Paella!: Spectacular Rice Dishes From Spain

I received this book as a Christmas gift a few years ago and thought only recently to write a glowing review of this book. Sorry Penelope! I should have done this a few years ago.
Penelope is a personable and expressive writer. As I read through all her time saving tips and scrumptious recipes I feel as though I have an expert advising me in real life on how to make some great dishes.
I consider myself an above average 'home trained' cook in the kitchen and following her recipes was a breeze. The only problem you should ever have, and this isn't related to the author whatsoever, is finding the ingredients. But they can be found online so don't fret!
One paella that I make for Easter is the salmon with asparagus with crumbled boiled egg and smoked salmon bits garnished on top. It's a winner with anyone who enjoys fish. Friends of mine who go to 5 star restaurants have told me that the paellas I've made from Penelope's book are some of the best food they've had in a long time. So thanks Penelope! You've transformed me into a better cook.
She also has a few more recipes in there that are for tapas and deserts. She educates you on the quality of ingredients that for the most part come from Spain and you develop a deeper appreciation for them. For example, I knew saffron was very expensive but I didn't know it was more expensive than gold pound per pound!
There are so many varieties of paella that one is sure to find a recipe in this book whether a person is vegetarian or a meat eater.
If you really like paella I can't recommend this book enough. My copy of this book stays close on hand. It'll never develop dust on the shelf from lack of use since I am always referencing it or trying a new recipes.

Beautiful books with beautiful recipes! Perfect for anyone. Like traditional Paella - it's there. Like the idea but not some of the ingrediants - it's there too. A must have!

I prepare Paella at least once a week now instead occasionally during the year. This book of accessable recipes is informative and very enjoyable . It makes Paella what is should be...an easy part of your weekly menu. Don't miss Ms. Casas's book on Tapas.

I am originally from Spain, and when I came to the US with my family and mom's recipes, it was really hard to convert all the measurements from the metric to the american system. So, when I found this book, I bought it....it is GREAT!! All the paella recipes that I have tried make me feel at home again. The recipes are easy to follow and really clear. My next buy will be her book about tapas. Since I am from the north of Spain, I will let you know what I thin about those recipes, but I am expecting a great book as well.

`Delicioso!' and `Paella!' are leading Spanish cuisine writer Penelope Casas' latest books, following her similar pair, `Tapas' and `The Food and Wine of Spain'. In many ways, the later books are more similar to one another than they are to the earlier books. Both concentrate on regional cuisines. While the paella is certainly made throughout Spain, the dish originated in Valencia with many other rice dishes, described in `Delicioso!' as the `Region of the Rices'.

The first thing which strikes me about the dish, paella, is that unlike its close Mediterranean neighbor, bouillabaisse, and in spite of some Valencian purists orthodoxy, paella can be just about anything under the sun which will fit into a paella pan and contain rice, olive oil, and garlic. In fact, even the requirement that the dish contain rice is stretched to the braking point when some recipes even replace rice with pasta. Thus, paella has much more in common with pizza than it does with bouillabaisse.

As Ms. Casas writes recipes as a culinary archeologist by visiting lots of Spanish restaurants and homes to sample their dishes, I am not surprised at her claim that even after finishing this 220 page book on a single dish, she feels she has just touched the surface of the paella varieties. Well, not exactly, as I find enough similarity between recipes to sense that there is really not a lot of variation in the basic technique, just in the additions to the rice, oil, saffron, and garlic.

The book divides paellas into four great families. The first and best known are the seafood paellas which join the rice of Valencia with the seafood of the Mediterranean. These dishes are just about every combination you can imagine of scallops, shrimp, clams, mussels, lobster, crab, squid, monkfish, salmon, and cod with mushrooms, pepper, egg, peas, and other vegetables. I suspect that the most important ingredient in all these dishes is the fish stock. Ms. Casas includes a chapter on stocks and other pantry recipes. Like most other journalistic culinary writers, and unlike most writers who are professional chefs such as Jasper White and James Peterson, her stock recipes are pretty simple. This is probably a good thing unless you are cooking for a serious gourmet. For restaurant cooking, her stock recipes are much too extravagant, as they make no use of material that has no value for any other purpose such as fish heads and bones. The other side of the coin is that for the amateur, their only weakness is cost, which means that someone is much more likely to try their hand at making them, since they are really very easy. And, they will almost certainly be an improvement over supermarket stocks, especially for fish stocks. I happily use newer chicken stocks from the supermarket, but avoid fish stocks and clam juice. The trick is to find a fishmonger who will save fish heads for you. See Jasper White's '50 Chowders' for a super fish stock.

The second great paella family replaces fish with meat, poultry, and game. The most common ingredients are chicken, pork, sausage, rabbit, duck, quail, and lamb. A remarkably large number of these recipes call for marinated meats, which, according to `Delicioso!' seems to be a common technique throughout Spain. The book brings up an odd fact about Spanish history and it's love of pork. When the Moors were expelled from Spain, the Jews where shown the door at the same time as the Jews and the Moors shared a prohibition against eating pork. A result of this passion for pork is the great Spanish hams, Serrano and jamon. Unfortunately, the more flavorful of the two, the jamon, is not available in the United States. Fortunately, it is very similar to procuitto de Parma, so there is a very acceptable substitute for these Spanish recipes. One surprise in this chapter is that the classic Valencia Paella recipe is made from chicken and rabbit rather than from seafood.

The third great paella family is those dishes that combine protein from land and sea and air. While there are dozens of recipes in the first two chapters, this chapter has but three.

The fourth land of paella is for the vegetarians, where flesh protein is replaced primarily by cheese, nuts, and beans, with anchovies thrown in for some fishy flavor. What surprises me is that there are no seaweed paellas in this chapter, as seaweed does appear as an ingredient in seafood paellas.

It is no surprise whatsoever that Casas makes a strong case for using a short grained Spanish rice for paellas. It is easy to understand this, as one step in paella making is very similar to the Italian risotto technique, and, fortunately, risotto rice such as arborio or carnaroli will stand in very nicely for Spanish rice.

One puzzling statement Casas repeats in virtually every recipe is the claim that paellas cook a lot differently in gas and electric ovens. The difference is so great that for the latter heating source, she adds five to ten degrees to oven temperature and five to ten minutes to cooking times. While I am certain Ms. Casas knows what she is talking about, I have to suspect she may be speaking of experiences with Spanish ovens and not the modern American Maytag. But, I will consider us warned and suggest you develop a good sense of doneness and use your eyes and nose rather than your timer to evaluate your paellas.

While the book ends with a very nice chapter on Spanish desserts, I would not make that a consideration in whether or not one should buy this book. If you are a vegetarian, serious rice head, or in love with Spanish cuisine, get this book. Also, I would strongly recommend this to any general foodie / cookbook collector over any works by any other writer on Spanish cooking.