popped from its gray skin. It takes a lot of pods to get any yield at all — four or five pounds of pods produce a scant 3 cups or so. For fava fans, it’s a labor of love.

Mind you, there are those who claim the peeling is unnecessary, especially if the beans are quite small. I just don’t happen to fall into that camp. For me the taste and look are brighter and better when peeled. Still, although I am a true fava booster, you can feel free to substitute fresh peas for this paella, or even organic frozen baby limas.

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Paella - ZuZu back in the tapas game

Posted on May 22, 2012 by bilrob

Paella – ZuZu back in the tapas game

A decade ago, when one asked friends if they’d been to the new tapas and paella bar in downtown Napa, a smirk often preceded the inevitable rejoinder: “There’s a topless bar in downtown Napa?”

Mick Salyer, proprietor of ZuZu Tapas Paella, the downtown bar and restaurant serving small plates of Spanish-style cuisine, heard it all back then. Today, however, he’s being congratulated for having the foresight and courage to open a tapas joint at a time when First and Main wasn’t exactly boomtown. For the moment, he’s deservedly taken on the mantle of something of a culinary prophet.

Napans, as well as visitors, fell in love with tapas and paella from the get-go, and the intimate eatery at 829 Main St. fed eager crowds of diners, some of whom, especially on weekends, patiently waited curbside for an opportunity to dine.

Salyer and his staff are celebrating ZuZu’s 10th anniversary this spring, as well as a facelift dictated by a government-mandated seismic retrofit of the Main Street property. During a break between lunch and dinner the other day, Salyer took a few minutes to discuss ZuZu’s facelift. He said the paella restaurant closed for six weeks shortly after the first of the year.

While a construction crew pulled off the building’s facade and installed a number of steel girders in the existing structure, he led a group of the culinary team and staff to northern Spain to find inspiration for ZuZu’s menu. He returned to find a new “burnt cedar facade” installed on the front of the 100-year-old building, one that does double duty as a fireproofing technique. The relatively small restaurant kitchen was modernized at the same time, Salyer said. “We redid the floor, replaced a kitchen wall and added a new walk-in (refrigerator).

“As far as the (dining room) interior was concerned, we wanted to keep it the way it was. There are a few cosmetic changes and we removed the arched windows upstairs. That allowed us to put in floor-to-ceiling windows, opening up that upstairs dining space to the park and river across the street.” Salyer said the 10 days he and his employees spent in San Sebastian, Spain, is reflected in ZuZu’s new menus.

A chef’s determination

Armando Ramirez is the relatively new executive chef at ZuZu, although he’s been employed there since the paella restaurant opened.

Ramirez was hired as a dishwasher when Salyer and opening chef Charles Webber first brought tapas and paella to the attention of hungry Napans a decade ago. A native of Oaxaca, Mexico, Ramirez has been a resident of the United States for 11 years.

“I lived in Sunnyvale when I first moved to California … (where) I worked as a housekeeper,” he said.“Because I used to farm in Mexico, I decided to come to Napa to work in the vineyards. But it was not the best time when I came. … It was raining and there was no work. I saw that ZuZu was opening, so I applied for a job. That was when I wasn’t speaking much English. I was hired as a dishwasher, then asked to do some prepping and then help (cooking) on the line.”

Ramirez worked with Webber and his successor, Angela Tamura. It was Tamura who saw Ramirez’s potential and offered him the job as one of her sous chefs. When he wasn’t working at ZuZu, Ramirez was learning what he could from chef Jeff Mosher at Julia’s Kitchen and also spent time with the culinary team at Hog Island Oyster Company at the Oxbow Public Market. After a few years in the ZuZu kitchen, Ramirez brought on his parents, Marisol and Armando Ramirez, to help with various tasks at the restaurant. They are still on the payroll, as is his brother, Carlos. “I convinced my brother it was important to finish school, and he graduated from Napa High and just graduated from the engineering program at UCLA,” Ramirez said. “He’s working with us for a few months so he can pay his bills. … It’s not that easy for college graduates to find jobs today.”

