Pork rib and Scallion Paëlla
The Paëlla Club
The sultry jazzy sound of Spanish Flamenco singer, Buika, greets us as we enter the door of The Paella Club, in the heart of the Barri Gòtic, in Barcelona. Tonight is about cooking, eating, drinking, music and making new friends. Alex hosts his 3000th class as enthusiastically as he did his first. The 10 of us (from Wales, the Netherlands and California) will be cooking traditional Spanish paella together. We pick a station and start by sautéing whole garlic and lemon rind until it’s golden and then into the hot pan the whole shrimp sizzle and crack.
Alex moves among us, deglazing our pans with white wine and repeating, “guys, this is love and wine, love and wine.” He chooses our dish for demonstration. Taking our wooden spoon, he says’ “Now, I‘m gonna be doin’ diz, I’ma gonna make a hole in the center, and my dear you’re gonna help me out. Olive oil goes to the center, now dis is spices, dump them in the center and wit the tip of the spoon we’re gonna mix it up nice and easy in the middle, right there, nice and easy very gentle, an ina bout 5 secons your gonna starta smellin’ all the benefits. We call dis bloomin’ de spices”.
Rice is added and fully mixed into the safrito, followed by fish broth. And then we wait, stirring in a small circular motion across the paella pan. When the mixture becomes thick and gelatinous, we take the handles firmly and “shakea shakea” for 60 seconds. Then, we wait again. The smoke begins to smell like burnt toast as the rice caramelizes, and we’re left with a perfectly crusty crispy layer of “socarrat”.
Below is a recipe from class. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 3 lbs St. Louis style pork ribs
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary or sage
- 1/2 white onion – chopped
- 3-4 scallions – chopped
- 1 package white mushrooms
- 15 oz. finely chopped tomatoes (Pomi)
- 3/4 cup red wine
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3/4 cup short grain Valencia rice (Mahatma)
- 2 tsp sweet paprika – divided
- 1 TBS tapioca flour
- pinch of saffron powder
- salt
- Olive oil
Method
Preheat oven to 395 degrees. Dry rub your meat with salt , tapioca flour and sweet paprika. Set aside.
Heat a 16″ paella pan over medium heat. Add olive oil, garlic clove and rosemary sprigs and sauté until golden. Remove and reserve for later. Sear the meat for 4-5 minutes on each side and remove.
To begin the sofrito, add a little more olive oil to the pan. Finely mince the sautéed garlic clove. Add onion and garlic and cook until caramelized. Add the scallions and cook 2 or 3 minutes, constantly move your ingredients around to evenly distribute the heat.
Move the ingredients to the side of the pan, add more oil if necessary, and add the mushrooms and cook 2-3 minutes. Mix all of the ingredients together.
Deglaze the pan with the red wine. When the alcohol has evaporated, add the tomatoes and allow the mixture to reduce until it reaches a jam like texture (2 minutes). Bloom your spices by making a small well in the center of the mixture, add a little olive oil and place the saffron powder and remainder of sweet paprika into it. When the spices begin to bubble and become fragrant, incorporate them into the sofrito.
Add in the rice and combine and cook in the sauce for 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and mix well, and slowly take the temperature up to a medium heat , making small circular motions across the circumference of the pan and cook for 5-7 minutes. When the starch has been extracted from the rice, the mixture will become thick and gelatinous.
Using the handles, keep the pan firmly on the stove top and shake it slowly for 60 seconds until the mixture is evenly spread out across the pan.
In order to achieve the crispy layer of rice “socarrat”, leave the pan on the stove on a medium heat. The smoke released from the center of the pan will indicate that the rice is caramelizing properly. When the smoke begins to smell like burnt toast, turn the heat off. Place the meat very delicately on top of the rice, do not press into the rice or stir it.
Cook the paella in the oven at 395 degrees for 15 minutes.
Drizzle olive oil and serve.
