- [Sara] "Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by Sunsweet, Mutti tomatoes of Parma, Le Gruyere AOP from Switzerland and by... - Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It was starting when I was child with my grandmother doing fresh pasta, and now I transmit it to all the guests.

Is something made special for them.

- [Sara] Oceania Cruises, proud sponsor of "Sara's Weeknight Meals".

(upbeat music) Spain is on my mind today, and what better tribute to that sunny place than a cool gazpacho inspired vinegarette sauce spooned over sauteed fish.

So tasty.

Oh, that is summer right there, the Spanish way.

But why just dream about Spain?

Let's go!

In seaside Valencia, Spain, I joined Chef Franck Garanger in a quest to make the perfect pan of paella.

What do we need to get first?

We hit up the local market for only in Spain ingredients.

- I love to use this one, and... - [Sara] At home, Franck shows us expert techniques for making paella the Spanish way over an open fire.

- This is my secret, you'll keep it for you.

- Okay.

We won't tell anybody.

(Franck laughs) And then... (everyone cheering) - Paella!

- [Sara] Spain's greatest hits, today on "Sara's Weeknight Meals".

(upbeat music) You know, I always recommend when you're planning a meal to focus on one part of the meal.

So the entree, make it a fancy entree with a fancy sauce, or the side dish, you know, like cream corn with all sorts of herbs in it and then just a simple steak.

This time we're gonna focus on the sauce.

I'm gonna make a gazpacho vinaigrette with the height of summertime in it.

And it's an all purpose sauce.

We're gonna put it on fish today that's been sauteed, but you could put it on chicken, you could put it on vegetables, you could put it on tofu, you could put it on pork, shrimp, anything.

So let's start with, of course, one cup of coarsely chopped tomato, a quarter cup of coarsely chopped red bell pepper, and a half a cup of chopped seedless cucumber.

So in goes the cucumber.

A small garlic clove, about a half a teaspoon.

I don't wanna add a lot because it's gonna be raw in there.

Okay, now I'm gonna add yet another vegetable, two tablespoons of finely chopped onion that I've soaked in ice water for about 15, 20 minutes which takes out that raw bite.

Next, a half a teaspoon of salt, a little bit of pepper.

And we're doing this in the blender 'cause the blender gets the smoothest texture.

Now I'm gonna use sherry vinegar which just happens to be my favorite vinegar anyway, but it's also very Spanish.

I'm gonna use two tablespoons.

You could use another vinegar if you don't have it.

Red wine vinegar be fine, white wine vinegar be fine.

But I really like the sherry vinegar and I'm trying to keep this Spanish, so why not?

And we're gonna add that right in.

We're gonna get this all pureed and then we're gonna add the oil because when you add the oil you wanna do it quickly and have it be over with 'cause if you puree olive oil for too long, it's sort of denatures, it doesn't taste as good.

So here we go.

(blender buzzing) Now we're gonna add six tablespoons of oil.

We're going with the three to one ratio of oil to vinegar.

Sherry vinegar is actually one of the most highest in acid of all the vinegars.

So I generally do more than three to one, but I'm not gonna do it here because we need the acid for the fish.

Okay.

(blender buzzing) Okay, here we have the garnish.

This is a third of a cup of chopped tomato, a third of a cup of chopped cucumber, and a third of a cup of chopped red bell pepper.

We're gonna add all of this to here.

Now this makes a rather large amount of sauce.

As you can see, it's hard to do a smaller amount of vegetables and get it so beautifully smooth in a blender.

Now our chopped vegetables that will add crunch to our vinaigrette.

So you see how quick that was?

Really no time at all.

Now for the fish, I am using four six-ounce pieces of swordfish steak because it's local and seasonal here.

I could also use arctic char or sea bass.

But you should check the Monterey Bay Aquarium seafood watch website to find out what's sustainable in your neighborhood.

First I'm gonna get my oil heating, about three tablespoons of olive oil.

Now I'm gonna season the fish on both sides with salt and pepper.

All right, to give it a little bit of a crunch, I'm gonna dredge the fish in granulated flour.

