Día 8 en Valladolid: La Paella

El Sofrito: cebollas y pimentón verde

Steps to Chón´s paella

1. Sauté chopped onion and bell pepper in paella pan. Sauté half a red bell pepper here, too, if not using canned.
2. Add about 2 c. of frozen seafood mix and sauté. 
3. Add 3 1/2 c of wáter (she kind of eye balled it).  Add saffron (or coloring in Chón´s case.)  Bring to a boil.
4. Add 1/3 c of peas and a tin of bell pepper if not using fresh. Add mashed garlic & parsley. Add 2 c of short grain white rice (it´s important to use short grain).
5. Simmer for 20 minutes. Let rest for 5 min off heat with lid on. I´d like to try making this in a wider pan at home to get the signature soccarat (crusty browned bottom).

 

                                                                                                  El Mortero y La Mano

 
 Chon pounded 2 big cloves of chopped garlic with a pinch of salt.  The salt keeps the garlic from flying out.  There were also some parsley leaves (el perejil).  It took her about 2 minutes or so to get it crushed (machacado).

In Spain, you can buy a frozen bag of mixed seafood just for Paella. There was el calamar (squid), el calamar pequeño (mini squid), las almejas (clams), los mejillones (mussels), y los camarones (shrimp).

The splash of orange is the powder Chón used for color in lieu of saffron, which she said is too expensive. In my opinión, I think it´d be worth it to buy saffron since you don´t need much and it´s so important for traditional paella.

 

La Paella!



 The paella was delicious and smelled amazing. Unfortunately, it didn´t have the signature crust called socarrat.  I remember on a Top Chef episode, head judge Tom Colicchio explained that the best paella must have a crusty, browned bottom which is achieved by not stirring the rice.  I´m not sure why Chón´s didn´t get that socarrat because she just let it simmer without stirring. I have a feeling it´s because the pan was kind of deep. I was doing some paella research, and the best pans for paella are made of thin tin and are very shallow, allowing the rice layer to be about 1/2" thick. I also read that if you don´t have a paella pan, do not use a cast iron skillet or a nonstick skillet because it will be imposible to get the socarrat.

This was my first time having mussels and I thought they tasted a lot like shrimp with a similar texture. I liked them better here than the shrimp which were quite tricky to eat since they had heads and legs. 

 

Chón´s trick for getting super fine bread crumbs is to grate stale baguette, then put all the crumbs in a colander. Buena idea!  I noticed today that she has a plastic bag especially for partial, stale baguettes, perfect for making pan rallado (bread crumbs).

 

 

El Pechuga Fileteada de Pollo con Ensalada Cruda

 Chón sprinkled pechuga fileteada de pollo (very thin slices of chicken breast) with coarse salt, a squeeze of lemon, and then dipped them in her grated bread crumbs. She fried them in a film of olive oil until they were golden (dorado).

  La Sandía