In The Mood For Paella

It could not be less Italian than this, but hey! It’s not like we only eat Italian or American food at our house! We like to go and venture on those unexplored foreign territories at times, with different results, of course, not always exactly amazing.
This, though, is certainly a foreign territory, but I cannot say it’s unexplored to me: I used to make Paella pretty often, in the past. For some reason I then stopped for a while (I have my phases and my moments with food), but the other day I suddenly started to think of it. That’s how it always works for me: some type of food somehow finds its way to my brain, it can be something I see or hear around me, an insignificant detail I capture on TV or on the street or at a store, anything, and I start thinking about it. Then, I am not happy until I have it on my plate.
I finally made Paella the other night. As you might know there are a million versions of this wonderful, traditional Spanish dish. Here is how I like to make my own.

Basically my favorite is the one that requires a combination of vegetables, meat and seafood. I use green beans, bell peppers, tomatoes and peas for the veggie part. Chicken (preferably the dark meat), pork (I recently discovered the extra touch of a little chorizo too) and rabbit, when I have it, for the meat. Clams, mussels, calamari, shrimp for the fish ingredients. I used to like to add a particular crustacean that is very common in the Mediterranean Sea, but that I cannot find here in the US or at least I never found it so far. I don’t even know what its American name is, but the Italian for it is “cannocchia” or “cicala di mare” and the scientific one is “Squilla Mantis”. Go have a look following the link and if anyone knows what I am talking about I would love to know if it is known and used over here. It tastes a little like lobster, but has a softer and even more delicate meat and I love to use it in a lot of seafood recipes.

Now the essential touch of flavor that comes with spices: you have to have some saffron! The slightly bitter and aromatic taste and smell, together with the shade of yellow that it adds to the plate cannot be substituted by anything else, if you ask me. Then sweet paprika, but that one is not as essential to me.

It takes a long time to make Paella, as it requires for most of the ingredients to be cooked separately and then assembled, but to me it’s a fun way to spend a couple hours of a lazy afternoon and then treat my family to a special dinner.

To make the whole experience not just “good” but “great” you want to have a glass of Sangria with it. Sangria is the Spanish drink made with red wine, fruits and a shot of spirit. I tried those bottles of so called “base for Sangria” but I really did not like it. I found my personal taste to be closer to a good mix of light red wine, fruit juice, pieces of fruit and of course a drop of good brandy. Must be because I’m Italian, but a friend suggested I used Lambrusco and I found this humble, family-style red wine to be perfect for me.



I did not end up dancing flamenco on the table, the other night, in case some of you are wondering, but we all enjoyed our Spanish dinner nevertheless. With another round of Sangria I might, though. Maybe next time. I’ll think about it.