Spanish – The Answer is Always Pork

fava beans with manchego cheese

It has been quite busy in Jobyland as of late. Two product launch campaigns and one major sale in a span of six weeks is a lot for one girl to handle. Thankfully, Jordan finished his semester last week and has been taking good care of me. Last Thursday, he made his famous paella. Paella is one of Jordan’s specialties, but this time he decided to experiment and cook the shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce, instead of cooking them along with the rice. Slathering paella rice with spicy tomato shrimp and a garlicy aioli after a long day of Photoshopping—yep, that’s a very good idea.

But, paella isn’t just one of those things you whip up. It takes a while to come together and so to tide a hungry Emily over, Jordan made marinated fava beans. They were simple and delicious, and only get better the more they sit.

Marinated Fava Beans with Manchego Cheese
1 cup shelled fava beans
1/4 – 1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
zest of one lemon, removed with a vegetable pealer
1/2 t fennel seeds, rosemary leaves and oregano leaves
salt and pepper
1/4 cup manchego cheese, cut into tiny cubes

Put a large pot of water to boil. Remove the fava beans from their pods. Fava beans come in a large pod and then have another external shell that needs to be removed before you eat them—annoying but worth it. Blanche the favas for a few minutes in boiling water, drain and remove their outer shells. Place them in a medium glass bowl.

Add the herbs, lemon zest and cheese. Pour olive oil over the mixture and season with salt and pepper. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for a few hours for the flavors to meld together. Serve with bread or crackers as an appetizer, or as a salad alongside your favorite spanish dish.

-Emily

fideos with mussels and shrimp

The first time I had fideos was at Jaleo in Washington D.C over 3 years ago. Those little worm-sized noodles were incredible – just like pretty much everything else on the menu – and I’ve been wanting to enjoy them again ever since. Sadly, San Francisco lacks a Jaleo. You can imagine how stoked I was when I found dry fideos at the Middle Eastern market just down the block from us for $1.49! I figured they were one of those specialty import products that sell for $13 at Williams Sonoma, but no. Hurray! I poked around on the internet for recipes and combined two (one from Jose Andres and one from Mario Batali) for this meal.

Fideos with Mussels and Shrimp

1 lb fideos

1/4 c olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

4 cloves garlic, diced

1-16 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 quart vegetable stock

1 t spanish paprika

1 bottle clam juice

1 cup white wine

1 pinch saffron,

1 bay leaf

salt, pepper

1 lb mussels, rinsed and debearded

1/2 lb shrimp

In a dutch oven, heat olive oil until it shimmers. Add dry fideos and brown over medium heat until golden. Remove fideos from pot and set aside.

In the same pot, heat a bit more olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrot and garlic and saute for about 5 minutes. Add can of crushed tomatoes and the paprika and turn the heat up to high. Cook for another 20 minutes to reduce the mixture, stirring often. I’m pretty sure this is called a sofrito.

In a large stockpot heat stock, clam juice, wine, bay leaf and saffron. Add shellfish and cook until the mussels open and shrimp are opaque, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon or strainer, pick out seafood and set aside. Add this seafood broth to the sofrito. Add the fideos. Cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the noodles are tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add the seafood back into the mix. Top with parsley and a squirt of lemon to serve.

When I had this dish at Jaleo, the noodles had a delightfully crispy top crust. I’m pretty certain you could attain this under the broiler for a few minutes, but we were starving after a long day at the office and so we just dug in!

-Emily