And I can see the oil is beginning to get a little wavy.

Yeah, we wanna get a nice crust on this.

(fish sizzling) And while it's cooking, I'm gonna slice up some pimento olives, also very Spanish, to add to our gazpacho vinaigrette.

(upbeat music) I wanna take a quick look at my fish.

Again, tip the oil away from you when you flip the fish so that you don't wear the oil 'cause it will splatter up in your face, which is no fun.

Adding our olives to our sauce.

Okay, I'm gonna say this guy's just about done.

Add some lemon, a little bit of salt.

A little bit of pepper.

Just the simplest way to season the vegetable and why not?

And make sure you use the really good olive oil, this is where it shines.

Now, generous spoonful of our sauce.

Here we go, isn't it amazing how it emulsified?

It got creamy is what I mean.

Now for the bow, I mean I probably would chiffonade the basil but I just love a little bow finished on the side.

Oh.

Mm, oh, that is summer right there the Spanish way.

Mm, mm, mm.

(upbeat music) If you're in Spain in search of paella, you have to come to where it all began.

Valencia and parts south.

Here they've been making paella outside on the fire for centuries because face it they've got everything they need.

Abundant sunshine to grow rice and the vast Mediterranean for fish.

It's all available at the local mercado in Denia where I met Chef Franck Garanger, a French transplant who fell in love with Spain and its food.

Wow, so this is the Denia market.

- It's beautiful.

- It's incredible.

- It's nice, huh?

- Wow, what do we need to get first?

- So first we're gonna go to see my friend Pedro, which is the butcher, and we are gonna get everything to start.

- Okay, okay.

(upbeat music) - So we're going to see my butcher, you know, I have to show you this beautiful Iberico pork.

- Oh, that's the pork that eats acorns.

This is the designer pork, right?

- Exactly.

- Oh, okay.

- And you see the difference, first it's a smaller animal.

- Yeah.

- So you the size on the marbling.

- Marbling.

- You see how beautiful.

- The fat in 'em, yeah.

- So this, when you put it in the paella, it gives this flavor that's unique.

- Yeah.

- And I think not so many people in Spain using this for paella.

- Right.

- But me is my little trick.

- Your trick, it's one of your many tricks.

- Exactly.

- Okay.

- So Pedro, (speaks Spanish).

- [Sara] Our paella will also have chicken thighs.

Franck doesn't waste anything.

(Franck speaks Spanish) - And hold onto the feet for the stock?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Because a lot of flavor, jelly.

- Exactly.

So now we're gonna get the most important ingredients for the paella.

- Yeah.

- Which is the arroz, and the special arroz from here.

- The rice, okay.

- The rice, yeah, exactly.

- Arroz.

(Franck speaks Spanish) - [Sara] Bomba?

- Bomba, bomba sarica, for me is the best.

Is where I get the best caramelization.

Look at this.

- Let's see what it looks like.

- Gracias.

Look, you see, you see?

Little bit shorter than the sarica.

- Yeah.

- But it doesn't release that much starch.

- Wow, they're tiny.

- Beautiful.

- They're really small.

Okay.

(Franck speaks Spanish) - A very important ingredient for the paella, paprika.

What I call paprika, red bell pepper.

- But is it different?

- This is a special one.

You have to choose them with this dark color.

- Dark color.

- Okay?

So that's why you know, like this one, this one, this is beautiful for the paella.

So now we are going to go to- - Wow, look at all these beans.

- All different type of beans.

- Yes.

- This is so important for the paella.

Here we have the faba.

- I know the faba.

- So the faba we put at the last minute because this cooks like, ah... - Tender, eat one.

- Oh, you eat them like this?

It's beautiful when you eat like this.

- Mm.

- Many Spanish people they eat it raw.

Then we have the garrofon, what they call garrofon.

- Garrofon.

- Garrofon.

This, I cook it in the paella.

- Okay.

- This is beautiful.

- So you don't eat those raw though?

- No you can, but.

- Okay.

- And this is the judia.

- Those are beautiful.

- How you call it, broad bean, flat bean?

- Broad bean, flat bean, either one.

