After graduating from college, I did the typical bumming around Europe trip: Sleeping in cramped youth hostels, trying to get the maximum mileage out of my rail pass, eating on the cheap. In Spain, it was possible to eat very well on a student budget and that's where I first fell in love with paella.
This beautifully fragrant, wildly flavorful rice and meat/seafood combo is the country's national dish and different regions have different variations. But one constant is the pan in which it's made, large and wide, so the rice can cook properly. It's handsome, too, the dish is often served tableside in Spanish restaurants.
While I've successfully mastered risotto in my own kitchen -- one of the secrets is to keep a large pitcher of hot stock at the ready, not to stir too much and to used canaroli rice instead of arborio (!) -- paella has never been on the home menu because I've never had a proper paella pan. That's why I was thrilled to receive a hot-off-the-foundry sample from Lodge to try. Interestingly, this Tennessee-based company that gives a good name to Made in the U.S.A. products, is promoting the pan's versatility: "It's for more than paella!"
Yeah, right. Still, I had to break this seasoned carbon steel pan in with a classic recipe. While at Pike Place Market, I picked up ingredients, including Bomba rice from The Spanish Table and a pound of mussels from my go-to fishmonger. I even asked to look at the harvest tag, but when I got the shellfish home and started to pull the beards off, they smelled stinky! There goes the mussel paella. Just 30 minutes before dinner and I was scrambling.
As I often do, I opened my pantry and stared at the shelves, searching for inspiration. Ah, a can of kidney beans. That would add some heft to the mixture of saucy saffron-spiked rice, green peas, red bell peppers, onions and garlic. Not classic, but not bad. It looked pretty in the pan, too, especially with chopped fresh tomatoes on top, the whole mix drizzled in olive oil.
I'll definitely give the alternative recipes a whirl, but I have a feeling paella will be No. 1!
-- Leslie Kelly
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