The Ins and Outs of Hippy Paella

In Stuart Florida my cousin Katie placed a call to some of her close friends and asked them to join us for dinner! Not only were we going to be privileged to share in this group’s company but also get a taste of her friend Cristina’s “hippy paella!”

Paella refers to the low-edged pan in which the dish is cooked. It is often made with a combination of fish, meat, and rice. Different ingredients are found in paella depending on where it’s being made and who is making it. In Spain the coastal paellas will be loaded with fish and more central areas will use a lot of game meat such as rabbit.

To help out I made the fish stock and prepped the vegetables and meat. This made it easy for Cristina when she arrived to get right to work.

I had never made fish stock before! Brian has made it many times but he was going out on the boat with Katie’s husband Dave for an afternoon of fishing. Before they hit the water Brian said “do you know to take out the gills?”

Gills! What was I getting myself into?

Katie, Cristina, and I did some grocery shopping to buy supplies for the paella including a large grouper head for the stock!

Cristina left us to finish her guava cake and do some work in her studio leaving Katie and I to deal with the Head!

Everything started out fine, just like any other stock I would make. I heated a large pot with oil, then once hot I add onions, celery, garlic, and of course the fish head and cook it all down a bit before adding water to help develop the flavors of the stock. The gills give the broth a cloudy look and a slight bitter taste, I don’t want that so they needed to come out!

As my pot warmed on the stove I turn to the head to figure out this whole gill situation. Thankfully I had Katie there, the wife of a fisherman and quite the angler herself — she was a great help.

Together we located the gills. Next we had to “take out the gills.” We teamed up get the job done. I pulled the cheek bone and jaw and Katie made her way along the gooey, red, hard base of one gill to cut it out. It was quite the messy work-out, then we had to do the other one!

I am sure practice would make this task easier but all our hard work really paid off! After about an hour and a half of simmering in a bath of vegetables I had a clear, robust broth fit for our paella!

Cristina arrived with a large shallow pan, a bag of spices, and a guava cake!

Brian gave Cristina a hand browning strips of pork lion and chucks of chicken thighs that I had marinated earlier in fresh key lime juice and garlic. In the left over fat from the pan they sautéed onions, peppers, garlic, and celery to develop a deeper flavor. In another pan they browned Spanish chorizo, a spiced pork sausage, to crispy perfection.

Christina added a large pinch of Iranian saffron to the simmering fish stock. Soon all the other ingredients would have the chance to also be drenched in the now-yellow tinted stock. The saffron added not only a robust flavor but the yellow color that is associated with paella.

Now we just had to assemble everything into the big paella dish. First the meats were spread around the large pan followed by the vegetables. Cubes of grouper fish went down followed by mussels and shrimp.

Cristina sprinkled smoked paprika over the whole dish followed by a thick layer of Spanish rice. We smoothed out the rice on top so there was an even cooking surface, then a bunch of asparagus was added. Lastly the stock was ladled over everything until a thin layer covered the top and then the heavy pot was lowered into the hot oven.

Now we just had to wait, it took about an hour and a half; in the mean time we enjoyed some wine and appetizers of stuffed peppers — baby sweet peppers filled with a spicy sausage and cream cheese. It was a great way to get our appetite going!

Cristina covered the paella midway through its baking time so that it would steam everything to perfection. When the paella was finally pulled from the oven we sprinkled peas over the hot dish and covered it once again.

The paella was placed at the center of the table and Cristina distributed plates piled high, making sure everyone had a mussel, shrimp, sausage and a taste of meat all on a tall pile of rice.

What sat before me was a labor of love. The delicate flavors came together to create something out of this world.

Between bites Cristina and Ozzy (another guest well versed in the art of paella) explained why the version of paella we were having was called “hippy.”

When making paella there are very few rules. Christina makes hippy paella because she is a hippy herself. Our hippy paella was filled with local gulf coast seafood and the vegetables that we like! I like that the dish can be anything anyone wants!

We ended the meal with guava cake. This cake is a recipe that Cristina is always working on perfecting. She uses an apple sauce cake recipe for the base of the cake. Instead of the apple sauce she uses a guava puree.

The cake was nicely sweet and a little tart. The cake was covered with a cream cheese frosting with some extra guava puree to add to the flavor. It was truly delicious and made me want to bake a cake, too.

I had a great time and ate well, what could be better? Filled with the rich flavors of the paella dancing in my belly and the sweetness of guava, it had be a very good day!