I love watching America's Test Kitchen. Not only do they experiment until they find the perfect recipie, they also test products and warn me before I waste my time and money on duds that don't deliver what they promise.
The other night I watched a couple segments about a Spanish rice-based dish I had never heard of before--paella.
During the first segment, they demonstrated cooking paella. The second segment they reviewed multiple paella pans, and described useful and desirable features. Both segments were informative and interesting.
I like trying different foods, and thought I might try paella at my first opportunity. And I'll be honest, the socarrat (a golden brown crust that forms on the bottom) intrigued me. I saw the socarrat as an excuse to do something I do regularly--but on purpose--set off the smoke detector. I'm joking, the socarrat is just a golden brown crust nowhere near being burned. In theory.
I'm not kidding about setting off the smoke detectors. Regularly. Or, at least every time I cook. Just ask my neighbors. And my new Best Buds at the Fire Department.
Knowing there was no way Moggy was letting me into the house unless I came home bearing cat food, I stopped at my local HEB, (Texas-based grocery chain) Friday night after work.
As luck would have it the HEB Chef-in-residence demonstrated paella Friday. A grocerystore grazer at heart, I did not pass up the opportunity to try a little sample. It was rather tasty, so I purchased the pre-packaged authentic paella kit offered. The kit included Spanish bomba rice, oil, packets of paella spices that include smoked sweet paprika and saffron, and a paella pan. While the kit may have been authentic, my paella preparation was anything but. ATK are not the only ones with an experimental kitchen.
Frankly, the directions on the kit packaging were lacking. To confuse the matter, the HEB Chef-in-residence cooked his paella different from America's Test Kitchen (they used sausage, chicken, shrimp, and clams for the protien and peas for the veggie, he used chicken, chorizo sausage, peas, and carrots).
When in doubt, I do what I always do. I googled several videos. Including one by my current favorite bad-boy Chef, the incomparable Gordon Ramsey.
Every paella was prepared differenty. So I did what I have no business doing--in other words, I did what I usually do. I improvised. Real cooks can improvise. However, kitchen improvision should not be attempted by novice food burners.
I used andouille (Cajun) sausage, a small veggie mix that included carrots, sugar snap peas, regular peas, black beans, and edamame. Since it was a small package, I supplemented it with the only other small package of veggies in my freezer--asparagus. Bomba rice soaks up the flavor of the liquid in which it is cooked. Mine took on the flavor of a rich chicken broth. My paella sounded yummy.
I later found out, when I googled the pronunciation--its pah-a-ya by the way--there are many paella, which explains not a single recipe being alike.
Paella de marisco is a seafood paella. Paella negra is a special seafood paella made with black cephalopod ink from octopuse. Squid is also used; however, it's ink is more blue-black. Cuttlefish, another cephalopod produces brown ink. Paella de carne is a meat paella. And paella mixta is a Paella with both seafood and meat.
I'm happy to report in my initial attempt at paella de carne I achieved a golden, albeit lighter than ATK, socorrat, without so much as a smoke detector peep. The neighbors were not at home and will think this claim is an urban legend, or an outright lie, but I know it's true.
Better yet, Moggy didn't give me the stink-eye, because I also brought home two cases of his cat food. This stash should last him a day or two.
Bandit was never worried--I stopped at the pet store and picked up his dog food earlier in the week. Besides, he managed to grab a piece of andouille I dropped. He liked my improvision. But his palet is not exactly discerning. He happily gobbles up everything.
It's a good thing I liked the paella as well--it made six servings, that look more like twelve. From the looks of it I'll be eating paella all week. If I don't tire of it, I will probably end up freezing some paella in yet another kitchen experiment...