A Paella History Lesson

I don't remember when I first ate paella, but I do remember my first memorable paella experience. The year was 1997 and J was in her last year of school at the University of Rhode Island. She was living in a beautiful condo with a few of her friends right across the street from Narragansett Beach. I was already a working stiff in Boston and went down for a visit one fall weekend. While sitting out on her deck, enjoying the views of Narragansett Bay, we met one of her neighbors, Rob. He lived alone in the condo next door and if I had to guess was in his early 40s. Rob had some friends in from out of town and after introductions we were offered some of their homemade sangria. One of Rob's friends, Pepe, a large Spanish man, had hands so big he could hug you with them. Yes, his name was Pepe and we vividly remember his handshake. That's not all we remember from that night, we were invited over for more drinks and stayed for dinner, take-out from a local restaurant called The Spanish Tavern.

The Spanish Tavern, closed several years ago, was famous for their mixed seafood paella and that is just what Rob ordered for dinner. Served in a disposable, aluminum pan, not unlike a lasagna pan, this paella was a beautiful sight. The rice, seasoned and colored with classic Spanish saffron, was cooked perfectly. Mixed in with the rice were fresh mussels and clams, tender calamari and shrimp, boneless chicken, and delicious, salty chorizo, a spicy Spanish sausage. But that's not all; the pièce de résistance of this paella was a whole steamed Maine lobster, split in half, resting on top of this already perfect pan of paella. This amazing meal may not have been the first time I ate paella but it was certainly one of the most memorable times.

Then there was Mexico in 2005. J and I were celebrating our one year anniversary at the Iberostar Paraiso Beach Resort on the Riviera Maya. One afternoon while lounging on the beach, we noticed a HUGE pan of paella being cooked over an open fire. This paella pan, a traditional paella pan, must have been five feet across. The paella lunch was part of a weekly beach party held at the resort that included live music and a bikini contest, which I did not win. With all these wonderful paella memories, it's surprising that I've never attempted to make paella, until now.

Paella is generally considered the national dish of Spain. However, if you ask a Spaniard, they will tell you the dish is from Valencia, Spain's third largest city on the Mediterranean coast. The word paella was used to describe the wide, flat pan that this rice dish is made in, but came to describe the actually food as well. Considered by many a laborers meal, paella was originally made in the fields of Valencia. Classic Paella Valenciana is made with chicken, rabbit, snails and beans, all items generally available in and around the fields of Valencia with snails being the most common because of their availability and cost (free if foraged.) Chicken and rabbit, while still common, were saved for more special occasions.

The paella that most people think of when they hear the word paella is Paella Marisco, or seafood paella. This variation, while not the original, is still considered a classic, traditional, Spanish dish and contains contains seafood like shrimp, mussels and calamari and can also contain meat like chicken and chorizo. For my recreation of the classic Spanish paella, I am making a Paella Marisco containing chicken, chorizo, calamari, shrimp, mussels, and clams. This is the dish I remember from The Spanish tavern, without the lobster which is definitely not a traditional Spanish ingredient. And one more thing, paellas are traditionally cooked outdoors over an open fire, so I'll be cooking my paella over a charcoal fire in my Weber Kettle grill. I also do not own a classic paella pan, so I'll be using a large saute pan.

Chimney starter used to start charcoal fire

 

Two level fire (hot side and cool side) built in grill


Black forest bacon rendered down


Diced onions sweated in bacon fat


Chicken added to onions to cook


Diced tomatoes added to chicken and onions


After chorizo cooked for a few minutes, rice added and coated well with mixture. Water added next

After about 15-20 minutes of cooking, calamari and shrimp are added. Mussels and clams are added a few minutes later for the 4-5 minutes of cooking.

Seafood Paella, garnished with diced red pepper and a lemon wedge

One important part of classic paella is the crispy bottom of the pan. To get this crispy bottom, it is important that you do not stir the pan once the seafood is added to the mixture. If you must stir in the seafood, be careful not to scrape the bottom or else you will disturb the much sought after crispy bottom layer!

Paella Marisco 
Adapted from Lisa & Tony Sierra, About.com Guide
Serves 6
1 yellow onion, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/2 lb bacon, diced
1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized chunks
1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized chunks
1/2 lb chorizo sausage, sliced into disks

1/2 lb calamari (squid) cleaned and sliced into rings
3/4 lbs raw shrimp, medium 
2 cups medium or short grain rice
4-6 cups water (I added 6 cups and it was a little too much.)
1 teaspoon Spanish Saffron
1 dozen or more mussels
1 dozen or more littleneck clams

1 red pepper seeded and diced
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon wedges

1. Light a full chimney of briquette or hardwood charcoal
2. When charcoal is lit, about 10 minutes, create a two level fire in your charcoal grill
3. Place pan on hot side of the fire and add bacon to pan. Cook until fat is rendered and bacon is crispy. Remove bacon from the pan and save for something else.
4. Saute onions in bacon fat until translucent, about 3-4 minutes
5. Add chicken to pan and cook until chicken starts to brown, another 3-4 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to season the chicken.
6. Add diced tomato to pan and stir
7. Add sliced chorizo to pan and cook for a 2-3 minutes
8. Add two cups of medium grain rice, bomba rice is best if you can find it. Stir until coated with from fat and juices in pan.
9. Add water, saffron, salt and pepper to taste. Stir, and cover to bring to a boil. Traditionally, paella is cooked without being covered but I wanted to get the water boiling quickly.
10. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, then add in calamari and shrimp and cook for 3-4 minutes.
11. Add mussels and clams to top of pan and cover, cooking another 4-5 minutes or just until mussels and clams have opened. The mussels will open first, with the clams taking a couple minutes longer to cook.
12. Taste rice, adjust the seasoning if necessary.
13. Serve, garnishing with lemon wedges and diced red pepper.