When Tamura left ZuZu last year to accept the post of executive chef at the Pebble Beach restaurant, Peppoli at the Inn at Spanish Bay, she asked Ramirez to take over as executive chef. Today, he’s being assisted by sous chefs Thomas Hartwell and Lindsey Glasson.

Basquing in the kitchen

“We were inspired by the bright seafood dishes we found in San Sebastian,” Salyer said of the ZuZu group’s 10-day trek through Basque country in northwest Spain.

He was particularly fond of paella made only with seafood, compared to the paellas of southern Spain that incorporate a variety of meats.

Newly added to the ZuZu menu is a calamari paella, with the rice colored by squid ink, and freshly sautéed seafood layered over the earthy “arroz negro.”

Ramirez advised that diners are enjoying house-cured California red anchovies that he places on grilled bread, topped with pequillo and piparas peppers, as well grilled Pacific sardines complemented by fresh herbs, lemon and a pickled fennel aioli.

Salyer has high praise for the kitchen’s take on dishes they enjoyed in San Sebastian, like braised cod cheeks, an escabeche of seared scallops finished with Basque apple cider vinegar, as well as lamb’s tongue pancetta on a bed of frisée topped with a poached Hudson Ranch egg.

“A new focus for us is using a variety of pig parts … pork jowls cured like pancetta, pork escabeche that will be added, and we just featured a dish with pig tails. Suckling pig is also making an appearance on our menu.”

Salyer noted that ZuZu has its own garden at Copia and, with some crops purchased from Boca Farm, the restaurant has a larder full of peppers — from the padrons that are sautéed and sprinkled with salt for a tasty appetizer, to the espelette, piquillo and piparas that are used in a variety of dishes.

At present, the culinary crew is serving pan-roasted asparagus with spring garlic, almonds, manchego cheese and sherry vinegar; white asparagus soup garnished with truffle oil and crème fraîche; shaved artichoke and portobello mushroom salad with lemon-truffle vinaigrette and Sao Jorge cheese; chilled avocado and cucumber gazpacho with bay shrimp and jalapeños; and a ceviche that would be enjoyed as much by a native of San Sebastian as a native of Mexico.

Prices at ZuZu range from $4 for the red anchovies plate to $15 for Sonoma Coast lamb chops with Moroccan barbecue glaze.

The restaurant also offers traditional wood-fired paella for off-site parties of 20 and up. Salyer said he’s the contact for all private events.

Lunch is served at ZuZu from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Dinner is offered from 4:30 to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. For information and reservations, call 224-8555.

ZuZu Sea Scallop Escabeche

Aramando Ramirez, executive chef, ZuZu Tapas Paella

Preparing the marinade:

1 pound carrots

1 pound onions

2 jalapeño peppers

4 piquillo peppers

2 ounces sliced garlic

1/2 ounce red chile flakes

1 cup apple juice

1/2 cup Spanish apple cider vinegar

Makes 1 quart, which will marinate at least 20 scallops, about 2 ounces in size.

Julienne carrots, onions and peppers, and thinly slice garlic.

Heat a large sauté pan and add a little oil of your choice.

When pan is ready, lightly sauté all vegetables and garlic. Then add remaining ingredients and simmer for about 6 minutes, remove from heat and strain vegetables.

Set vegetables aside and reduce remaining liquid by half. Save 1/4 cup of escabeche reduction to marinate seared scallops and pour remaining liquid over vegetables.

Preparing the scallops:

Scallops (2 ounces each)

Sea salt

White pepper

Olive oil

At the restaurant, we usually serve one scallop (about 2 ounces in size) per person. You will have plenty of marinade, at least enough to serve 20 portions or more.

Clean scallops and pat dry. Season with salt and white pepper.

Heat sauté pan with 1 ounce of oil until just smoking.

Add scallops and sear until nicely browned, about 1 minute on each side. Remove from pan and let rest.

When cooled, thinly slice scallops and place in escabeche reduction. Marinate for 2-5 minutes.

Remove from liquid and serve over escabeche vegetables at room temperature. Garnish with sea salt and olive oil.

