PRONTO PAELLA

A Paramount Preparation To Pamper The Palate

Paella, the colourful, internationally known Spanish dish is a triumphal culinary rice preparation that developed in the fields by laborers using local foods. It is named after the wide shallow pan it is cooked in and can contain almost anything, including chicken, pork, shellfish, beans and peas; in short, whatever particular vittles you care to use. So what defines a paella? Olive oil, rice and saffron is the heart of a paella. Ask a hundred Spaniards what goes in a paella and you'll get 100 different answers, or more if they tell you how their mom or aunt makes it.

 

When the Moors ruled most of Spain, they popularized rice eating with the casseroles they prepared and subsequently established the custom of eating rice on that Iberian peninsula

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In Spain, families like to take a paella pan and the paella ingredients and picnic by building a fire and cooking the paella al fresco. When cooked, they all sit around the paellera and eat communally.

If you have ever tasted a paella, you know what an extraordinarily delectable dish it is but were perhaps put off by the tedious time-consuming effort required to prepare this precious gustatory sensation. I thought about this and have actually prepared a stripped down recipe that still tastes like a paella should. This paella pronto compares with classic paellas taste-wise and takes little time to prepare.

Pronto Paella            serves 4

 

Ingredients:

 

2 Tablespoons highest quality olive oil

2-3 links of hot Italian sausage (about a half pound) casings removed

1 Cup of medium-grain rice (not long-grain)

2 cups of clam broth, seafood stock or water

½ Teaspoon salt (omit if using seasoning mix below)

½ Cup white wine (optional)

 

 

1 Sixteen oz can of stewed tomatoes

1 Cup frozen shelled edamame, cut-up green beans or frozen peas, partially thawed

1 Pound of large (15-25) shrimp, shelled and deveined *

1 Red bell pepper (capsicum), cleaned and chopped

1 Tablespoon paella spice mix (see below) OR:

½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon smoked paprika. Less than 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves , ½ teaspoon saffron, and quarter teaspoon dried rosemary

 

Method:

 

 

• Heat a wide skillet (ten inch or wider) over medium- high flame and add the oil
• Put sausages in skillet and cook, breaking up as you stir, until browned
  • Remove the sausage to a bowl
  • Put the raw rice in the skillet, lower flame to medium heat
  • Stir the dry rice in the fat for a couple of minutes
  • Add the salt and broth,stock or water and turn up the flame
  • When liquid boils, lower heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes
  • Add wine if using
  • Add edamame or green beans and cook 5 minutes (if using peas, wait)
  • Add red pepper and tomatoes and spices and turn heat to boil
  • Add the shrimp, stir and when comes to boil, lower flame
  • Cook the shrimp three minutes only and then add the peas if using
  • Cook one minute, just to heat the peas
    * If you so desire, you could boil the shrimp shells in water to cover for ten minutes and make a lovely seafood shrimp broth.
  • I think this is pretty simple to prepare; a pretty paella made pronto. I hope you will try this paella soon and remember: once you have the olive oil, saffron and rice you can choose your own vegetables and meats or just vegetables only would be good.
  • Paella Seasoning Mix
    50 whole saffron stigmas
    4 Tablespoons paprika, Hungarian or Spanish or both
    1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
    2 Teaspoons onion powder
    1 ½ Teaspoons garlic powder
    1 Teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
    1 Teaspoon dried rosemary
    2 teaspoons salt
  •  
  • Thoroughly combine all and store in an airtight jar.
  •  
  • The Moors (Muslims originating from North Africa) did a lot of good in Spain. They encouraged learning and the arts. Although the rest of Europe was mired in the dark ages, the Moors studied and kept alive the works of the classical Greeks and Romans. The Moors are also responsible for the exquisite architecture to be found in Spain. Not only did the Moors introduce rice from Asia to Spain, they also started the cultivation of oranges and a complex system of irrigation that made Spain a prosperous group of kingdoms. They were expelled right before Christopher Columbus set sail for India. But you can enjoy the fruits of the rice they favoured
  •  
    Happy eating
     
    

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ITALIAN SAUSAGE BEANS AND RIGATONI

 

 

 

 

A Righteous Rapid Rustic Rigatoni Recipe

There are hundreds of different Italian pasta (we used to call them “macaroni”) shapes. Of them all, one shape I have always particularly liked is rigatoni.

 

Years ago in New York City, there used to be these Horn and Hardhart Automats. They were restaurants where everything was in individual compartments behind glass doors. You inserted a coin and opened a small door to obtain your selection. One of their most popular items was macaroni and cheese made with rigatoni. It was a best seller. In that succulent cheese sauce were little specks of red, which were tiny flecks of tomato, and the relatively large macaroni tubes were flush with luscious, molten, cheese goodness. Once tasted, you couldn't forget that luscious rigatoni.

Nowadays, a lot of folks' macaroni and cheese is rapidly made from a blue cardboard box with elbow macaroni and an envelope of orange-coloured “cheese” powder, which requires quite a bit of butter to prepare. But yes, that crafty boxed food is quick to make. Some people “doctor the dish” by adding grated cheese and maybe some breadcrumbs and then slide it under the broiler for a minute or two. Yes, it is swiftly prepared. However, a profoundly more substantial and delectable rigatoni can be rigged up, Italian style, almost as casually, by tossing in a can of beans, some Italian sausage and a few other items.

Quick to prepare and vastly more toothsome than that boxed mac 'n cheese, this Italian sausage and beans and rigatoni dish is something to keep in your kitchen repertoire for those days when you want a tasty, full-flavoured meal but lack extra time to create it. You can doubly savor this meal because its lovely taste belies its ease of preparation. If you have some Italian sausage, spinach and a can of beans you are almost ready already.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE, BEANS AND RIGATONI serves 4

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 pound Italian sausage (hot or mild), put in the freezer for ten minutes, sliced lengthwise and then crosswise into half moons

½ teaspoon fennel seeds (optional but nice)

4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

8-10 ounces chicken stock or broth

10 ounce box of frozen spinach, partially thawed, or a 5 oz. bag of fresh baby spinach (so tender you can include the stalks)

1 can (10-15oz) great northern, cannelloni or pinto beans, rinsed and drained (I used pinto)

½ cup or more grated asiago, provolone or parmesan cheese

Parmesan cheese for individual diners to sprinkle on their dish

¾ teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon oregano

Heaping ¼- teaspoon dried red pepper flakes or black pepper

1 pound rigatoni

Method:

• Heat the oil in a big skillet or large saucepan
• Put in the sausage slices and fennel ( if using) and fry, stirring until sausage is browned
• Add the broth and garlic, bring to boiling and then lower heat
• Stir in the spinach, beans, cheese and seasonings
• Stir in the rigatoni
• Cover and gently cook the rigatoni (about ten minutes) stir intermittingly
• If spinach and bean mixture appears dry, add some water to the saucepan
• Test rigatoni for doneness; taste for salt and adjust accordingly                                                                                                                                  
  There it is: Italian beans, sausage and rigatoni; a grand, pleasing, nourishing meal that is quick and easy to put together. We hope you will enjoy it soon.