Sunday Paella

Nothing says “Welcome to Summer” like a giant pan of Paella shared amongst friends. I spent Sunday afternoon prepping the mise en place, all the while drinking a bottle of Tempranillo. As every Chef knows, you must have access to wine just in case to have to deglaze the pan … My recipe follows, enjoy!

PAELLA

Serves Four in a 16” Paella pan

* 4 1/2 cups chicken broth; more if necessary
* Pinch saffron threads (about 20 threads)
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 4 chicken thighs, chopped in half across the bone with a meat cleaver
* 4 duck legs (optional)
* 20 medium sized Shrimp, peeled & deveined
* 12 Scallops
* 1 link of Spanish (dried) Chorizo
* 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut in 1-inch wide strips
* 1 small whole head garlic; plus 6 medium garlic cloves, peeled
* 2 artichokes, trimmed down to the hearts and quartered (optional)
* 1/2 onion, grated on the largest holes of a box grater
* 1 tomato, halved horizontally and grated on the largest holes of a box grater to get a coarse purée (discard the skin)
* 1 tablespoon Pimentón; more if desired
* 1 1/2 cups Bomba or Valencia (medium grain) rice
* 1/4 cup cooked or canned chickpeas, drained (optional)
* 4 lemons, cut in quarters, lengthwise

Heat the saffron broth: In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a boil; lower to a simmer. Toast the saffron gently in a dry skillet or toaster oven (just until aromatic, 1 to 2 minutes; don’t let them burn). Crumble the threads in a mortar or between your fingers, and add to the broth. Taste and add salt if necessary (it should be very well-seasoned, salted as if it were a soup). Remove from the heat until you’re ready to add to the rice.

Saute the chicken and vegetables: Season the chicken pieces generously with salt and pepper. Pour the olive in a 16-inch paella pan. Over medium high heat, sauté the chicken until browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a platter. Repeat with duck legs.

Reduce the heat to medium low. In the paella pan, cook the red pepper and head of garlic until the peppers are completely limp but not brown, 15 to 20 min. Transfer the peppers to a plate (leave the garlic in the pan) and cover with aluminum foil. Add the artichoke hearts (if using) to the pan, and after 5 min. Sauté until the artichokes are tender, about 10 min.

Transfer the artichokes to a plate.

Make the sofrito: Increase the heat to medium and sauté the onion until softened, about 5 min. Add the tomato, Pimentón, and the six garlic cloves, season with salt, and cook, stirring often, until the mixture has darkened to a deep burgundy and is thick like a tomato paste, 15 to 20 min. If it starts to stick to the pan or burn, add a little water to the pan. If not cooking the rice immediately, remove the paella pan from the heat. (This tomato-onion-garlic mixture, called a sofrito, is the flavor base for the paella.) You may make the paella several hours ahead up to this point.

Add the rice and cook: About a half hour before you’re ready to eat, bring the broth back to a simmer and set the paella pan with the sofrito over your largest burner (or over two burners) on medium high heat. Add the rice, stirring until it’s opaque, 1 to 2 min.

Spread the rice in the pan, put the head of garlic in the center, and pour in the hot broth. Shake the pan a bit to make sure the rice is evenly distributed. Arrange the chicken, artichokes, red peppers, and green beans in the pan. If using chickpeas, distribute them on top. Do not stir the rice from this point on. Simmer vigorously, moving the pan over one and two burners to distribute the heat and to cook the rice as evenly as possible. When the rice is at the same level as the liquid, after 8 to 10 min., reduce the heat to medium low.

Continue to simmer more gently, rotating the pan as necessary, until the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 min. more. Taste a grain just below the top layer of rice; it should be al dente, with a tiny white dot in the center. (If the rice is not done but all the liquid has been absorbed, add a bit more broth or water to the pan and cook a few minutes more.)

Create the Socarrat: Increase the heat to medium-high and, rotating the pan, cook for about 2 min., until the bottom layer of rice starts to caramelize, creating the socarrat. The rice will crackle, but if it starts to smell burned, remove the pan from the heat immediately.

Let the paella rest: Remove the pan from the heat. Cover loosely with foil or a clean kitchen towel and let the paella rest for 5 min. to even the cooking and let the flavors meld.

Serve! Set the paella pan in the center of a round or square table. Remove the foil and invite people to eat directly from the pan, starting at the perimeter, working toward the center, and squeezing lemon over their section, if they want.

Colcannon (Irish: cál ceannann, meaning "white-headed cabbage") is a traditional Irish dish. Colcannon is traditionally made from mashed potatoes, kale or cabbage, butter, salt, and pepper. It can contain other ingredients such as milk, cream, leeks, onions, chives, garlic, boiled ham or Irish bacon. At one time it was a cheap, year-round staple food, though it is usually eaten in Autumn/Winter, when kale comes into season.
An old Irish Halloween tradition was to serve colcannon with prizes of small coins concealed in it, as the English do with Christmas pudding. This is still done today and small amounts of money are placed in the potato.
The dish of course, is the inspiration behind the traditional Irish song by the same name, "Oh weren't them the happy days when troubles we knew not and our mother made colcannon in the little skillet pot". This is the basic recipe, but you could also stir in a little bit of wholegrain mustard to add an extra bite to it!


Serves 4 portions
1 pound potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup savoy cabbage, finely sliced
1 bunch of spring onions, finely sliced
2 tablespoons of butter
1/3 cup of milk
A good pinch of sea salt and black pepper


1. Add the peeled and diced potato to a pot of cold water, cover, place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the potato is tender when pierced with a fork.
2. Place a metal steamer into another pot, add a little water and bring to the boil. Place the cabbage into the steamer and steam cook until it is tender.
3. When the potatoes are cooked, remove from the heat, drain into a colander, then add back into the pot with the butter and milk. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes until smooth and creamy. You may want to add a little bit more or less milk and butter, it is up to you!
4. Add in the spring onion, steamed cabbage, sea salt and black pepper and stir through with a spoon until evenly combined. Serve the colcannon straight away with a little extra butter and sea salt if you want.