Hot Spanish Nights

We knew from the beginning that tackling a beast like paella would challenge all of our faculties, but we had no idea to what extent. Paella is a tradition one-pot meal from the region of Valencia in Spain, and can contain anything from snails to last week's green beans. We've opted for a more traditional seafood version and sought to find fun ingredients like live clams, calspara rice, squid, and monkfish, and after visiting 7 stores (and one twice to recover a left-behind wallet) we were successful on nearly all accounts. While we would have liked to include sangria to match the meal, it was sadly out of our budget, but we'd be happy to spike your horchata with the spirit of your choosing from our bar. We hope you enjoy the collection of tapas we've selected to accompany the hearty paella as much as we've enjoyed putting this meal together!
Number of Guests: 10


Delicious Details:
Drinks

Horchata (recipe)
We let rice and cinnamon soak for 48 hours in the hopes that deliciousness would ensue. It did :)

Sides & Salads

Nopales Ensalada (recipe)
Bel sacrificed her fingers to save dinners the effort of having to remove the cactus spines theselves, and tossed this traditional veggie with all the freshest friends...avocados, Roma tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeño and queso fresco with a light vinaigrette.

Higos con Balsámico y Avellanas (recipe)

One of the seasons finest offerings, we drizzled our green and black figs with balsamic vinegar, and sprinkled them with roasted hazelnuts and sea salt. A perfect blend of sweet and savory.

Melón Picante (recipe)

Here we took the sweetness of the melon and contrasted it with a sharp black pepper flavor, tossed it with a tangy white wine vinegar and sprinkled it with chives to create an unexpected balance of flavors.

Main Dish

Paella de Marisco (recipe)

Requiring the purchase of two paella pans, a specialty tool that cannot be imitated with a mere frying pan, Brian spent hours crafting the finest sofrito base--a blend of peppers, onions, tomatoes and garlic--and brewing an intoxicating concoction of chicken stock and saffron that he then combined with the difficult-to-find paella rice, and curious creatures of the sea. We topped it with pimientos, peas and lemons.

Dessert

Flan de Naranja
After wasting several pounds of sugar and a couple hours owing to a poorly designed recipe, Bel finally struck it out on her own to create a new formula for the caramel that served as the classic topping to our orange inspired flan. The cream and eggs have been infused with citrus zest and fresh squeezed orange juice, with a hint of vanilla and almond. If you don't like this flan, it's possible you won't ever appreciate this traditional Spanish dessert.