Zuzu House-Cured Red Anchovies

Armando Ramirez, executive chef, Zuzu Tapas Paella

1 pound fresh red anchovies

1/2 pound kosher salt

2 ounces sherry vinegar

2 ounces fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp. espelette pepper powder

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Roasted piquillo peppers and pickled Basque piparras chiles, for garnish

Fresh black pepper, to taste

Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Filet all anchovies and rinse. Pack in kosher salt and let cure in refrigerator for 12-24 hours.

Rinse very well, letting cold water run over them for 10-20 minutes. Once rinsed, pat dry and marinate in sherry vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil and espelette powder.

Anchovies are now ready to serve and will stay fresh and delicious in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Serve on grilled baguette slices with roasted piquillo peppers and pickled Basque piparras chiles. Garnish with cracked pepper and olive oil.

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Paella with chicken and prawns

Posted on May 20, 2012 by bilrob

Paella with chicken and prawns

If you are cooking a paella for two people, a large frying pan will do well. If, however, you fancy cooking a paella for four, six, or even 12 people, it is necessary to buy the right-sized pan. We like the black enamel paella pans with white spots we buy from The Paella Company, who will also give good advice on what size pan to use.

If you want to cook the paella outdoors, our tips are as follows: get to the point where you have prepared in the pan your softened base of onion, peppers and garlic and mixed it with the rice in the comfort of your kitchen. Then cover it with foil (you can re-use the foil at the end of cooking), take with you a bottle of white wine or sherry (which you can also drink with the paella), a tub or Thermos of stock (preferably hot) and a parcel of the prepared meat.

Ingredients

Serves 18 as a starter, 12 as a main course

900g North Atlantic prawns, preferably in their shells

3 litres light chicken stock

¼ tsp crumbled saffron threads

225ml olive oil

1kg boned and skinned chicken, cut into 2cm cubes

4½ large Spanish onions, finely chopped

12 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 green peppers, halved, seeded and finely chopped

450g runner beans or green beans, cut into 3cm pieces

6 dried ñoras peppers, seeds and stalks removed, broken into small pieces and covered with boiling water. If you can’t find ñoras peppers, use 3 tsp of sweet paprika

750g calasparra (paella) rice

225ml white wine

Sea salt and black pepper

To serve:

6 tbsp roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 lemons, cut into wedges

? Peel the prawns by first breaking off the head, then peeling off the middle part of the shell and finally pulling off the tail. Then put in the fridge. Transfer the shells to a large saucepan over a high heat and add the chicken stock. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 15 minutes for the seafood flavour to infuse the stock. Remove from the heat, strain the stock and add the saffron. Set aside.

? Heat 6 tablespoons of the olive oil in a 50-55cm paella pan or frying pan over a medium-to-high heat. When the oil is hot and just beginning to smoke add the pieces of chicken and stir-fry for about 2 minutes until sealed on all sides but fractionally undercooked in the centre. With a slotted spoon remove the chicken and put to one side. Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and, when it is hot, the onion and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, then lower the heat to medium and cook for another 10-15 minutes, stirring every so often. Now add the chopped garlic, beans and ñoras peppers (or paprika), and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the garlic and onions have some colour and are sweet. Add the rice to the pan and stir for 1 minute to coat with the vegetables and oil. (Up to this point everything can be cooked in advance. The next stage should be started about 20 minutes before you wish to eat.)

? When you are ready to cook the rice, bring the stock to the boil. Remove and keep aside. Place the paella pan over a medium-to-high heat and add the wine followed by the hot stock, and season perfectly with salt and pepper. Do not stir the rice after this as it affects the channels of stock, which allow the rice to cook evenly. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until there is just a little liquid above the rice. Spread the pieces of chicken evenly over the rice and push each piece under the stock. Gently shake the pan to prevent sticking and turn the heat down to low. Cook for 5 more minutes or until there is just a little liquid left at the bottom of the rice. Sprinkle the prawns on top, turn off the heat and cover the pan tightly with foil. Let the rice sit for 3-5 minutes before serving with the chopped parsley on top and the lemon on the side. We would eat this with a cold glass of fino or manzanilla sherry.

