Paella is a Spanish Rice Dish Originated in Valencia Spain

 What is Paella?https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/paella/

Paella is a traditional Spanish rice dish that is cooked in a wide, shallow pan and typically features a combination of meats, seafood, and vegetables. Although paella originated in Valencia, it has become popular throughout Spain and around the world, leading to various regional and personal adaptations. Different versions may include a variety of meats and seafood, vegetables, and distinct seasonings, while still sharing many common elements.

A key feature of paella is the socarrat, the crispy layer of rice that forms at the bottom of the pan during cooking. Many people cherish this part of the dish and often compete for the crispy bits.

My version is known as Paella Mixta, which combines both meats and seafood. You can easily modify this recipe by omitting the meats and focusing solely on seafood, or customizing it in any way you prefer.

One prized element of paella is called the socarrat, which is the crispy layer of rice that develops on the bottom of the pan during cooking. Many people enjoy it and even fight over the crispy bits.

Paella Ingredients

Saffron. Soaked in water to let the flavor bloom. Saffron is the most important spice in paella, really defining the dish.

Chicken Broth. Or use chicken stock or vegetable broth.

Olive Oil.

Vegetables. Onion, bell peppers (or use hotter peppers to your preference, though Spanish paella is not meant to be a hot and spicy dish), garlic, and tomatoes.

Chicken. I use chicken thigh, though chicken breast is good, too.

Spanish Chorizo. This is controversial to some Spanish cooks, but I prefer it.

Seasonings. Spanish paprika (I prefer smoked paprika, though hot or sweet are great, too), red chili flakes (optional, for spicy), salt, bay leaf, and parsley. See my post on What is Paprika to learn more about your paprika options.

Spanish Rice. See recipe notes.

Seafood. Shrimp and mussels. You can use other seafood as well. See the recipe notes.

Garnish. Extra red pepper flakes, fresh chopped parsley, and lemon.

Paella in a pan, ready to serve 

How to Make Paella - the Recipe Method

Bloom the Saffron. Add the pinch of saffron to a small bowl and cover with 1/4 cup of water to let the saffron bloom.

Heat the Chicken Broth. Add the chicken broth to a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until needed.

Cook Meats and Vegetables. While the broth is heating, heat the oil in a large skillet or pan (I use a large paella pan) over medium heat.

Add the onion, peppers, chicken, and Spanish chorizo sausage. Cook for 8 minutes to soften the vegetables and cook the chicken mostly through.

Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Cooking vegetables, chicken, and chorizo to make paella 

Tomatoes and Seasonings. Stir in the tomatoes, saffron (with water), paprika, chili flakes (if using), and salt. Cook for 3 minutes.

Add the Rice. Add the rice and cook for 1 minute to lightly brown the rice.

Adding Spanish rice to the paella pan 

Add Hot Broth. Pour in the hot chicken broth and shake the pan to distribute. Do not stir the rice, as we want it to cook evenly and develop a crispy bottom.

Sprinkle in the parsley and add the bay leaves.

Simmer the Paella. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed the liquid and is tender to your preference. You may need a bit longer, depending on the heat.

Simmering paella in a large pan 

If the rice is not yet tender, add a bit more chicken broth as needed and cook a bit longer.

Cook the Seafood. Tuck the shrimp and mussels into the top of the rice and cover - use a large lid or aluminum foil.

Cook for 5 minutes, or until the shrimp and mussels cook through, and a crispy crust forms on the bottom of the pan. This is the socarrat, which many people love.

For Serving. Remove from heat, garnish with red pepper flakes, fresh parsley, lemon juice, and serve.

Paella in a pan with lots of seafood 

Boom! Done! Your paella is ready to serve. Easy enough to make, isn't it? Serve it as a flavorful side dish, or make an extra batch and serve it as your main.

Recipe Tips & Notes

Best Rice for Paella

Short-grain rice is essential for good paella, as it absorbs liquid more easily and cooks evenly. Look for Bomba Rice, which is a short-grain Spanish rice, often referred to as Valencia rice.

If you are unable to find it in the grocery store, look for a good-quality short-grain rice. You can use medium-grain rice if you must, but definitely do not use long-grain rice.

Arborio rice is often mentioned as a substitute, but arborio rice is a creamier rice ideal for risotto, so I personally would not use it.

Best Seafood for Paella

Shrimp and mussels are ideal for a good seafood paella, though you have many options. Consider scallops, crab, flaky fish, squid or calamari, clams, or others. I've made it with crawfish and loved it.

Paella is one of those dishes that is so easy to change up to your preference, as many cooks around the world do. Feel free to add in other vegetables, such as green peas, sweet corn, spicy chilies, fresh herbs, and more.

