We had our crew of friends over for dinner this weekend. As you may know, some of them have food allergies and intolerances. Julian decided to offer paella and tapas (Spanish appetizers) at this feed.
Paella takes care of the most pressing allergy in our crew, as rice is gluten-free. From there, the challenges begin. We made a small pan without onion and garlic for our friend who has allium intolerance. A second small pan was made without meat, seafood, and nightshades (capsicums, tomatoes, paprika) for another couple. The large pan consisted of chicken and Spanish chorizo sausage with the works.
[An aside: If you want to make paella at home, make sure you use the Spanish chorizo rather than the Mexican. The two sausages are entirely different. The Spanish chorizo is cured, whereas the Mexican is more like Italian sausage links–except fattier. We made the mistake of buying some Mexican chorizo years ago and it devolved into a pan full of lard upon heating. Needless to say, we wound up going out to dinner that night.]
The tapas were manchego cheese with membrilla (quince paste), skewered vegetables and meats (banderillas) with a garlic-parsley sauce, and white anchovy toasts (boquerones). We made sangria to go along with the tapas.We also had two varieties of gluten-free crackers and the infamous “popcorn crack” (popcorn with white chocolate and cayenne pepper). Guests brought salads, desserts, and wine.
Anchovy toasts are in the background. The peppers are Spanish piparras.
These are the banderillas. We adjusted the contents of each skewer to accommodate the assorted dietary restrictions.
Julian cooked the large paella on the mighty Weber gas grill, while I cooked the other two indoors. The vegetarians had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. No worries, we sent the vegetarian paella home with another guest to give to the vegetarians. As usual, nobody left hungry.
The allium-free paella.
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