Paella

THEU

THEU

2,500+ Posts
So I woke up on Memorial Day with this overwhelming desire to cook up som paella. I will first say that I am a big fan of paella, but there are no Spanish restaurants anywhere near where I live, so I haven't had any in a couple years. I got online onThe Link and found what looked like a pretty good recipe and made my way to the local HEB to pick up what I needed. They did not have any clams or mussels (no mollusks of any kind), so I made the paella with sausage, chicken, and shrimp as was called for. Just wondering if any one else has tried to make a paella and had any pointers. I will say that it turned out well (ingredients ran me about $75) and I just finished up the rest of it today. Just curious on other thoughts/experiences with paella.
 
Inside the loop, Mi Luna in the Village has pretty good paella. The best is Rioja on Westheimer and Kirkwood. Good tapas too. Its worth the drive if you are like me and don't live very close.
 
Pete, what restaurant is that? I was just in Rotterdam yesterday and will most likely be back next week.
 
I am so in love with paella that a couple of years ago, I spent a few weeks going to every single frickin' restaurant that serves paella in Manhattan and managed to find very best paella on the island.

My wife makes terrific paella, but it's a lot of work and it close but not as good as the stuff I found in Manhattan.
 
In my humble opinion, mine ******* rocks, and I made it for under $75.
Scallops, live mussels, chicken, Cajun Hollar Andouille sausage,etc. The saffron was spendy.
The recipe is in the Central Market cookbook.

IMG_1892.jpg
 
My dad is Spanish, but we rarely make paella here in the states. He claims it is too expensive to make it correctly. When we go back to Spain, we eat plenty of it. Every relative seems to make their own variety. Somethink I've noticed is that in Spain, many of the paellas cook/serve the lobsters, shrip, and shellfish still in their exoskeleton/shell. Here they take all the meat out and then cook it.

By the way... saffron is pennies on the dollar over there.
 
Thanks. I guess this is the one.

Central Market Recipes

Paella Soup

Courtesy of: Central Market
8 - 10 servings



2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 links Andouille, chorizo or fully cooked, smoked sausage of choice, chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
1 cup white wine
2 1/2 quarts chicken stock or broth
1 cup long grain rice
salt and pepper to taste
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled, deveined
1 pound bay scallops
2 pounds mussels, scrubbed, debearded

Heat the oil in a stock pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the sausage and cook until brown around the edges. Add the onion and garlic. Cook for 3 minutes or until onions are tender, stirring occasionally. Add the bell peppers and the saffron and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the wine, stirring to loosen the browned bits from the bottom. Pour in the stock. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Add the rice. Cook until rice is cooked through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the chicken, shrimp, scallops and mussels. Bring to a simmer. Cook until the mussels open and chicken is cooked through. Serve immediately.

The Link


I also found a different one that sounds pretty decent.

20th Annual Evan Williams Bourbon Cooking Contest Winning Recipe
August 19, 2005

Evan Williams Paella
4 tbls. butter
2 tbls. olive oil
3 stalks celery, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, diced
1.5 cups basmati rice
1 cup cooked chorizo sausage
1 tsp. saffron
0.5 cup Evan Williams Bourbon
3 cups chicken broth
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and butterflied
6 sea scallops, split in half
1 lb. mussels
0.25 cup chopped chilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter with olive oil. Add celery, peppers and onion. Saute for five minutes until beginning to soften. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Add rice and stir in mixture until coated and beginning to turn translucent. Add sausage and saffron. Deglaze with Evan Williams Bourbon. Add chicken broth. Bring to boil, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove lid and add seafood, cover and cook for five minutes. Remove from heat and let stand five minutes. Place on serving dish and garnish with chopped garlic.
The Link
 
Also.... it is very difficult to find Spanish chorizo here. Fiesta has it and it isn't the best quality. Last I checked, Whole Foods didn't carry it either. If you haven't tried a spanish chorizo, you need to. It is VERY different than the mexican chorizo you see around here (Texas). Spanish chorizo is more solid like sausage... but super tasty.
 
In Houston you have a few options for paella at restaurants. Here is my list in order of preference:

1. Tio Pepe
2. Rioja
3. Mi Luna
4. El Meson


As for making this stuff I've got a good friend that was training for a paella competition. He's got a pan that is super large (feeds 40+) that he cooks with outside over an open fire. He uses risotto as opposed to rice. Chicken, mussels, shrimp, scallops, Argentine sausage make up the meats. It is truly phenomenal and when he is "on" and keeps the fire under control it is much better than anything I've ever had in a restaurant. What we do for cooking for so many people is have everyone bring one of the ingredients. That diffuses the super high cost and everyone gets a bad *** meal.

I'm getting hungry thinking about it.
 
Uninformed -

I'm not a fan of mussels, is there anything that I can use to substitute, like pieces of fish (Mahi Mahi) or add more shrimp and chicken?
 
DC,
The easiest thing to do if you don't like mussels is simply to leave them out. Leaving them out won't significantly alter the dish, but will alter it enough if you simply aren't a mussel fan.
 
another vote for Tio Pepe
my dad was spanish
when he was still alive, mys sisters and I would go to Tio Pepe's several times a year. He really enjoyd the restaurant.

He made some pretty good paella when we were growing up, every other Sunday.

I remember when he couldn't find shellfish, he would just put tuna fish in the recipe. as kids, we liked the tuna much better than shellfish (until we grew up and our tastes evolved)

One of my sisters makes pretty good paella, she uses a well seasoned wok.

I use a a dutch oven that my dad and I used when went camping with my Boy Scout troop.
 
i fell in love with paella when i was in argentina for the summer a few years ago. i've tried to look for places in austin, the only place that i found is blue water cafe in downtown.

i'd say that it was subpar at best. if you're craving, go on and try it out. i'm not sure if i'd order it again. their happy hour, however, is awesome.
 
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