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01.26.2004

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please can i have some more paella? a paella how-to by Yee-Fan Sun | 1 2
continued from page 1

a recipe: sausage and veggie paella
Here's my basic paella recipe, made with ingredients that I can generally scrounge from my freezer, fridge and cupboards. Part of the fun of paella is that you almost never make the same paella twice -- the "recipe" is infinitely flexible, so feel free to experiment. Add or substitute spinach, zucchini, or artichoke hearts to the veggie mix; make a seafood paella by substituting chicken stock with fish stock, and swapping cooked shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels and/or clams for the sausage. You can also mix sausage and seafood -- this is the combination you most often see when you order paella at a restaurant.

serves 4-5
special equipment 12"-13" paella pan, or similar pan

4 cups chicken stock
½ cup water
generous pinch (less than 1/4 tsp) of saffron
1 onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
2 fat cloves garlic, minced
2 small tomatoes, halved, cored and deseeded (or ½ cup crushed tomatoes or tomato puree)
1 tsp paprika
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 cups rice
¼ cup wine
1 can chickpeas, drained
½ cup peas, frozen fine
1/3 lb. asparagus or green beans
1 lb of sausages -- Spanish chorizo if you can find it, otherwise, hot Italian
1 pimento (roasted red pepper*), cut into strips

* You can use jarred pimento or make it yourself by slathering a red pepper in olive oil, tossing it on a baking sheet, and baking for about 25 min at 500F, until the skin is blistered and blackened. Place the pepper in a container and cover. When it's cool enough to handle, peel off the skin, core, de-rib and de-seed. 

1 Dice the onion and bell pepper; mince the garlic. Halve the tomatoes and cut out the core; remove seeds. Using a coarse grater, hold the cut side of the tomato against the holes and grate to get the pulp. Discard the peel. Break off the bottom woody ends of the asparagus, or if you're using green beans, snap off the stem ends. Cut into 2-3" sections.
2 Heat up your paella pan and add the sausages. Cook on medium-high until deep brown on all sides. Remove from heat, and cut on the diagonal into ½" thick slices. If the slices are still raw in the center, return them to the pan and continue cooking as necessary.
3 While the sausage is cooking, combine the stock and saffron in a small pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and keep it at a gentle simmer. Preheat the oven to 400F. Boil another pot of water, then cook the asparagus or green beans for a few minutes, until just tender. Rinse in cold water, drain and set aside.
4 If your sausages have released a lot of oil, drain off the excess; otherwise, leave any sausage bits in the pan (no sense wasting that good flavor). Add a tablespoon of olive oil to your paella pan and heat on medium. Add the garlic, onion and red pepper and sauté for about five minutes, until soft and yummy-smelling. Stir in the tomatoes, chickpeas and paprika; cook for another minute or so.
5 Add the rice, stirring well to make sure it's well-coated. Add the wine, salt and pepper; stir and cook for another couple of minutes.
6 Pour in the hot stock, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to keep it on a low bubble. If you can't fit in all of the stock, add as much as the pan will accommodate; later, when some of the liquid has been absorbed, you can add the remainder.
7 Cook until the rice is no longer swimming in stock (about 10 minutes); stir in the peas. Raise the heat and cook for another five minutes. Taste for seasonings, and add more salt and pepper if necessary.
8 Arrange the roasted red pepper strips, cooked asparagus or green beans and sausage on top of the rice, pressing them gently into the mixture just enough to keep them in place. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
9 Remove from heat, and cover the pan loosely with foil. Let it sit for 15 minutes or so, then serve!

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clueless cooks: rice basics | stock tricks

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