- Exactly, here we have two type, the regular one, the judia, and this one is red judia, I mean judia rojo.

And this one it gives much more flavor to the paella.

So I love to use this one.

And when he's roast, you know when he's roast with the meat, he gives a very nice flavor.

So I prefer to use this one.

Today we're going to use faba, garrofon and all three, yeah, together.

- [Sara] At its heart this is a fishing village.

So it's easy to find the freshest fish to round out the paella.

For Franck, that's mussels.

(Franck speaks Spanish) (fishmonger speaks Spanish) (Franck speaks Spanish) (Franck speaks Spanish) (fishmonger and Franck speak Spanish) Shopping always makes me hungry.

Luckily the remedy is minutes away, our magnificent paella.

(upbeat music) The town of Denia bustles with fishermen and vacationers, but up high on a hill at Franck's place, you couldn't find a more serene place to cook.

You know, after all that shopping, I'm really hungry and I'm so lucky to be here with Franck Garanger.

He's such a paella expert.

So let's get started.

- Let's start exactly.

- Okay.

- So first we're gonna cut the pepper.

So you know, we just try to make some stripes.

- Oh, strips we call 'em.

- Strips, yeah.

- I like stripes too, that's good.

(Franck laughs) - That's my French accent.

- No, I love your French accent.

- So you make a little pieces like this.

- Yeah.

- And this we're going to put it in a pan with little bit olive oil because this we need to flavor the oil of the paella.

So it goes very slowly.

- Oh, so infusing the oil.

- Exactly.

- Okay.

So we cook it very slowly.

- Very slowly, like a confit.

- Oh, you mean like when you cook, let me just explain.

Confit means to preserve and you do it with duck, you do it with fruits, you do it with all sorts of things.

But it's low and slow.

- Exactly.

- Yes, okay.

So we're gonna make the stock.

- Yeah, very simple stock.

So just put some pieces of the end cut of the pepper inside the water.

- Okay.

- And then we are going to put some of the bones from the chicken.

- Chicken.

Okay.

- Perfect.

And the last thing we're gonna put is the parsley stem.

- Parsley.

So you want me to turn this on, like medium heat?

- Yes, exactly.

I think the peppers are ready.

- Okay, how do you know?

They just sort of wrinkled and... - Oh, very soft, you see?

- Mm-hmm.

- How they are like this.

- Oh, look at the color of that oil.

It really did pick up- - Exactly.

- The red and the flavor.

- And the flavor, the flavor.

- Okay.

- [Franck] Please give me the Iberico pork.

- [Sara] All right, here we go.

- Perfect, just pour it inside.

Voila, perfect.

- Mm, all right, so now we brown that for a few minutes.

- We brown that for, yeah, few minutes.

After that we're gonna put the chicken.

- All right.

- Okay?

- [Sara] Well now you have to tell me about paella.

- The paella means the pan, okay?

- Oh, it refers to this pan.

- Exactly.

So it was in the field, you know, when they used to get together, somebody was bringing the pan, somebody was cleaning the rabbit or get some snails or get some leftover fish from the fisherman, bring it all together.

The rice was growing in Valencia, in the area of Valencia.

And then everything put together and they were cooking and sharing.

- In some ways it's a peasant dish.

- Exactly, definitely the best dish in the world are peasant dish.

- Yes, yes.

Oh yeah, absolutely.

- [Franck] This is something I learned on the street is to put- - You learned on the street?

- Yes, watching competition on the street, is to put the salt around like this so it's going to have time to roast and to give a flavor.

And little by little I'm going to bring the salt into the pan.

- So it's almost like you're smoking the salt.

- Exactly.

- Yeah, very cool.

- You can use fleur de sel or regular raw sea salt.

It has to be sea salt.

- Sea salt, okay.

- This is my secret, you keep it for you.

- Okay, we won't tell anybody, no.

- [Franck] Okay, now we have to put the chicken.

- So this is our cut up chicken.

- Voila, in the center.

Beautiful.

That's very nice.

- [Sara] Right on top of the pork, huh?

- Right on top, exactly, because I still have my salt that is roasting.

