Everyday Paella....any way you like it

I often tell people in my cooking classes that I love to cook, but I don't necessarily like to spend a lot of time doing it. That may have a little something to do with the fact that I also really love to EAT....get it into my belly now! So I work at creating dishes that are delcious and healthy, but also can be made quickly.  Paella is not one of them (it takes about an hour to prep and cook), but DANG is it good!  And because it's packed with veggies, rice, beans, and great proteins, it's all you really need to fix for dinner.  The ultimate one pot meal.

There are as many different versions of paella as there are cooks.  You can go from a completely vegetarian version all the way up to the traditional with pork, chicken, seafood and shellfish version.  The one constant is rice.  Any medium or short grain rice is acceptable; they absorb the liquid better than long grain rice.  That being said, I am partial to brown rice, but it takes quite a while to cook, so my preferred rice when making paella is arborio.  It will cook within 35 minutes and also creates a creamy texture, a bit like risotto.

Spring is my favorite season for paella, bacause I like to add asparagus, sugar snap peas and even fava beans to the mix.  This recipe doesn't include fava beans, because they need a bit of explanation....but I'll explain it here.  If you buy fava beans from the farmers' market early in the season (like now), they are very tender inside and only require a quick 3 minute blanching in boiling water.  Then cool and peel the skin away to reveal the tender bean inside.  People are under the impression that they are "hard to work with" because when you buy them later in the season or at the grocery store, where you have no idea about the freshness, the bean inside gets a tough coating around them that requires and extra step to remove.  So if you see them at the farmers' market in the next month, buy them and try them.  I'll try to post my fava bean dip recipe soon for a great first-timer's experience.

But until then......

Spring Paella
Serves 6

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 cups arborio rice

1 can diced tomatoes, drained  (reserve liquid to use if necessary)

¼ cup parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon saffron

2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup water

½  cup dry white wine

1 15-oz can garbanzo beans

1 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1” pieces

 2 carrots, diced

2 Italian chicken sausages, casing removed and crumbled in bite sized peices

½ lb peeled & deveinded shrimp

1/3 cup fresh peas (or frozen)

Salt & pepper to tast

• Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat.
•  Add onions and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.Add rice and sauté 2 minutes.
• Add tomatoes, parsley, garlic, paprika, and saffron, stirring to combine.
• Add broth, water and wine and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Add beans, asparagus and sausage.  Increase heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 15-20 more minutes, stirring often, until rice is tender.
• In the last few minutes add shrimp and peas.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

This one is worth the extra time....make a biiiig batch!

Hello Fava Bean

My sister took me to a book signing for Marie Simmons at Greens in the city.  Annie Somerville interpreted a few dishes from Annie's new vegetarian cookbook, Fast and Fresh Vegetarian.  One of the dishes was a creamy polenta with fava beans, English peas, and I forget what else - but it was fabulous!! I don't think I'd ever had a fava bean before and certainly had never cooked them ...Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter had made me completely uninterested.  When my sister said that she's never cooked them because "they're too much work," I heard a triple dog dare.

I was doing a cooking demo at the Sebastopol farmers' market the next weekend, so I asked one of the farmers that had fava beans, "I heard these are hard to deal with?"  He said, "yes."  Dang, could my sister be right?

Not giving up yet (sibling rivalry is great, isn't it?!), I approached another farmer later that week in Corte Madera.  When I said the same, "I hear these are hard to deal with," he quickly said "no."  And then he explained to me  that all I had to do was blanch them for a few minutes and the skins will easily break open and out comes the bean. Maybe late in the season the bean inside has a bit more coating to it and you would have to peel that off, but still, that doesn't seem like a lot of work to me.

I bought a bunch of beans and went home wondering what the heck to do with them.  Got to love Google.  After looking at a ton of recipes  (well, 4 or 5 is about my limit, really) I found an idea for a dip/spread and made a few adjustments to make my new Springtime friend....Fava Bean & Arugula Spread on Watermelon Radish:

By the way, watermelon radishes were new to me, too....but oh, how I love them .  Sooo pretty.

Oh yeah, and I win the triple dog dare.

Fava Bean & Arugula Spread                                                                             Makes 1 cup

1 pound fava beans

1 cup chopped arugula, divided

2 ounces goat cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Zest and juice from one lemon

¼ teaspoon salt

Pinch cayenne

¼ cup chopped radish

·         Bring a large pot of water to boil and add fava beans.

·         Cook 3 minutes, then plunge into a bowl of ice water to stop cooking.

·         Shell the beans and place in a food processor along with ½ cup arugula, goat cheese, dill, lemon juice & zest, salt and cayenne.  Blend until smooth paste forms.

·         Place mixture in a bowl and fold in remaining ½ cup of arugula and chopped radishes.

·         Serve on radish slices. (crostini works, too, but I always try to keep it veg-based)