First Church Cooks

Join our First Church chefs in their home kitchens over zoom to learn and cook together some comforting and nutritious new recipes. Every month’s recipe is demonstrated step by step in real time as you either cook along from your own kitchen or just enjoy the demonstration and fellowship of FC friends. Program runs 60 - 75 minutes.

This month, Richard Curzi demonstrates his "Paella Valenciana."

Here are Richard's instructions so you can follow along:

I plan to make “Paella Valenciana”, which is the original paella invented by the rice farmers in the paddies near the Albufera Lake in Valencia, Spain. We have come to expect paella to be a seafood dish, but the natives of Valencia refuse to call that “paella” — it’s just “Seafood rice”. The farmers would break for lunch and enjoy this dish made with ingredients hunted and picked that day: of course, rice; but also chicken, rabbit (we will substitute pork), and garden snails; green beans, butter beans, tomatoes, and such. During the class there will be plenty of down time while the paella cooks for us to share some photos of our 2020 visit to Valencia and explain the lore and etiquette of paella.

Unique Ingredients:

• “Bomba” or “Paella” rice — available from Amazon and Formaggio Kitchen. This unique short-grain rice is special in that it absorbs 4 times it’s volume in water. It does make a difference, but in a pinch, use Arborio or risotto-style rice.
• Saffron threads 

Every-day ingredients:

• Chicken parts
• Boneless country-style pork ribs
• Green beans (the flat kind if you can find them)
• Ripe tomatoes
• Fresh rosemary
• Small can of butter beans
• Spanish paprika
• Olive oil
• For a vegetarian option, substitute for the meat any combination of:
• Mushrooms
• Green and red bell peppers
• Carrots
• Asparagus
• Cauliflower
• Garlic
• Artichoke hearts
• Also have vegetable broth on hand - 8 cups or so

If you have a paella pan, great! If not, you’ll want the largest flat skillet you can find.