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| Duck & Vegetable Paella |
From our friends at Slate Wine Bar + Bistro...
July means Paella in DC. They can be restaurant made, but also are easily do-able at home, and very versatile (Paella can be made a lot of ways with a lot of ingredients.) The following recipe is from Chef Danny Lledó from Slate Wine Bar + Bistro in Washington, DC. His family is from Valencia, Spain, and this recipe is one of their staples (which he serves in the restaurant along with veggie, chicken and other varieties.)
Some tips:
1. Use "Bomba" Rice: It's worth the couple extra dollars. No one in DC uses it, but most everyone in Denia, Valencia does. It is the best.
2. For the Sofrito, if you are in a hurry, you may pre-cook it or mix the tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, paprika, garlic together in the blender.
3. It's always better to make your own broth. When you buy chicken or fish stock, you only get chicken or fish stock. I always recommend adding vegetables, to bring out more flavor in the paellas.
Duck & Vegetable Paella
Serves 4. Prep Time: 15 minutes. Cook & Plate Time: 30 minutes
2 cups of Bomba Rice
6 ½ cups of duck and chicken stock
1 pound of duck breast, cubed
1 large tomato diced
1 cup of sun-dried tomatoes, diced
4 gloves of garlic, minced
½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp of sweet paprika
1 packet of saffron paellero mix
3 artichoke hearts cured in lemon juice
4 Asparagus cut up into spear pieces
1 sliced red bell pepper
2 sprigs of rosemary
1. Add 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil and 2 tbsp of salt in paella pan. Pan-sear duck for 3 minutes. Add asparagus, peppers, and sauté until nearly cooked through. Pull out duck and vegetables out of paella pan.
2. Add tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes and garlic in the middle of the paella pan. Add sweet paprika. Let the mixture cook down. Add the saffron to the mixture.
3. Add rice, and slightly cook on low heat, then add stock, let it boil on high heat and add salt to flavor. Add the meat and vegetables, including uncooked artichokes, on top on the rice without stirring. Cook on high for 10 minutes, then add rosemary on top, lower to medium heat for another 10 minutes and let the rice finish soaking up the broth.
About the Chef:
Danny Lledo is a man driven by senses. Whether a sense of community; the five senses with which food and wine resonate; or business sense.
The food and wine industries are a natural for Danny Lledo. With a heritage that includes winemakers from Spain and Portugal, as well as a father who is an accomplished chef, it’s no wonder that Danny would follow in their footsteps. Danny’s family’s immersion in Mediterranean cuisine, has inspired him to create dishes based on these classics that utilize seasonal ingredients, incorporate appropriately bold flavors and are presented with panache.
Danny has more than a decade of experience, learning the business inside out by holding a variety of positions with industry leaders including ThinkFoodGroup and leading Spanish restaurants such as Taberna del Alabardero and Botin (known for being the world's oldest restaurant).
In 2013, he took over management of his wife’s restaurant Slate Wine Bar + Bistro in the Glover Park neighborhood in Washington, DC, now going into its third year of successful operation based on serving the best products from kitchen to plate and putting the ‘hospitality’ back into the hospitality industry.
