Paella

[indigo_rose99]

My father's birthday was this week. In celebration and memory, paella is the recipe of the week. I grew up with paella, but tasting my family recipe as an adult.... It is bland. And T hates it. So, I decided to start from scratch with a likely recipe.

Mushroom Paella
Three varieties of mushrooms lend this exclusive mushroom paella recipe its distinctive taste and texture. Butter and Manchego cheese impart a creamy richness to the earthy rice, while the sherry, thyme, and basil add flavour and interest to the dish.
      Serves:  6
      Difficulty:  Medium
      Preparation time:  15 minutes  (Hah!)
      Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped fine
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup (4 oz) diced serrano ham or prosciutto		I found prosciutto, but my choices were 3  or 6 oz.  I chose 3 oz.
1 cup (4 oz) shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and chopped
1 cup (4 oz) crimini mushrooms, stemmed and chopped		Could not find these mushrooms.  I substituded baby portebello mushrooms.
1 cup (4 oz) oyster mushrooms, stemmed and chopped.		Could only find these canned with jalepenos.  So I substituded some random drieid mushrooms that was completely different from the other two mushrooms.
1 1/2 cups (12 oz) calasparra rice		Couldn't find this rice.  Never even heard of it.  But an internet search led me to believe that it is much like risotto, so that is what I bought.
2 3/4 cups (22 fl. oz) chicken broth
1/2 cup (4 fl.oz) sherry		I found sherry, but in Texas we are not allowed to buy it on Sunday. And I forgot to pick up a bottle later in the.  Probably not the best idea, but I substituted some read wine I was drinking.
1/2 teaspoon saffron		I always guess that I have whatever spices are listed in any recipe, but I was wrong.  My brother suggested tumeric as a substitute.
1 cup (3 oz) grated Manchego or Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup (2 fl. oz)  of olive oil		This is listed here, but never requested in the directions.
1/4 stick (1 oz) butter, softened
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves		Chopped fresh?!?!  Who does that?!  I used dried.
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme		Again, dried.
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:
Heat the olive oil in a paella pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes or until tender. Add the ham and mushrooms, and sauté for a further several minutes, until the mushroom have softened.

Pour in the calasparra rice, and combine well with the ingredients in the pan. Add the broth, sherry, and saffron. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has almost been absorbed and the mixture is creamy. Stir in the Manchego or the Parmesan cheese, butter, basil, and thyme. Remove from the heat, and allow the paella to cool for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

It was... Ok. Edible. Better than my family recipe. I am going to keep working on it. Perhaps next time I can find more of the requested ingredients.

Comments

Fresh herbs!

[sclatter.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm one of the people who chops fresh herbs. :-) It is sooo worth it! I am not joking. Especially with basil. Dried basil is no kind of substitute.

My little herb garden has basil, regular and lemon thymes, tarragon and rosemary. Rosemary grows slowly so I haven't been able to use any yet, but I've used the others. It is so satisfying to walk out the back door with the kitchen shears, harvest some herbs, bring them in, wash them off, and throw them in the pot. Also delicious!

Basil is so easy to grow and I bet it would love Texas. Not only is it good for lots of recipes, but you can make homemade pesto! (yum yum yum!) We like to do that because usually pesto has Parmesan i

Good luck with the paella recipe. I think I've only had real paella once. it was at a Spanish restaurant in Paris. I think it was all they served--you just told them how many people and they brought out that much paella and sangria. Except you had to tell them fewer people than you really had, otherwise it was way, way too much. And it was... transcendent.

Have fun cooking!

[clubjuggler.livejournal.com]

Interesting variation. Paella is one of the dishes I learned to cook while living in Valencia, Spain and I cook it every now and then at home. jklgoduke claims most spanish food is "bland", but she does like paella. One thing our recipe has that yours doesn't seem to is paprika, so you might consider that if you try it again.

I will protest, though, that you can't really call it paella if you don't use saffron. That's what gives it the distinctive yellow color of the rice! Of course, it is dastardly expensive here in the states (not nearly as much in Spain, which I suspect is why they use it so much). Last I checked it was around $50/oz! Luckily a little goes a long way.