- You want, you don't wanna touch the salt, but you wanna- - No, not yet, not yet.

- This is so cool.

- Little by little, okay?

- Yeah.

- After the chicken is brown we are going to put the beans.

- Okay.

- All the different type of bean that we got on the market.

We're going to put them for few minutes.

Then we put the tomato paste that we are going to make now with the mortar.

- Okay.

(upbeat music) So what we've drained here in the mortar and pestle is two tomatoes, three whole garlic cloves and a couple of tablespoons of chopped parsley.

- Exactly, so that's why we put- - [Sara] Oh, you put oil in here too, how much oil?

- Franck] Oh yeah, well, one tablespoon.

- [Sara] One tablespoon.

- Now we have the beautiful beans that we brought from the market.

So yeah, you know, we have to get out those beautiful one.

And then I'm going to cut some of the broad beans or flat beans as you call it.

- Is there a trick to opening these?

- Oh yeah, this is- - Longer nails, I'd say.

- Exactly, exactly.

- Oh darn.

I don't have those salon nails needed for opening these.

- And those beans what is important, you know, is to cut them, you see, long enough like this.

That's perfect.

Now we're gonna put this in a pan.

- Mm-hmm.

- At this point, no, this you are not invited.

- Oh, okay.

(laughs) - At this point we mix together and we make sure we get all the salt that is on the back that is completely caramelized, together.

Now it's the perfect time to put the tomato base.

It's going to be like deglaze.

We're going to deglaze all the- - [Sara] So you want me to spread it around?

- Yeah.

Voila, fantastic.

- That smells so amazing.

- [Franck] And you see, I deglaze the (indistinct).

- The browned bits that have- - Exactly.

- On the bottom.

- So the tomato helps me to remove all of this from the pan.

So I have the maximum flavor coming.

- I have a question.

- Now.

- Okay.

- Perfect timing, it's fantastic.

- Okay, so tell us what this is and how much.

- Pimenton de la vera.

- Yes.

- Sweet smoked paprika.

- Oh, it's so pretty.

- Another one, another one.

Yeah, put it all, perfect.

- [Sara] I'm gonna call that two teaspoons.

- Okay, now it's time for the rice.

- [Sara] Okay.

And how much are we adding?

- 700 grams.

- Okay.

- Up to the- - Okay, I think that's about three cups.

Ca va, okay.

- Ca va. - Okay, okay.

- YOu put it inside.

- Okay.

Everywhere?

- Everywhere.

- [Sara] Try to get it even?

It doesn't matter.

- Anyway, I will mix it.

- [Sara] So it doesn't matter, I don't have to be so delicate.

- No.

And now we are going to stir it for a few minutes.

Voila, very nice, beautiful.

I like the bomba rice because I have tried several times and this one doesn't release that much starch.

- [Sara] Ah!

- So it's easier to control the caramelization that we will need at the end, you know, what we call the soccarat.

- Soccarat.

- Soccarat.

- I've heard that word before.

- Yeah, is the bottom that get crispy that everybody's fighting to get at the end.

And with the the bomba rice, it does not release that much starch.

- Okay.

- So we control much better the caramelization.

- So now how long does this cook?

- Now we have to put the stock.

- Okay.

- So- - We need to strain the stock.

- We need to strain the stock, but we also need to put the saffron.

And very important, you know, when you put the saffron is at the end, you don't boil the saffron.

- Okay.

- Okay?

It's gonna have a 20 minutes cooking with the rice.

So yeah, I just want to get the flavor and the color.

- And you wanted me to stir it a little bit?

- Yeah, just little bit for that.

- And tell us about saffron.

- Of course, you know, it's now I think we are close to 2,000 euro a kilo for the saffron.

- Very expensive, the most expensive spice in the world.

- Exactly.

- Because it's the stigmas, those little things, there's only three per crocus and it's hand harvested.

- Now we have to put the stock.

You see the beautiful flavor I have?

- I do, I do, that color.

- So don't forget for, especially if you use a bomba, it's one part of rice for three part of liquid.

- By volume.

