Issue Date: September 9, 2007
A streamlined Spanish feast with Paella and Flan
Transport your guests to the ancient town of Valencia, where fragrant pans of seafood, sausage and chicken paella (and those famous oranges) seduce taste buds.
So you'd like to host a dinner party this fall, but you're not sure you have the time. Well, I have the perfect party menu for busy cooks like you.
It starts with a fabulous goat cheese appetizer. Simmer tomato sauce (or a good store-bought marinara sauce) studded with olives for a mere 10 minutes, up to five days ahead of time. Then, top the sauce with some fresh goat cheese rounds and pop in the oven for a final baking. I serve this warm appetizer over freshly toasted baguette slices, but sturdy flatbreads, crackers or bruschetta are other tasty options. Round out the hors d'oeuvres with a bowl of roasted, salted almonds -- Spanish Marcona, if you can find them.
Serve a simple mixed green salad with Valencia or other oranges, cut into segments, and a little thinly sliced red onion tossed together with your favorite vinaigrette.
Although the paella ingredient list looks daunting, the dish can be prepped quickly, to the point of adding the rice a few hours ahead of time. When dinnertime nears, add the broth and tomatoes, and let it cook unattended for 20 minutes. Stir in the seafood, and steam it a few minutes until the shrimp and scallops are just cooked.
The flan is classic, quick and simple and can be done ahead. The cream cheese is a bit unconventional, but it gives the dessert an irresistibly firm yet tender texture.
Contributing Editor Pam Anderson is the author of four cookbooks. Her latest is the entertaining guide, "Perfect Recipes for Having People Over" (Houghton Mifflin, $35).
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A dinner in Valencia
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We suggest this menu (including our three featured recipes, which are starred below):
Appetizers: *Baked Goat Cheese in Tomato-Olive Sauce with Toasts; Spanish Marcona or other whole almonds; dry sherry
Salad: Mixed green salad with orange segments and red onion
Main course: *Paella for a Crowd
Dessert: *Creamy Flan
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Paella for a Crowd
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
1 Tb. paprika
2 tsps. dried oregano
Salt and ground black pepper
1 pound cooked chorizo or linguiça sausage, sliced diagonally, 1/2-inch thick
1 large Spanish onion, cut into medium dice
1 large red bell pepper, cut into medium dice
4 large peeled garlic cloves, smashed
2 cups short- or medium-grain rice, such as risotto rice
1 large pinch saffron threads
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 quart chicken broth
1 pound (16 to 20) peeled and deveined shrimp
1 pound bay scallops
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
Drizzle chicken with 2 Tbs. of oil, and sprinkle with paprika, oregano, salt and pepper; toss to coat. Heat a large, heavy-bottomed roasting pan set on two burners over medium-high heat. (Or do this in two 12-inch skillets, dividing the ingredients evenly between the pans.) Add chicken; cook until brown and just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a small bowl; set aside.
Add remaining 2 Tbs. oil to pan and cook sausages until well-browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onions, peppers and garlic; cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in rice, saffron and pepper flakes (can be covered and set aside for up to 2 hours).
About 25 minutes before serving, add tomatoes and broth. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat; add water if it looks too dry. Reduce heat to low, cover with foil, and cook until most liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes. Stir in chicken, shrimp, scallops, peas and parsley; cook until seafood is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let stand, covered, for a few minutes.
Serves 10
Per serving: 628 calories, 49g protein, 42g carbohydrates, 28g fat, (9g saturated), 198mg cholesterol, 4g fiber, 1,261mg sodium
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Baked Goat Cheese in Tomato-Olive Sauce with Toasts
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes or 3 1/2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce
16 pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1 thin baguette, thinly sliced
1 log (about 10 ounces) goat cheese, sliced crosswise into 3/4-inch-thick discs
Place oil and garlic in a Dutch oven; turn heat on medium, and cook until garlic starts to sizzle and turn golden. Add tomatoes and olives, bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until sauce is thick enough to mound on a spoon, 10 to 12 minutes. (Sauce can be covered and refrigerated up to 5 days; return to room temperature before proceeding.)
Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Place bread rounds in a single layer on a wire rack (you can use one of the oven racks); bake until golden, about 5 minutes. (Or, use sturdy crackers or bruschetta.)
Turn tomato sauce into a 9-inch round, square or similar size oven-proof pan; top with goat cheese discs. Bake until bubbly, about 10 minutes. Turn on broiler; cook until goat cheese lightly browns, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Serve with the toasts and a spoon for scooping up the cheese and sauce.
Serves 8
Per serving: 296 calories, 13g protein, 25g carbohydrates, 16g fat (8g saturated), 28mg cholesterol, 2g fiber, 644mg sodium
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Creamy Flan
1 cup granulated sugar
1 8-ounce package light cream cheese, at room temperature
4 large eggs
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Bring a quart of water to a boil; keep on low heat until ready to use.
Bring sugar and 1/4 cup water to simmer in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat, swirling but not stirring to dissolve sugar. Continue to simmer about 15 minutes, until mixture turns golden brown, and pour mixture into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Set in a roasting pan large enough to accommodate it.
Beat cream cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy in a medium bowl (a
1-quart Pyrex measuring cup also works). Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down sides after each addition to avoid lumps. Beat in both milks and vanilla until smooth. Pour batter into the pie plate resting in the roasting pan. Set the pan in the oven. Carefully pour the hot water into the pan so it comes halfway up the sides of the pie plate. Bake until flan is jiggly but set, about 1 hour.
Remove from oven, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until ready to serve (at least 3 hours or overnight). Run a small knife around pie plate perimeter to loosen flan. Invert onto a large, lipped platter. Cut into wedges and serve.
Serves 8
Per serving: 429 calories, 13g protein, 59g carbohydrates, 15g fat (10g saturated), 153mg cholesterol, 0g fiber, 256mg sodium
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