I add chicken and Spanish chorizo, but other meats are welcome here, such as pork, duck, rabbit, or ground meats, and even tofu. You can also skip the meats and serve a seafood paella very easily.

You can also deglaze the pan with white wine before adding the rice to develop the flavors differently.

Why Boil the Chicken Broth?

Heating your chicken broth before adding it to the rice will save you cooking time, as the broth will already be to temperature when added. It also ensures a more even cook and consistency of the rice, which is important in making a good paella.

Good rice is key. If you add cold chicken broth, you'll need extra time to heat it through, and you may encounter inconsistencies throughout the pan. I prefer to heat the broth through before adding.

The Socarrat - Crispy Rice

When you leave the paella pan cooking on your stove top, especially over an open flame, the rice at the bottom of the pan will crisp up and darken. This is called the "socarrat", and it is prized by traditional paella lovers.

Socarrat means "to singe". It is very much like "pegao" at the bottom of a pan of Puerto Rican Arroz con Pollo.

Some might consider this scorched rice at the bottom of the pan a mistake, but others love it and consider paella properly made only when the socarrat is achieved.

You can skip it if desired, or turn up the heat during the last few minutes of cooking to crisp up the bottom layer of rice. Just be careful not to burn it.

Paella Pan - You can use a large pan to make paella, but a paella pan makes it so much better.

Paella in a pan with mussels, shrimp, sausage, and chicken 

My favorite paella recipe is loaded with lots of Spanish rice, chicken, chorizo, shrimp and more, huge on flavor, easy to make, and perfect for a crowd.

 Course: Main Course Cuisine: Spanish Keyword: rice, saffron, seafood, Spanish rice  Prep Time: 15minutes minutes Cook Time: 40minutes minutes  

Ingredients

1 pinch saffron

6 cups chicken broth + more as needed

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large bell pepper chopped (use jalapeno or other for spicier)

1/2 pound chicken chopped (use thigh or breast)

1/2 pound Spanish chorizo sliced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon Spanish paprika, I use smoked

1 teaspoon red chili flakes, optional, for spicy

Salt to taste

2 cups Spanish Rice Bomba Rice

3 tablespoon parsley chopped + more for garnish

2 bay leaves

1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 pound mussels cleaned and debearded

For Serving. Fresh chopped parsley, red chili flakes, and lemon

Instructions

Add the pinch of saffron to a small bowl and cover with 1/4 cup of water to let the saffron bloom.

Add the chicken broth to a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until needed.

While the broth is heating, heat the oil in a large pan (I use a large paella pan) to medium heat.

Add the onion, peppers, chicken, and Spanish chorizo sausage. Cook for 8 minutes to soften the vegetables and cook the chicken mostly through.

Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Stir in the tomatoes, saffron (with water), paprika, chili flakes (if using), and salt. Cook for 3 minutes.

Add the rice and cook for 1 minute to lightly brown the rice.

Pour in the hot chicken broth and shake the pan to distribute. Do not stir the rice, as we want it to cook evenly and develop a crispy bottom.

Sprinkle in the parsley and add the bay leaves.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed the liquid and is tender to your preference. If the rice is not yet tender, add a bit more chicken broth as needed and cook a bit longer.

Tuck the shrimp and mussels into the top of the rice and cover - use a large lid or aluminum foil.

Cook for 5 minutes, or until the shrimp and mussels cook through, and a crispy crust forms on the bottom of the pan. This is the socarrat, which many people love.

Remove from heat, garnish, and serve.

Whole Roasted Cauliflower

 https://www.wholesomeyum.com/whole-roasted-cauliflower-recipe/

Ingredients

1 head Cauliflower

1/3 cup Olive oil

3 cloves Garlic (crushed)

1/4 cup Grated Parmesan cheese (divided)

1 tsp Dried basil

1 tsp Dried parsley

1 tsp Dried thyme

1/2 tsp Sea salt (or more to taste)

1/4 tsp Black pepper

Whole Roasted Cauliflower

With a golden garlic parmesan topping, this roasted cauliflower head looks impressive, but it's easy to make with simple ingredients.

Did you know you can roast a cauliflower head without cutting it apart? I love roasted cauliflower florets, but they compare to my whole roasted cauliflower recipe when I want an impressive main or side dish. And while it makes a stunning addition to a special dinner (like Christmas or Thanksgiving — one of my go-to holiday sides), it’s so easy to enjoy any night of the week.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (204 degrees C).

Rinse the cauliflower head and pat dry. Remove the outer leaves. Carefully cut off the bottom so that it and most of the woody stem are removed, being careful not to cut off so much that it falls apart. Be sure the head stays intact.

In a small bowl, make the garlic Parmesan sauce. Add olive oil, minced garlic, 2 tablespoons (28.3 grams), grated Parmesan (half the total), basil, parsley, thyme, sea salt, and black pepper.

