Penelope Casas' Pebbled Paella
Penelope Casas is certainly America's foremost authority on Spanish food. It has been many years now that she's taken groups on culinary tours through Spain. She has written a guide book to Spain, Discovering Spain: An Uncommon Guide, and four cookbooks on Spanish cooking, including her latest, Paella. (Click on the Amazon.com logo on this page and you can do a search on Penelope Casas and get full descriptions of all her books. For information about her culinary trips, call 800-SPAIN- 20)
Penelope bemoaned the quality of the paellas we get in American restaurants. They are usually made with long grain rice, which is not at all like the rice used in a paella in Spain. Paella rice is very similar to Italian Arborio rice, the rice used for risotto, and, in fact, you can substitute Arborio perfectly for paella rice. That's often a necessity since paella rice, although now finally available in the U.S., is still difficult to find in comparison to Arborio.
Penelope and I got to talk briefly about other Spanish products that are finally becoming available in the U.S., too. Serrano ham, which is a dense, nutty, complex flavored product had a shaky introduction here a year and a half ago. Government inspections or something interrupted its distribution. But I'm beginning to see it at fine specialty food stores again. Estate bottled extra virgin olive oils from Spain are enjoying a vogue. They are golden in color and lighter in flavor than the green and peppery Tuscan oils that have been popular for several years now. And for the moment they are must less expensive. Penelope also pointed out that Spanish smoked paprika, which is such a defining flavor in many Spanish dishes, is now being sold in the U.S., too.
A mail order source she suggests for any Spanish food product is The Spanish Table, 1427 Western Ave., Seattle Washington, 98101. Call for information: (206) 682-2827. (More on this after I've seen the catalog myself.)
Following is one of the 60 incredibly varied paella recipes in "Paella," which also has recipes for first courses and appetizers so you can compose Spanish menus around you main course rice dishes. (I don't understand why Penelope instructs us with different times and temperatures for gas and electric ovens, but I for one always follow instructions -- at least the first time around.)
Bean Pebbled Paella
(Arroz Empedrat)
Serves 6 to 8
A very colorful rice with a pebbled appearance obtained from the abundance of different colored beans that make up this paella. Aside from the touch of cured ham, this is a strictly vegetable paella made especially tasty by the addition of Swiss chard and cumin.
2/3 cup each canned chickpeas, pinto beans, red beans, and black beans (reserve all the can liquid except from the black beans)
About 4 1/2 cups chicken broth, canned or homemade, or vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon crumbled thread saffron
8 tablespoons olive oil
2 bunches scallions (about 1/2 pound), trimmed and finely chopped
12 cloves garlic, minced
2 red bell peppers, finely chopped
3 cups well-washed, dried and chopped Swiss chard leaves
6 tablespoons (about 6 ounces) diced Spanish Serrano ham or prosciutto, cut from a 1/4-inch thick slice
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
2 tablespoons minced parsley
2 teaspoons sweet paprika (preferably Spanish smoked paprika)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 cups imported Spanish or Arborio short grain rice
Kosher or sea salt
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees for a gas oven or 450 degrees for electric.
Drain the beans and reserve the liquid from all the cans except the black beans. Rinse the beans. Combine the bean liquid in the pot with enough broth to make 6 cups. Add the saffron and keep hot over the lowest heat.
Heat the oil in a paella pan measuring 17 to 18 inches at its widest point (or in a shallow casserole of a similar size), over two burners if necessary. Saute the scallions, garlic, red peppers, Swiss chard, and ham over medium heat, until the peppers are slightly softened. Add the tomato and parsley, and cook 1 to 2 minutes, then add the paprika and cumin.
Stir in the rice and coat well with the pan mixture. Pour in the hot broth and bring to a boil. Add the beans, taste for salt, and continue to boil, stirring and rotating the pan occasionally, until the rice is no longer soupy but sufficient liquid remains to continue cooking the rice, about 5 minutes.
Transfer to the oven and cook, uncovered, 10 to 12 minutes in a gas oven, 15 to 20 minutes in electric, until the rice is almost al dente. Remove to a warm spot, cover with foil, and let sit 5 to 10 minutes, until the rice is cooked to taste.
About Arthur: The New York Times Magazine called Arthur Schwartz “a walking Google of food and restaurant knowledge.” As the restaurant critic and executive food editor of the New York Daily News, which he was for 18 years, he was called The Schwartz Who Ate New York. Nowadays, he is best known as The Food Maven, the name of his website. Whatever the sobriquet, he is acknowledged as one of the country’s foremost experts on food, cooking, culinary history, restaurants, and restaurant history.
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