One of my favorites is "Avec Eric" which is Eric Ripert's cooking show. He usually has a couple of segments one usually is him either with a farmer, cultivator or artisan of some sort and the other he cooks something. Frequently his preparations use expensive ingredients, which most cooking shows do, and last week was no exception. On this particular episode he made Paella. I had never made it prior to last week and never realized how easy it is. It is however pretty freaking expensive given the price of seafood and saffron, but totally worth it for a special occasion.
I more or less followed his recipe but deviated a little bit.
I didn't use authentic bomba rice, not only because I haven't a clue as to where to procure that in Buffalo but because frankly I doubt I would notice a difference from any quality short grain rice that is available to me anyway. If I made it again I would definitely not even bother with the saffron at all. I don't really see what people love about saffron. It has a strange plastic taste to me. Considering the cost I don't really see any reason to use it ever again. I also think it would taste a little better if I had used homemade chicken stock, but I can't be bothered to boil chicken bones constantly.
I would like to make it for a large group and think it would be so much cooler if it were cooked over and open flame. Totally a dinner for company you want to impress with your cooking skills. Anyway here is the final result:
This entry is right in my wheelhouse. I also love PBS on Saturdays although I haven't seen Avec Eric yet. Would love to check out his restaurant one day. Also agree that Paella is most fun outdoors, with friends. Lastly, I don't get saffron either. Ain't all that.
That looks absolutely fabulous. Way to go!
i heart Eric Ripert!
Oh, and your dish looks very pretty! :D
I used Saffron from Spain. This recipe called for 1/2 Tbsp of saffron. Probably way too much in retrospect. I have always wanted to try Iranian Saffron because it is also supposed to be great. But I was a little turned off by Saffron in general after this. The white shell around the outside are little neck clams and the black ones on the inside are mussels. This is the recipe I used: :::link:::
Are those shells seafood of some kind? What was the recipe?
Saffron from Kashmir is the best spice ever. You only need 3-4 strands for the entire dish like that. Are you sure you didn't use too much. The power of saffron lies in how subtle its taste it.. I love saffron milk where you just put in 1-2 strands in boiling milk, add some honey and black pepper and drink it. :)