Reheating time: 10-15 minutes

Back to the grind! Long weekends are nice, but definitely leave us longing for more. A break from the mundane march from Monday to Friday is always well appreciated, and this weekend hopefully gave you some time to kick back with good food, family, and some fireworks. I personally don’t like fireworks for a multitude of reasons, which I will not go into in too much detail. However, I do like fireworks when it comes to flavors (ready for a stupid metaphor?), and tonight’s dinner is definitely going to set off some fireworks in your oven. Wow. I’m really trying to be enthusiastic, but I don’t know anymore guys… Comparing dinner to fireworks may be a new low for me. But seriously, it’s very good. It’s got everything you look for in a paella, minus everything that makes a paella, a paella. Generally, a paella is characterized by the socarrat. There’s none of that here, and I won’t lie to you, it’s a stretch to call this paella. However, the flavors are all there. And, to substitute for the crispy toasted rice crunch on the bottom of a true paella, we made some toasted rice powder, and dusted that on top for the toasty rice… flavor. It’s definitely different, but also definitely delicious. The real kicker? All you gotta do is bake this thing till it’s nice and hot, and then you’re golden. Easy, delicious, and fireworks. Three key takeaways from this message. 

Get in there!

For the paella bake:

Preheat the oven to 375. Don’t even wait for it to get hot. Pop the paella bake in there, and step away for 15-20 minutes. Don’t hold me to the 15-20 minute piece. Sometimes things take longer in the oven to get hot, and it’s definitely highly dependent on your oven. It might only take 10 minutes! The trick here is to get it hot. However long it takes for the paella bake to get nice and hot inside, is how long it will take to get hot. Most likely 10-15 minutes, maybe longer. We are looking for the breadcrumbs and cheese on top to get toasty and melty, and the inside to be nice and warm. Once you’ve achieved both of those things, it’s ready! Pull it on out of that oven, and scoop onto a plate! Delicious 🙂

For the marinated fava beans:

These are so freaking good. The intent was for them to be eaten cold, as a nice flavor and temperature contrast with the paella. They bring a lot of sweet and sour zingers to the table (literally, they’re on the table), and cut through some of the fat and richness of the paella nicely. Just mix them up a bit to reincorporate the marinade, and spoon them onto your plate!

For the salad:

Super simple. Toss the leaves in a bowl, and dress with the sherry vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper, mix it all up to evenly coat the leaves, and boom. Salad. Plate it up next to the paella and favas, or on the side.

Paella Bake

Welcome back to reality, folks. Hope we can make your night a lot easier, and a lot tastier 🙂

<3 WECO