Summer Paella Party
Summer is the season to celebrate outdoor cooking
The dog days of Summer are here, when the momentum of the year slows blissfully down for a minute and languid afternoons stretch long into the evenings. High temperatures beckon us all to waylay responsibilities in favor of wading into warm waters or pouring a cool drink to share. Conditions call for everyday festivities, a celebration of a small wins, or celebrating the art of doing nothing at all. In the spirit of taking things slow, we are cooking outside. We are making a big pan of paella to share.
There’s fun to the flash of a grill, or the aromatic roast of smoky meats, but sometimes the sultry days of summer call for something slower, something that simmers and shares easily and sets the stage for a long night spent around the table. This dish is designed to feed a group, cooked and served all in one pan. Paired with a crisp Txakolina or fruity red wine and a summer salad, it makes the perfect summer dinner. Throw down some festive linens and a trivet, present your paella, and linger as everyone helps themselves to seconds. Enjoy a sobremesa that lasts long into the evening; the Spanish tradition of post-dinner conversation around the table is almost as good as the dish itself.
This dish comes from humble beginnings. It’s typically a daytime thing, usually made on Sundays in Spain. It’s meant to be shared directly from the pan as a communal dining experience. “Paella is so much about community,” says Chef Sergio Moneleón of La Marcha, the Michelin-recognized Spanish tapas bar in the heart of the Bay Area. “You gather around the pan. There’s a tradition of cornering your part and eating from the paella.”
Sergio learned how to make paella from his grandmother in Valencia, Spain. She taught him that “it’s a dish of necessity,” designed to use what’s local and available in season, versus one specific recipe. While some purists will say true paella is made one specific way — and it’s not the chorizo and clam version you may have tried on the streets of the Barcelona, but the original Valencian version of snail, rabbit, and poultry (duck or chicken). — Chef Sergio defines it more loosely, as a saffron and Spanish rice dish cooked in a shallow pan. If you stay true to that spirit, you can get creative with seasonal vegetables or your favorite proteins. The most important thing is to cook it with love and share it well.
Paella Do’s and Don’ts
“I’ve been making paella now professionally for almost twenty years,” claims Sergio, “I get sick and tired of almost everything we have here at the restaurant, but I would eat paella every day still.“ Over the years, Chef Sergio has learned a thing or two about how to make this Spanish rice dish. He shared his top tips for perfect paella:
Use the right rice. Paella must be made with short grain rice from Valencia. Once you add it to the pan, don’t stir it. We’re not making risotto.
Take your time! This is a Sunday afternoon dish for a reason, don’t rush through any of the steps. You can make the sofrito in advance to help ease prep day-of (it’s not a bad thing to just keep in your fridge), but know you’re taking on a bit of a project. The beauty of this dish it that it’s a whole meal, so let it take as long as it takes!
Paella is a chain, only as strong as the weakest link. Chef Sergio says the biggest mistake is that “people assume this is just a big rice dish, and I can throw in whatever.” Get good ingredients, use quality saffron, a good stock base, and fresh produce or local meat and seafood.
You have to get the socarrat. The crispy bottom part of the paella is the part families fight over. Use a good paella pan or well-seasoned cast iron over even heat for the best results. Don’t rush the final step and don’t stir too soon!
Paella Mixta
by Sergio Monleón
Chef Sergio grew up going back and forth between California and Spain. His first job was as dishwasher in Madrid at 15, then he started prepping and working in kitchens. Paella started as a Sunday backyard tradition, but eventually became the basis of his career. With chicken, shrimp, and smoky sausage cooked on a bed of aromatic saffron-infused rice, his version of classic paella never gets old and never goes out of style—it just satisfies every time.
Serves 4
Ingredients
Sofrito
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ cup canned crushed tomatoes
Paella
1 tsp saffron
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
5 cloves garlic
3 oz Spanish chorizo, chopped
6 oz boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
½ cup dry white wine
2 Tbsp Sofrito (see above)
1 tsp pimentón de La Vera
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup bomba rice
8 shrimp, head-on or peeled with tails intact
Handful of fresh or frozen peas
2 jarred piquillo peppers, thinly sliced
Lemon wedges for serving (optional)
Method
First, make the Sofrito
Heat oil in a small frying pan over low heat. Add onion and sauté for 7 minutes, until softened and caramelized. Add garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes, or until the mixture thickens into a paste. Remove from heat and reserve.
Note: You will have enough leftover sofrito for two batches of paella. Freeze it in an airtight container until needed, just be sure to defrost before using.
Then, make the Paella
Heat a 12-inch paella pan or cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add saffron and toast for 1 minute. Remove saffron, let cool, then grind with a mortar and pestle.
Heat oil in the same pan over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes, until fragrant. Remove garlic to a small plate or bowl.
Add chorizo to the pan and cook over medium-high heat for 3 minutes, until crisp. Add chicken, season with salt and pepper, and sauté for 5 minutes, until chicken is browned. Pour in wine and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any caramelized bits on the bottom or sides.
Add the 2 tablespoons of sofrito and sauté.
Add saffron and pimentón. Pour in stock. Season again with salt and pepper. Return garlic to the pan and bring to a boil. Add rice in an even layer, leaving it untouched. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered for 20 minutes, until rice is nearly cooked through. Add shrimp, peas, and peppers and cook for another 3 minutes, until rice is done.
Increase heat to medium to form the socarrat, the caramelized crisp rice layer at the bottom of the pan.
Garnish with lemon wedges, if using, and present the paella at the table to serve.
About the wine pairing
We like to pair this paella with a young, fruity red — something that could even be served slightly cool on a hot summer night spent cooking outside. In Yosemite, we poured a California Pinot Noir with Chef Sergio’s porchetta-topped paella, with delicious notes of fruit and smoke to balance the complex flavors of the dish.
If you’re making a seafood paella, swap our your stock base and pair with a mineral-driven white like a Spanish Txakolina. Bonus points if you pour it out of a perron!
Enjoy!
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