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. 

Nopales Ensalada

based on the recipe from epicurious
serves 6 to 8

One of the underlying principles of our dinners is to try things we've never tried, learn a new skill, buy an interesting tool, and generally work from the rawest ingredients possible. So, rather than starting with canned nopales, or cactus pads, or even the prepared variety in the produce isle, we started with the whole ones...the ones that are still prickly. Sacrifice our hands we did, but we did manage to get every last spine peeled away before continuing to toss this menagerie of fresh ingredients together.

ingredients

• 8 Nopales (cactus leaves)
• 1 Yellow Onion, quartered
• 5 cloves Garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• 1 tbsp dried Oregano
• 1 tsp Chili Powder (we used New Mexico Chili Powder)
• 3/4 cup Olive Oil
• 3 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 Red Onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped
• 1 Avocado, chopped
• 1/2 cup Queso Fresco, crumbled

instructions

1. Using a potato peeler, remove spines from nopales. Wear gloves if you have them.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add nopales, onion & garlic and reduce to medium heat. Cook until the nopales are tender, about 6 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Discard onion & garlic. Chop nopales, cover and chill for 2 hours - 2 days.
3. Whisk the vinegar, oregano, and chili powder together in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in the oil and season with salt to taste. 
4. Combine the nopales, dressing, tomatoes, red onion, and cilantro in a large serving bowl. Top with avocado and queso fresco and serve immediately. 

Higos con Balsámico y Avellanas

based on the recipe from What's Cooking America
serves 12

Literally translated, Figs with Balsamic Vinegar and Hazelnuts, this is one of those dishes that are easy to assemble, and really wow the crowds. Sometimes just combining individually delicious (occasionally expensive ingredients) is all it takes.

ingredients

• 1 basket Green Figs
• 1 basket Black Figs
• 1 cup Hazelnuts, whole
• your favorite Balsamic Vinegar

instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 F. 
2. Spread the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet and roast for 15 - 20 minutes until lightly browned and fragrant. As time winds down, check often, as the nuts will burn quickly. Remove from oven, allow to cool, remove skins (roll a couple around in your hand), and chop.
3. Trim stems from figs. With a sharp knife, score an "X" on the top of each figs about halfway down. Squeeze the base gently until the "X" opens up. 
4. Arrange the figs on a platter, drizzle with the balsamic vinegar, sprinkle with salt and top with a generous shower of the hazelnuts. Serve immediately. 

Melón Picante

based on the recipe from What's Cooking America
serves 10

This end-of-summer salad perks up flavors that we didn't know cantaloupe was capable of. Easily one of the best dishes on the table, two melons were perfect for the ten of us.

ingredients

• curly Lettuce Leaves
• 2 Cantaloupe Melons
• Salt & Pepper
• 1/3 cup Olive Oil
• 1/3 cup White Wine Vinegar
• 1 bunch Chives, snipped into small pieces

instructions

1. Line a large serving bowl with curly lettuce leaves.
2. Using a melon baller, scoop out 1-inch balls in a large bowl (not the one with lettuce)
3. Sprinkle the melon with salt and pepper. Toss with olive oil. Then add vinegar and toss again. 
4. Spoon melon onto greens. Top with chives. Can be chilled or served immediately.