My New Paella Recipe

We've been lucky enough to have eaten some great stuff around the world but we can usually replicate them back home. Of course, sometimes we fail because we can't get the same quality ingredients, (eg iberian ham, fresh ricotta, soft shell crab, onglet) and sometimes we can't because we're not good enough cooks.

And sometimes, as we all know, the dish is relatively simple, but just doesn't travel back home. For me, these dishes are nearly always seafood eaten outside.

Sardinas in Portugal, lobster rolls in Maine, and in particular paella in Benidorm (strange but true).

For over 20 years we have tried to make paella at home and it has always managed to end up tasting of Bachelors savoury rice, a memory redolent of my mother's less than epicurean approach to cooking.

But Friday night I stumbled upon a new recipe - and the key ingredient appears to be finely grated orange zest - which came tantalisingly close to a madeleine-dipping epiphany.

(Recipe from Gourmet Food for a Fiver by Jason Atherton)



The only non-seafood example I can think of is pastrami on rye at the Carnegie Deli, but then back home you don't get Jackie Mason stopping by your table for a chat before heading towards the Broadway Danny Rose crowd at the back.


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