Place the trimmed cauliflower head upside down (core side up) in a 6-quart (5.6 liters) Dutch oven. Drizzle half of the sauce over the cauliflower, tilting it to let it drip down the core and all around. Flip over and drizzle the remaining sauce over the top. Use a pastry brush to brush on any dripping down to the pan.

Cover the Dutch oven with a lid and bake for 35-45 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender and pierces easily with a skewer, knife, or fork.

Remove the lid. Sprinkle the top of the cauliflower with the remaining 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese. Place the cauliflower under the broiler and broil for about 5 minutes until the cheese is browned.

Clipping Files: Party Planning

Loiter Galleries in Long Beach California "Food as a Social Construct," Salon

The trick? Hire a winery or mixologist to add a tasting with each course or have an open bar.

It gives each table something to discuss, and adding something interactive takes the focus off discussing work.

With the holiday party season starting to rev up, take cues from expert party planners, whether you’re throwing your fete or attending your company’s annual bash. 

I absolutely love glassware! However, the gallery decided to go with earthware for dinner instead.

Planning a party

If you’re the mastermind behind a big corporate shindig or an intimate gathering of friends, here are some tips from the pros to carry it off without a glitch.

Think location and space and build out of that. 

• An invitation initially sets the tone for the event to come. “Everyone should send one, even for the annual holiday party. At the very least, you should design a charismatic email (or flyer) if you’re set on using electronic invites. Plain text emails don’t make anyone want to celebrate!” 

• Quality food and good music are always the most important components of an event; Décor and atmosphere are next in line. 

• Add the “WOW” factor by enlisting an unexpected entertainer to do an unforgettable giveaway or adding one element/interactive activity that engages the guest. 

• Timing is everything. On weeknights, the guiding maxim is: “The earlier, the better.” On weekends, “definitely after 7:30 pm.” Sunday afternoons, 2pm - 5pm are good times for a Salon small intimate brunch.

• Create an “experience,” not a theme. Have an activity woven throughout the event. Parties involving adults tend to be more upscale in direction and tone. 

• Go all out. It’s increasingly popular for even more traditional corporations and associations to ‘buy out’ entire nightclubs and restaurants to host private company outings or momentous celebrations. Guests enjoy that VIP feeling when the boss closes down a Chicago venue. It leaves partygoers on a high that lingers well past the actual event.”  

• Lastly, and most importantly- have fun planning it.

AS A GUEST:

While the party is intended for you, you must follow some rules, especially if you want to be invited back. 

Know what’s fashionably late. The rules depend on the event, but generally speaking, you should “arrive within an hour of the invitation’s start time. Longer than that is rude. At a strictly corporate event, however, there’s no such thing as fashionably late. You miss the opportunity to socially connect with your host if you arrive too late than the time specified on the invitation. Regardless of the theme and location, the event is still a business gathering and should be treated as such. 

Bring Something:

First, don’t forget your identification. You never know if you’ll need it. And if you’re going to a person’s home, whether it be the partner’s swank pad or a co-worker's condo, don’t go empty-handed. Bring a bottle of wine, candles, or some other consumable product. It’s a good idea to wrap it up for them to open later so they don’t feel pressured to serve it that night. 

Please keep it in check. 

“Business is business, after all.” Arrive on time, dress appropriately, and don’t drink too much. Nothing is worse than embarrassing yourself- you will hear about it long after the party season ends. People need to remember that corporate is not your birthday party! Have fun, but remember that your reputation with colleagues is more valuable than your dance solo on the lounge tables. 

I copied this article, ' Tis The Season to Party,’ by Danielle Tuffier, a writer at the TCW, in October. 

The River East Art Center recently hosted a sit-down dinner for 250 stakeholders. With that many business-minded folks in one room, the caterer took on the challenge of helping steer the conversation away from focusing solely on annual reports and bottom lines. In effect, they wanted to inject some fun.

Today's Chicago Woman (TCW) is a magazine for professional women in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1982 and covers careers, finances, health, food, and wine. TCW also features profiles of notable Chicago women. 

Caryl Henry Alexander, Curator "Oasis in the Woods," Long Beach, CA.

Supper Club- How to Start Your Own

I'm proud to announce that my daughter, Jazmin Davis, has found her niche. She loves entertaining, cooking, and fellow-sipping with her friends. So she thought, "Why not open my own business?". If you are in the Baltimore area and need an event planner or want to join her for supper, give her a call, (410) 834-1534 or by email, JDEvents7@gmail.com. 

JD Events presents A Supper Club. Explore the delicacy that is Baltimore's food scene.

The first in a series of stops at local restaurants. Try local gems and hidden treasures. 

