Paella!: Spectacular Rice Dishes From Spain Hardcover – May 11, 1999

Good variety of recipes and ingredients. AA++

40 years ago, I fell in love with Spain and the traditional rice dish from Valencia called paella. Made with a short grain rice, similar to, but not the same as Arborio rice, I failed to find a decent recipe in any cookbook, until about 20 years ago, I found Penelope Casas' fabulous book, "The Foods and Wines of Spain." Now, I feel as though I have died and gone to heaven, with this amazing book. It's worth the price alone for just the "Garlicky Clam Paella" in this book.I bought one for my husband and another as a gift for friends who love Spanish food the way we do. If you like paella, seafood or even risotto, which hardly compares with paella, rich with saffron, veggies and all kinds of good stuff, you'll love this book.

I have been cooking paella since 1972 when I lived there and followed the Spanish women around their kitchens, taking notes. But I threw the notes away when I found Casa's cookbook, which has the most foolproof method and recipes, including two terrific vegetarian recipes for wonderful paellas. I have bought copies for everyone I give paella pans too. I only wish the book would come out in paperback. I needed the hardback but people less fanatic could do with paper.

Such a great book. I have made about 10 paellas from these recipes, all are fantastic. My favorite is “Chicken Paella, Andalusian Style”, I’ve made it numerous times with whatever shellfish, sausage and meats I had available and it always comes out perfect. Made it today outside on my Big Green Egg, it is a totally different dish when made over a hot lump charcoal fire. Excellent, just delicious.

Well written cook book. The recipes are easy to follow, and they work!! And yes they tasted like what I had when I was traveling all over Spain.

`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.

A friend of mine who owns a villa near Valencia Spain (where paella was invented) recommended this book to me and I was not disappointed. Lots of great recipes for making traditional paella that is tasty, fun and not just mounds of rice with a bunch of ingredients thrown in. Paella is a great, versatile dish for guests and family dinners - it takes time to make a good paella, but it is definitely time well spent!

I love this book. Recipes are great and authentic. Look no more for a paella recipe book. She gives you good advice about cooking and how to prepare.