Spain Spanish Cuisine Typical Spanish meals

Spain

Spanish Cuisine • Typical Spanish meals include almonds, ham and beans. They also use cheese from goats and sheep rather than dairy cows. The Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea provide a selection of seafood and shellfish. From the New World, Spanish cooks added tomatoes, potatoes and chocolate. They also rely heavily on olives.

Paella de Marisco - Seafood Paella

Ingredients: • 1 yellow onion, diced • • • 2 medium tomatoes, diced 1 whole chicken or 8 chicken drumsticks 1 1/2 lbs pork loin (fat trimmed), cut into ¾ inch pieces 1/2 lb calamar (squid) cleaned and sliced into rings Medium grain or "pearl" rice * 4 -6 cups chicken broth 1 large pinch Saffron 1 1/2 lbs raw mussels in shell (frozen or fresh) 1 lb small clams (frozen or fresh) 1 1/2 lbs raw shrimp, medium or large shell on 1 red pepper seeded and sliced 1 10 oz. pkg frozen peas Olive Oil, Salt to Taste • • •

Preparation: • Cut the Chicken and Pork into Serving. Size Pieces - You'll need one whole chicken, cut into serving-size pieces or 8 chicken drumsticks. If you use a whole chicken, use a meat cleaver to cut the chicken into pieces small enough to easily mix while sautéing. • With a sharp knife, cut the pork into 3/4" pieces. • Clean the squid and remove the tentacles. Make sure to remove the innards and the "spine" and discard. Then, cut the squid into rings.

Tip: • • • Try to buy fresh squid whenever possible. If fresh squid is not available, look for packages of squid in the frozen food section. The squid should NOT have batter or coating on them, since that type is used for frying. Slice red pepper and chop onions and tomatoes, set aside. Now that you have the ingredients cleaned and chopped, it's time to start the BBQ and begin cooking. When the coals on the BBQ are covered in white ash, cooking can begin. Assemble all the ingredients on a table near the BBQ, so that you can stay in the area and monitor the cooking. Place the paella pan on the grate and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom and allow the pan to heat up. When hot enough, sauté the onions and tomatoes in the olive oil. Add olive oil as needed to prevent sticking. Once the onions are translucent, add the chicken and cook, stirring constantly – about 15 minutes. Add pork and squid and cook, stirring often. Add the rice, sprinkling in the form of a large cross on the pan. (Have approximately 1 lb of rice on hand for this. ) Stir for 2 -3 minutes to thoroughly coat the rice with oil and mix with the other ingredients. Add saffron threads to the chicken broth and stir. Slowly pour broth into pan until pan contents are covered. Spread ingredients evenly over bottom of pan. Arrange mussels around outside edge of pan, pointing up. Place clams and shrimp in pan, distributing them evenly around the pan. Add slices of pepper on top. Allow to simmer, cooking rice. Add more broth if necessary. (If fire becomes too hot, raise the pan up, away from the heat. ) When rice is almost cooked, sprinkle peas over the pan. When rice is cooked, remove from heat and cover with aluminum foil or large tea towel, allowing paella to “rest” for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Slice lemons into wedges and serve.