- Yeah, exactly, by volume.

- By volume.

- Exactly.

- Okay.

- And now what is important is to really spread the rice all around to make sure that we have the kind of equal amount of rice all over the paella.

- And we cook it uncovered.

- Ah, yes.

- Well I know, I'm just asking.

- Full action.

Full action.

- High heat.

- High heat.

- Damn the torpedoes, let's go.

- So now we are going to put the pepper and we're going to put them like a star or a worm, you know?

- Oh wow.

- And they're going to cook together with the rice and they will finish to sit on the rice.

- So now that we've got the peppers in, how long does it cook?

- More or less I will say 20 minutes.

- 20 minutes total.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- I never count 'cause it's cooked when you are- - I know, but that's not helpful to the home cook.

Okay, about 20 minutes.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- [Franck] Now that the paella is resting, is a perfect time for a glass of cava.

- Oh, I think so.

And so tell me a little bit about this.

- Oh, this one come from Penedes.

And I like particularly this one because is two years in barrel.

- So what does cava mean?

- Oh, cava means cave.

- Oh.

- Yeah, very simple to remember.

- Okay, okay.

(Franck laughs) Franck's paella is almost ready.

- So now we're ready to put the mussels around.

So that's my little picture.

- Okay.

- You just put the thin part inside.

- Okay.

- Every two inch more or less.

And then while they will be cooking, they will open and they will be a very nice decoration at the end.

This is for example, this is my style to put mussels.

You don't see that much paella with mussels.

- Really?

- You see some with calamari.

But me, I like to put the mussel because I think it looks great.

- Oh, I do too.

- At the end when it's cooked.

- What other shell, would you ever use clams?

- Oh yeah, yeah, you can put clams.

- We can do another round?

- It's okay, it's perfect like this.

- That's it.

- Final touch, I put the faba beans.

I like to put really at the end so they're lightly warm.

- Oh, okay.

- And sometime, you know, people use green peas, but me, I love broad beans.

- But if you're gonna add peas, you'd add them at this point too.

- Yeah, little bit before.

- Okay.

- Yeah, they will cook little bit faster the pea.

- Okay.

- But like this, you see, and it give us a nice little green color.

- [Sara] Okay.

- So now I will cover it with aluminum foil for a good five minutes.

You will have some, the humidity that will go back a little bit on the bottom of the pan.

So it'll move from- - It will (indistinct) crust (indistinct).

- Exactly.

- I got it.

- Okay, so this is very important, and on off also because is really ready now so a good five minute, perfect time to have a glass of red wine.

(mellow music) - Amigos, the paella (indistinct).

(guests cheering) - [Sara] Oh that is so gorgeous.

- Thank you, thank you.

So now I'm gonna explain the quick rules how to eat the paella in Valencia.

You have to eat exactly what is in front of you.

Yes, with your spoon.

- Really?

- Just put your napkin like this so you don't mess up too much and you eat exactly what is in front of you.

But of course you don't forget one of the very important thing is to spread a little lemon, okay?

So then you eat.

Whenever there is something you don't like, for example, if you don't like little piece of pork or chicken, you just put it like this with your spoon and then you wait.

And when you finish you put your spoon like this.

- All right.

So shall we dig in?

- Please go ahead.

You go like this.

Ah, you check yourself you have a nice- - Oh, I wanna find the crust.

- Caramelization on the bottom of the pan.

- How'd we do?

- Warm, perfect.

- It's so good.

(guests speak French) - [Sara] The sun, the ocean, the warmth of friends and that big, beautiful filling pan of paella.

That's why the Spaniards invented the siesta.

That's my next stop.

All right, that's it, I'm done.

(everyone cheers and laughs) For recipes, videos and more, go to our website Saramoulton.com.

"Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by Sunsweet, Mutti tomatoes of Parma, Le Gruyere AOP from Switzerland, and by... - Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It was starting when I was child with my grandmother doing fresh pasta and now I transmit it to all the guests.

Is something made specially for them.

- [Sara] Oceania Cruises, proud sponsor of "Sara's Weeknight Meals".

(bright music) (bright music)