Sam and Samantha Clark run Moro and its sister restaurant Morito together.

Moro, 34-36 Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4QE, 020 7833 8336, www.moro.co.uk

paella Recipes with Bill & Sheila
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Bellini's, Paella de Pesce

Posted on May 20, 2012 by bilrob

Bellini’s, Paella de Pesce

Paella is a Valencian rice dish that originated in its modern form in the mid-19th century near lake Albufera, a lagoon in Valencia, on the east coast of Spain. Many non-Spaniards view paella as Spain’s national dish, but most Spaniards consider it to be a regional Valencian dish. Valencians, in turn, regard paella as one of their identifying symbols.

Paella is a Catalan word which derives from the Old French word paelle for pan which in turn comes from the Latin word patella for pan. Valencians use the word paella for all pans, including the specialized shallow pan used for cooking paellas. However, in most of Spain and throughout Latin America, the term paellera is more commonly used for this pan, though both terms are correct, as stated by the Royal Spanish Academy, the body responsible for regulating the Spanish language. Paelleras are traditionally round, shallow and made of polished steel with two handles.

A popular but inaccurate belief in Arabic-speaking countries is that the word paella derives from the Arabic word for leftovers, baqiyah, because it was customary among Arab sailors to combine leftovers of previous meals which purportedly led to a paella-like creation in Moorish Spain

Paella de Pesce with Artichoke Risotto

Serves 4

Artichoke Risotto

5 1/2 cups chicken broth (HOT)
2 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
¼ cup Apple smoked bacon Lardoons
1 Small pinch saffron
8 quartered artichokes rough Chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Bring broth to simmer in saucepan. Remove from heat. Cover; keep warm.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter with oil in heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and bacon; sauté until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add artichokes to the pot. Cover and cook until artichokes begin to brown, stirring often. Add rice; stir very often for 3 minutes. Add wine and saffron; stir until absorbed, about 1 minute. Add 1 1/2 cups hot broth; cook until absorbed, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add more broth, 1/2 cupful at a time, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding next and stirring often, until rice is just tender and mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cheese and 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and reserve.

Paella de Pesce

12 oz. filet of grouper or snapper cut into 4 oz. portions
8 each Jumbo Shrimp (u-10 if Possible) peeled, deveined and butterflied
8 each Diver Sea Scallops
8 ounces of mild Italian sausage cut into rounds
16 Cherry Tomatoes cut in half
1 red onion, julienned
8 Cloves Chopped garlic
1 Shallot, julienned
Oil
2.5 cups of Cream Sherry
2 table spoons lobster base
16 oz. shrimp stock
8 oz. butter, softened

Preparation

Season the fish, scallop and the shrimp with salt and pepper. In a large braising pot heat up oil over medium high heat once oil is hot add Fish skin side down and scallops. Sear and cook till nice and golden then turn over carefully not to let the hot oil jump out of the pan. Add shrimp, sausage, onions, tomatoes, shallots and garlic sauté over medium heat continue to cook scallops and fish the shrimp will not take that long to cook. Remove from heat and deglaze with cream sherry return to heat add lobster base try to incorporate the base into the liquid and reduce by ¼ remove shrimp and scallop ( scallops we be med rare by this point if you would like them a little more done just leave them in the sauce a little longer) Add Shrimp Stock reduce by 1/3. Remove from heat add butter and mix together till you sauce is thick and coats the back of a spoon. Return the Shrimp and Scallops to the sauce.

Plating

On 4 different plates place equal amounts of risotto on them, then add 1 piece of fish, 2 shrimp, and 2 scallops to the top of the risotto. Make sure that the sauce is seasoned well if needed add more salt and pepper to taste. With a slotted spoon add some of the remaining ingredients around the seafood then with a solid spoon add the sauce.

Garnish with Fresh Shaved Parmesan and Basil Chiffonade.

Sit back Relax you did it!!!!!

Enjoy!

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