or catch up, since no ketchup was actually consumed in the creation of this post...

I finally saw fit to dose out one of the last episodes of the "Spain, On the Road Again" series from PBS. I've had them saved on my DVR for months and months, and every episode is just such insane eye candy that I was having to ration myself so as not to cause brain implosion with my lust for all things Espana.

Anyway. It was the Valencia episode, and G.P. and Mario paid a visit to the official "Zen Paella Master", who showcased a completely NOT by the books method of cooking Paella that I just had to try rightawayquick. It seemed like blasphemy, this zen masters' method, but since I've cooked quite a bit of paella in the past and never been 100% satisifed with the results I figured it would be well worth the try.

So, finding ourselves free for the long Fourth of July weekend, I took it upon myself to plan us a little paella feast, made a run to replenish my stock of Bomba rice and pimenton and busted out my paella pan and burner.

Check out this deliciousness, complete with a freshly muddled mojito and some amazingly crisp, sweet snap peas from our CSA:

not only is it the best looking pan of paella I've ever made, it was the tastiest and most perfect, too! Turns out the zen master is on to something with his method of adding the stock to the sofrito and bringing it to a boil before adding the rice.

In fact, that shrimp and scallop batch was so amazing that we ate every bite of it and still couldn't stop obsessing. So I had to make another pan for Sunday dinner the next night, this time with chorizo and artichoke hearts and the snap peas cooked tender-crisp:


Best and most delicious of all, it was absolutey zero effort. Seriously like 30 minutes of work total including prep! I'm waiting on my re-up of saffron or I'd have made it again already, because it's really the perfect, cook-outdoors summer meal that I don't think I'd ever get sick of.

Labels: cooking, food, fourth of july 2009, paella