The Paella!

This was my first attempt at the traditional Spanish fare, and according to the rest of the group, it was pretty good (but they're all really nice, so they could be lying). There are a TON of variations, and since I'm scared of cooking mussels, clams, and other odd things from the sea, I stuck with chicken and shrimp, but you can add in all that stuff if you've got mad kitchen skills.

1 orange bell pepper chopped
1 Spanish onion chopped
4 roma tomatoes quartered
1 cup frozen peas
1 lemon, squeezed for juice
1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken
1/2 lb peeled, divined shrimp
3 cups Bomba or Calasparra rice (you can get this at most specialty shops)
5 cups Chicken Stock
2 tbl olive oil
2 tbl butter
pinch of paprika
pinch of saffron

1. Quarter the tomatoes and let them sit in a bowl of olive oil, salt, and pepper until you're ready for them.
2. Season the meat and fish with salt, pepper and paprika.
3. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet.
4. Saute onions and peppers until transluscent, 1-2 minutes.
5. In a separate pot, heat the broth on low heat. Add saffron 1-2 minutes before you're ready to add the broth to the skillet. It needs to be warm when you add it to the skillet.
6. Add the frozen peas and the chicken to the skillet.
7. When the chicken is browned, add rice to the skillet.
8. When the rice is just starting to toast, add the broth and bring to a boil.
9. Place the tomatoes in the skillet under the rice.
10. Put on a tight lid and let it simmer for 13 minutes on medium heat.
11. Add the shrimp to the top of the mixture and replace the lid. Let it cook for about 4 more minutes or until the shrimp is pink.
12. Squeeze the lemon over the top and serve!

About THE CHEESE

First off, major kudos to Hallie for a delicious paella and many thanks to Kate and Jenny for offering up their place.  Food group was great fun!  Do you think we should have a better name than "Food Group"?  Maybe.  Whatevs.  Perhaps the simplicity of the group's name belies its epic scale and makes for classy understatement.

Anyway, I volunteered for cheese duty, as I work right near America's greatest cheese shop, Murray's Cheese.  Murray's cheesemongers will enquire about your tastes and what else you're serving to steer you towards the best in aged dairy products, with unlimited sampling until you hit on a winner.  My cheesemonger helped me choose a Manchego, a Spanish classic (that was on sale, thankfully... Murray's isn't exactly cheap), and a goat cheese with a crazy rind.  It's called "Queso del Tietar," which I think means "Cheese of Tietar" (I have crazy linguistic skills).  Here's what Murray's says about it:

Made by a single producer, Rafael Baez, of Avila in Castilla y Leon, this bizarre and exuberant goat cheese is shaped like a log, but is said to resemble the leg of a mule. A rind composed of ash and mold means insistent flavor, more like a blue cheese than anything else. The damp, cakey acidic paste near the rind is fierce, with unmistakable overtones of black walnut. Inside, the core remains salty, lactic, and soothing. A relatively new cheese on the scene, Monte Enebro won top goat cheese in Spain in 2003. That insistent flavor is pacified by sweeter wines made from the charming Muscat grape.

And it's all true!  It totally looked like the leg of a mule!  A delightfully cheesy, lactic mule!

The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plains

Well, this past Saturday the Spanish rain may have stayed away, but the Spanish flavors came out in full force. We weren't really sure what to expect of our first Food Group meeting. Would the food be okay? Would anyone show up? Would Jenny and I get our asses in gear to straighten up our apartment in time? So many questions loomed, but the promise of a good time hung in the air.

After several failed attempts to crack the enigmatic code that is a Google Document, we settled on communicating through a string of reply-all email chains. Soon we were all clear on our assignments for the monumental premiere Food Group dinner. Here’s the breakdown:

Spanish Wine – Hallie H. /Kate B.
Manchego Cheese/Chorizo/Bread - Meghan
Gazpacho – Jenny/Kate M.
Paella – Hallie F.

You might be wondering “Why does everyone in this group have the same name?” We often wonder that ourselves… We’ve got two Kates, two Hallies, a Jenny, and a Meghan. Here we are in our first official Food Group Shot!

Hallie F. came over early to get started on the paella...

If you haven’t seen this silly Verizon commercial yet then you won’t understand why we were constantly exclaiming that we didn’t know what 'pa-ella' is and that we wouldn’t be eating it. Ever. Fortunately, Hallie’s paella was incredible and no one needed to order a pizza.

Meghan stopped by the famous Murray's Cheese Shop in the West Village to satisfy our need for cheese (cheese is definitely a requirement for all Food Group events) with some delectable Spanish treats. Naturally, the Manchego was the star of the cheese plate, but that soft, creamy little number with the edible rind stole the show a bit. (Meghan, tell us what it was!) And the spicy chorizo really sealed the deal.

At this point we had made a significant dent in the copious amounts of Spanish wine provided by Hallie H. and Kate B., respectively...

Jenny and I had been tasked with whipping up a quick gazpacho (must be pronounced gazPACHO...really loud and staccato for full effect). I work with a bunch of actual foodies who chastised our dream of making gazpacho with less than in season tomatoes. Apparently tomatoes are better in the late summer. Well, whatever. We here at Food Group are rebellious risk takers. I marched right into that grocery store, purchased 4 plum tomatoes, chopped them up and made soup out of them. And guess what...it was delicious. Here we are enjoying it like out-of-season tomato loving ladies:

Turns out, making gazpacho is really easy. Especially if you have a food processor. We were quite pleased with the end result. Well, I was. Because I made it. But Jenny provided a great deal of moral support...

Once our appetites where sufficiently wheted with wine, cheese, and gazpacho, it was time for the main affair. Hallie's paella was ready and the table was set.

Look how proud we are!

Our first Food Group gathering was an unimaginable success. We all came together to drink, talk, eat, share, laugh, and be grown ups. My parents had a lot of dinner parties when I was a kid and I always wondered how they could just sit at that table for hours, long the meal was finished, nursing their wine glasses and telling stories. Well, Food Group has latched on to the essence of those lingering dinners and the reasons to stay at that table as long as possible suddenly seem abundantly clear.

Next up: Hallie H. will fill our waiting stomachs with some delicious Iranian food!

And no doubt other Food Groupies will regale you with their own memories from our first night in.

First Food Group Event!

Gourmet Group. Grub Club. There have been many iterations. Like Madonna, Food Group has undergone numerous transitions before finding its true self. But it's finally here. The first assembly of girls who love to cook, and in turn eat, delicious cuisine commences this Saturday. Every second Saturday of the month from there on out this conference of amateur foodies will convene to celebrate that which we all hold sacred: FOOD.

In the immortal words of Dr. Tobias Funke, "Let the great experiment begin!"