MS2SB
is Blowin Smoke!
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2010
- Location
- Bothell, WA
A couple of weekends ago my wife and I went down into the nearby Woodinville wine district for some tastings. Our first stop was Icon Cellars, the maker of some truly exceptional wine, which the wine maker develops specifically to be enjoyed with food. While there we picked up a couple of different bottles a du Pape style which we enjoyed that same day with some pizzas on the grill. An exceptional Malbec, his signature wine, which we have yet to enjoy, and a Spanish style tempranillo which he calls Flamenco.
Last night was my wife and my six year anniversary and earlier in the week she challenged me to create a meal that we could pair with the Flamenco. Being that we had a Spanish style wine, one thing immediately jumped to my mind. Paella!!! (it's a word that must be shouted)
While I had never made paella before I figured I could certainly do better than any of the mid to low quality restaurant paellas that I have had before. Being that 6-years is apparently the iron anniversary I went out and picked myself up a 15.5" carbon steel paella pan as a gift for myself. Then I got to work.
I began by infusing some homemade chicken stock with some saffron threads and lobster shells.
And then went out and lit up an overly full chimney of Kingsford Comp.
While that was heating up I gathered my other ingredients. Linguica sausage, chicken thighs, clams, shrimp and lobster. As well as a diced yellow onion a couple cloves of garlic, red and yellow bell peppers and a couple cups of arborrio rice.
Once the coals were properly ashed over I started by roasting the peppers so they could be peeled and sliced at the end.
Then my new pan went onto the grate.
And I added the chicken and sausage to brown up.
Once done I pulled the chicken and sausage and sweat the onions and garlic in the residual fat.
The added the rice to toast
and in goes the fortified stock.
I let that simmer for about 10 minutes and then added in the sausage and clams
and then the chicken.
After about 5 more minutes the clams started to open
So I added the lobster and shrimp to cook for what I figured would be the last 5 minutes or so of cooking.
As the last of the liquid was absorbed by the rice I did some garnishing with the peppers.
Into bowls it went and then directly down my gullet!
It was really delicious and paired perfectly with a beautiful bottle of wine. A very good first attempt, but some room for improvement. Next time I will let it cook for another 5-10 minutes on the grill as this time while the rice had a great texture it didn't sit quite long enough to develop a crust on the bottom. I'll also wait until later in the cook to add the seafood, this time the shrimp and lobster were slightly overcooked, not tough by any means, but not quite as succulent as I would have liked.
Now that I have the pan and understand the technique I can see this becoming a go to party meal as the spectacle of dropping that heaping pile of deliciousness in the middle of a table full of people and letting them dive in would be an awful lot of fun!
Last night was my wife and my six year anniversary and earlier in the week she challenged me to create a meal that we could pair with the Flamenco. Being that we had a Spanish style wine, one thing immediately jumped to my mind. Paella!!! (it's a word that must be shouted)
While I had never made paella before I figured I could certainly do better than any of the mid to low quality restaurant paellas that I have had before. Being that 6-years is apparently the iron anniversary I went out and picked myself up a 15.5" carbon steel paella pan as a gift for myself. Then I got to work.
I began by infusing some homemade chicken stock with some saffron threads and lobster shells.
And then went out and lit up an overly full chimney of Kingsford Comp.
While that was heating up I gathered my other ingredients. Linguica sausage, chicken thighs, clams, shrimp and lobster. As well as a diced yellow onion a couple cloves of garlic, red and yellow bell peppers and a couple cups of arborrio rice.
Once the coals were properly ashed over I started by roasting the peppers so they could be peeled and sliced at the end.
Then my new pan went onto the grate.
And I added the chicken and sausage to brown up.
Once done I pulled the chicken and sausage and sweat the onions and garlic in the residual fat.
The added the rice to toast
and in goes the fortified stock.
I let that simmer for about 10 minutes and then added in the sausage and clams
and then the chicken.
After about 5 more minutes the clams started to open
So I added the lobster and shrimp to cook for what I figured would be the last 5 minutes or so of cooking.
As the last of the liquid was absorbed by the rice I did some garnishing with the peppers.
Into bowls it went and then directly down my gullet!
It was really delicious and paired perfectly with a beautiful bottle of wine. A very good first attempt, but some room for improvement. Next time I will let it cook for another 5-10 minutes on the grill as this time while the rice had a great texture it didn't sit quite long enough to develop a crust on the bottom. I'll also wait until later in the cook to add the seafood, this time the shrimp and lobster were slightly overcooked, not tough by any means, but not quite as succulent as I would have liked.
Now that I have the pan and understand the technique I can see this becoming a go to party meal as the spectacle of dropping that heaping pile of deliciousness in the middle of a table full of people and letting them dive in would be an awful lot of fun!