Down by the English Seashore

One of the most famous meals associated with England is fish and chips, originating in London in the mid 1800's. When I travel to England, I make it a point to have some fish and chips, and on my most recent trip to the southern shore of England, I feasted on it. Hastings, England is a very small seaside town about two hours southeast of London and to this day still has the largest beach-based fishing fleet in all of England. Once an important fishing port, Hastings is now better known for other things, like chess. With lots of little inns and restaurants, Hastings remains a vacation destination and a place for international students to come and study English in one of several international language schools.

I was in Hastings for a few days on business and most of my personal time was spent seeking out fish and chips. With no fewer than twenty-five fish-and-chips shops (known as chippys or chippers) in this small seaside town, my mission for eating fish and chips should be an easy one to complete. I visited two on this trip as well as another seafood bar right down on the water. The variety of seafood available is impressive, with some of the available options seeming a bit unusual to outsiders like me. Options like cockles and jellied eels.

While on my first mission for fish and chips, my friend Jenny and I made a quick stop at Shores Seafood Bar for a snack. Jenny opted for some cockles which are small, saltwater clams, and I being a bit more adventurous opted for the aforementioned jellied eels, freshwater eels chopped, boiled in fish stock, and chilled in an aspic jelly. The cockles were quite good actually, salty, tender, and flavorful. The jellied eels, however, were fishy and quite challenging. The spine of the eel is intact in the middle of the eel and the exterior texture of the eel, the skin, is rather chewy. I'm glad I tried the jellied eels but won't be ordering them again. Our mission for fish and chips continues...

On the recommendation of the guy at Shores, we ended up at the Promenade Fish Bar just down the street. Promenade Fish Bar & Restaurant is located just across from the beach and on this rare, dry, sunny and warm day in southern England, we each ordered some battered cod and chips and ate outside on the patio. With the taste of jellied eels still a recent memory, this fried cod and chips was just what the doctor ordered. Perfectly fried, beer battered cod and real English chips, generously salted and doused with malt vinegar, just like the English do. You won't find many people in these parts eating their chips with tomato Ketchup. Its fish and chips with malt vinegar or nothing around here.

With our first fish and chips mission complete, Jenny and I went about our business in Hastings and continued our Tour de Chippys the next day. With the usual rainy, cold English weather back in place on our last day in Hastings, we opted for some take-away fish and chips from another local chipper, Smiffy's Chippy. Smiffy's batter is a bit crispier than Promenades, less beer and more breading; still outstanding fish and chips. At Smiffy's, Jenny and I both opted for fried haddock and chips since Smiffy told us the haddock had just come in off the boat. Fresh fish! Smiffy's fried haddock and chips were also salted well and once again doused in malt vinegar. I don't necessarily agree with the message printed on Smiffy's take-away bag, "The healthiest meal for all the family", but I will say that this was some real fine fish and chips.

One Fisherman's Platter, Please

When I'm on vacation there are only few things that really matter, and one of them is food! While vacationing on Block Island with J this summer we had some good food, some not so good food, and some outstanding food! The fisherman's platter at Finn's Seafood Restaurant falls into the good food category.

The platter came with loads of freshly fried haddock, shrimp, scallops, and whole belly clams piled on top of some pretty good french fries. The platter also came with a side of pretty average coleslaw that tasted pretty good. J and I split this platter since it was a mid day "snack" and washed it all down with a couple dark and stormys.

If you're ever on Block Island and are looking for some good fried seafood in a very casual setting, stop into Finn's Seafood Restaurant and order something up.


Finn's Seafood Restaurant
Water Street
Block Island, RI
401/466-2473

Neptune Oyster - Worth the Wait

Anyone who knows Boston knows that that North End, Boston's Italian neighborhood, is notorious for it's narrow streets, lack of parking, and great restaurants. The previous two attempts that J and I made to go to Neptune Oyster in Boston's North End ended in dizzying frustration from driving around the block looking for parking, and empty stomachs. Earlier this month we made our third attempt to get to the restaurant. The third time is the charm as some say. As soon as we pulled out of the Tip O'Neill tunnel, thank you Big Dig, and onto Hanover Street, we scored a parking spot before reaching the end of the first block. Finally, a parking spot in the North End; we were going to Neptune Oyster.


The restaurant is tiny and there really isn't much of a waiting area. When J and I got there, the place was packed. No room for us inside the door so we stood outside and waited.