The Olive Room opens its doors for the first Supper Club gathering. Enjoy an exquisite culinary experience for $35 per person. Stay tuned for menu details

An underground restaurant, sometimes known as a supper club or closed-door restaurant, is a social dining establishment operated out of someone's home, generally (though not invariably) bypassing local zoning and health-code regulations. They are, in effect, paying for dinner parties. They are usually advertised by word of mouth or guerrilla advertising, often on Facebook, and may require references to make a reservation. An underground restaurant is also known as a GUEST restaurant, which is a hybrid between being a guest at a dinner party and a restaurant.

Underground restaurants are popular in Latin America, where they're known as either a paladar or a restaurante de puertas cerradas (closed-door restaurant). Depending on local licensing laws, they may or may not be illegal; either way, they've been built into the culture for decades, and often have higher standards than many licensed establishments.^[1] They are becoming increasingly popular in the U.S.^[2]

The attraction of the underground restaurant for the customer is the opportunity to sample new food, often at low cost outside the traditional restaurant experience,^[3] which can be expensive and disappointing—underground restaurants have been described as "anti-restaurants." They also generally provide a more intimate, dinner party-style experience. For the host, the benefit is to make some money and experiment with cooking without being required to invest in a restaurant proper. "It's literally like playing restaurant," one host told the San Francisco Chronicle, "You can create the event, and then it's over."^[4]

101 How to Organize Your Own Supper Club- Cooking Light.

Organize. Take a little time at that first meeting to agree on your club's basic structure. Will you rotate houses and have potlucks? Or will you cook all or some of each meal together? Remember to exchange contact information.

One idea is to have your first meeting on neutral ground: a restaurant or coffeehouse where you can relax together as you get to know one another. Early topics for discussion: How often to meet? Where to meet? Where will recipes come from? Talk about whether it makes sense for your group to cook together at meetings or to divvy up the work and each bring a course.

Plan to meet when you have more time to relax, such as a Friday or Saturday night. That way, you can relax and visit some. And keep in mind that anyone, regardless of skill level,l can join in the prep work.

Be flexible. All members may not make it to every gathering, so some meetings could be small, intimate affairs, while others will be bigger events. And although it's called a "supper club," consider other types of meetings, such as a Sunday brunch, a casual weekday lunch, or a weekend cocktail-and-appetizers fete. Less formal affairs may be easier to fit into some members' busy schedules.

Remember why you're there. What makes supper clubs most enjoyable is how supportive the members are of one another's cooking.

Tips from the Pros.
We checked in with long-running groups to find out their tips for starting a club.

Allow time for the group to click. It may take supper club members up to three meetings to feel really comfortable.

Keep talking. "I think communication is key, and the nature of a supper club makes it imperative that everyone has a functional e-mail," says Diana Wilder, a member of a club near Hartford, Connecticut.

Set standards. "It's important to have some nearly set-in-stone things to work around," says Wilder. "In the Hartford supper club's case, the second Tuesday of the month is meeting day, and as it approaches, people can start considering what to do."

Remember that dividends pay off. "We now all bring empty Tupperware dishes to each dinner so we can take home all the yummy leftovers," says Becky Molloy of her Cincinnati supper club.

The menu selection is a democratic process for Nicole Van Doren and her group in Annapolis, Maryland. "The host suggests three menus by e-mail, and we vote on our favorite."

Keep the overhead low, like Peggy Cawley's club in Rocky River, Ohio. "We share costs by keeping track of expenses and dividing evenly at each meeting," Peggy says. "This is less complicated than you might think and prevents any one person from absorbing too much of the cost."

Have fun with themes. Andrea Myers and her San Diego group allow the host to determine the theme. They've had French and Italian. "However, we're not limited to cultural choices. Other ideas include finger foods -where every course can be eaten with your hands -and things your mother used to make -but only if you can find a lighter version from the CL Web site, magazine, or cookbooks!"

Want to learn more about wine? Theresa Bober of Franklin, Massachusetts, and her group use their gathering to learn more about pairing wine and food. "We have all brought new wines, and I have found several new wines that I like," Theresa says. "Keeping track allows us to buy a new wine for other occasions."

Take a night off. "Our rule is that the host does not cook (unless she wants to)," says Elizabeth Fortune of Charlottesville, Virginia. "Typically, the host will provide beverages. It is enough work getting your house ready for guests without having to cook."

Thanks for the memories. Janie Vincente of Princeton, New Jersey, reports, "We take a group photo at every meal to commemorate our accomplishments. We're creating a memory book so when the year is up, we can look back and laugh at our menus, mishaps, and triumphs."

The Internet is a useful tool. "We use a website to manage the menu to make sure we have some of everything (appetizers, side dishes, dessert, and drinks)," says Alycen McAuley of San Francisco.