I finally found -- and bought -- Spanish chorizo, so I made paella. For the first time ever. Used a recipe from Daisy Martinez. Mostly. Since fresh mussels are unheard-of around here, I skipped the mussels and clams and used sausage, chicken and shrimp. And I arborio rice.
It was okay. Just okay. Not great. After wanting to make paella for so long, and after having people tell me how great it was -- it was underwhelming. And I wasn't all that crazy about the sausage. But it's not like I could be choosy about brands. This was the first time I found chorizo that wasn't the mexican style.
Of course this is the kind of dish where there are billions of recipes, and believe me, I looked at a lot of them...and apparently didn't make a great choice.
So, does anyone have a paella recipe that they've tried, and that will knock my socks off? I'll buy the sausage again, if it's required for flavoring, but if you've got an easier to find substitution, I'm all for that.
As for seafood, like I said, fresh seafood is just about impossible. So if we can go with frozen shrimp and/or scallops (or no seafood) that's going to be a lot more doable that trying to find mussels and clams that scare me when I see them in the store.
Oh yeah. I don't have a paella pan. I used a Calphalon everyday pan, which is sort of close to the right shape. If I absolutely NEED a paella pan to make this work, I'll buy one.
Sigh. I love rice. I love shrimp. I love chicken. I didn't love this paella.
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