The restaurant is longer than it is wide with an L-shaped booth-like bench stretching along the entire left side of the space and half of the back wall. Several tables were jammed together in front of the bench with chairs on the other side. With seating for twenty-six at the tables and another ten at the bar, which ran along the right side of the restaurant, this place might be considered large by some North End standards. The very front of the restaurant, just inside the etched glass window fronting the sidewalk, was the raw bar where J and I watched the show. Rows and rows of shellfish, and a woman shucking oysters like she was pouring water into a glass. Smooth, effortless, perfect.

After about ten minutes outside and another twenty minutes inside, we sat down at a table. J and I started our night off with two glasses of NV Borgo Magredo Prosecco and a dozen oysters. Four Wellfleet, medium sized, salty, and sweet; four kumomoto, small, sweet, plump, and creamy with hints of cucumber; and four Fanny Bay, medium sized, plump, low salt, sweet, and buttery with a melon finish. Neptune Oyster has a dozen different oysters to choose from as well as littlenecks, cherrystones, and shrimp cocktail braised in Harpoon beer.


Moving on to course two, we shared Neptune's Bottarga Salad. Bottarga is cured fish roe and is delicious. This salad was fantastic with Boston lettuce, red grapes, fennel, caramel onions, white anchovy, grape seed oil and a Parmesan dressing.



With dinner we drank a bottle of Carpe Diem Chardonnay from the Firepeak vineyard in Edna Valley, California. J ordered Neptune's Gloucester Cod Loin served with stewed tri peppers, oregano, mustard, freshly grated horseradish and a grapefruit vinaigrette. The plate was garnished with supremes of grapefruit.


I ordered the Fillet of Salmon with a sauté of crispy duck, pea tendrils, avocado, ginger and soy. Both of our entrees were truly spectacular, but J's cod loin dish may very well be the best dish of the year. The cod was cooked to perfection and the spicy horseradish was balanced so well by the sweet, tart grapefruit, the mustard and the oregano. The cod dish was definitely the star of the meal.


Now for the best part of the evening. We return to the car to find a carefully placed PARKING TICKET on the windshield! Sometime between the last time I was in the North End and last Friday night, Hanover Street converted all the on-street parking to Residents Only after 8pm.


Oh well. Neptune Oyster is awesome and worth a parking ticket. I'll make sure not to park on Hanover Street the next time I go.

Tuesday's Tasting - Seasoned Mahi Mahi Fillets

Tuesday's Tasting is back in a big way this week. I know I've been busy and slacking on Tuesday's Tastings for the last two weeks, but this week, we're talking frozen fish. Frozen, seasoned Mahi Mahi fillets to be precise. I'm usually a fresh guy, fresh seafood, fresh beef, fresh veggies. Trader Joe's has a large stock of frozen fish, seasoned and unseasoned, so when I saw these in the freezer case I thought I'd give them a try.

The Mahi Mahi is seasoned garlic, lemon juice, parsley, salt, black pepper, red chili flakes and olive oil. The packaging suggests baking, grilling or pan sauteed on the stove top. I chose the latter method and sauteed them on the stove top. I served them up for J and I with baked sweet potatoes and steamed asparagus. I liked the way it came out and I'd buy these Mahi Mahi fillets again. The seasoning was right on and the fish cooked up well. Not fishy, not rubbery, not bad. Really good actually. I'm glad I decided to take on the frozen fish category, and I'll be sure to try out some of the other offerings.

One food guy is back. As spring time approaches here in Boston I'll be busy playing outdoors. I'll be looking for healthy options from the freezer case, so stay tuned.

Tuesday's Tasting - TJ's Maryland Style Crab Cakes

If I told you that Trader Joe's sold a package of two Maryland Style Crab Cakes for only $2.99 would you believe me? Would you believe me if I told you that they are actually really good?

This week's Tuesday Tasting is, you guessed it, Trader Joe's Maryland Style Crab Cakes. Each $2.99 package contains two 3 oz. crab cakes. Each cake contains a blend of blue, jonah, and snow crab meat as well as mayonnaise, cornbread, green onion, parsley, Worcestershire, dijon mustard, and some other stuff.

The package recommends thawing the crab cakes for one hour at room temperature or for 24 hours in the refrigerator then cooking them in a skillet over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes per side. I'm telling you, don't bother thawing the crab cakes first, they will be very difficult to handle when soft. I placed two frozen crab cakes in a hot skillet with a couple tablespoons of canola oil and cooked them for a few minutes on each side.

The crab cakes browned up nicely and really are very good. I served mine on a toasted whole wheat British muffin, Trader Joe's version of an English muffin, with some Bookbinder's horseradish mustard and a side salad of field greens dressed lightly with an aged balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil. These Maryland Style Crab Cakes from Trader Joe's would be really good at twice the price but at $2.99 a package, they are one of the best values in the freezer case. I suggest you pick some up and try them yourself then check back with me and let me know how you like them. Thanks for reading, see you next week for Tuesday's Tasting.

Allergy warning: Crab cakes are made in a facility that processes milk, peanuts, and tree nuts.