Inspired by one of Anna’s recent posts, I bought myself a paella pan during our visit to Chefs’ Warehouse last week.
It’s quite large – 42cm in diameter – and made of black steel, which meant we had to season and blacken it before cooking.
We gave it a test run today for Mother’s Day lunch, and made a paella with duck pieces, chorizo, broadbeans, San Marzano tomatoes and parsley. I adopted Anna’s approach of starting it on the cooktop and finishing it in the oven. The pan just fits in the oven – the door closes with millimetres to spare!
It was a delicious lunch, and best of all, Pete’s found a spot for me to hang the pan in the pantry.
Have you been celebrating Mother’s Day? It’s a low key affair at our house, although both my sons made a big effort to be home today, which was very nice. They’ve been stacking the dishwasher, cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming – and letting me play in the kitchen. Much better gifts than anything they could have bought!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Very low key even here…. My Mom is 6 thousand miles away, and I don’t have kids myself, stepmom is the best I could do
:-)
Happy Mother’s Day to you, even if it’s almost over where you live….
I reckon you’d be the world’s best step-mom, Sally! Hope it was a nice, easy day! :)
I am really keen to try paella at home since most of the paella (and almost everything else) we ate in Spain was pretty ordinary. Tapas would have to be the most over rated food ever – an excuse to serve scraps.
You paella looks excellent. What lovely boys you have.
Deb, thank you! Hope you had a nice Mother’s Day too. Disappointing to know the food in Spain was ordinary – I always underestimate how fabulous our Australian produce is!
Duck…I like that. I also have my paella pans in different sizes. Looks wonderful and enjoy your day with your boys.
All the best.
Norma, I bought a duck at the butcher – the marylands and the breast were used for confit duck. I removed all the skin and fat and rendered it in the oven to use in the confit. I was then left with the backbone, wings and neck, and I didn’t want to waste them, so they all went into the paella!
Love the idea of pans in all different sizes – maybe we need to get a proper burner next.. :)
Great pan. It’s simply not Paella w/o a proper paella pan. For a laugh, check out Posh Nosh video on YouTube and their paella adventures — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfN4_52loC4 Check out how Minty “tastes” the dish — I can identify with that
Sean, thank you! I read somewhere that if you cook the same recipe in a regular fry pan, then all you have is a arroz (rice) dish, it has to be cooked in the paella pan to be a paella! Of course, a purist friend rang me today and gave me grief about putting it in the oven, but we’re limited with the cooktop.. ;-)
The clip is a crack up – and it even has David Tennant! Actually, they didn’t do a bad job – I have a fondness for bottarga (if not the money!). :)
Sounds like a good Mother’s Day to me. Good to see someone else does blogger inspired purchases ;-)
Mother’s Day was lovely here. Funrun, huge batch of scones, lively conversation and visitors- couldn’t have been better.
Yeah, all you blogging mates are costing me a fortune! ;-)
Glad to hear your day was wonderful too, B!
Mmmmmm yum! Paella is something I keep meaning to try to cook but I need a paella pan too. I love it. Sounds like you had a great mothers day!
Mrs Bok, hope your day was grand as well – I’ve been resisting a pan for ages until I read Anna’s post that it could be used on the hob!
Your paella looks wonderful & your day sounds delightful ….. my son made dinner and bought if over ( so I wouldn’t have his mess in the kitchen) it was a wonderful Mother’s Day gift.
Suz, how fabulous!! What a great son you have!
Gorgeous looking paella, Celia. You obviously had a much more productive day than I did. I spent my special day mostly recumbent, doing some housework on my blog, reading a murder mystery and chatting to the kids as they came in and out of my bedroom with sustenance for me.
Amanda, I think the idea of staying in bed with a murder mystery (an old Ellery Queen for me) would have been wonderfully appealing! Sounds like you were waited on hand and foot – well deserved too! (Did they fess up about where the vanilla vodka disappeared to?) :)
Happy Mother’s Day, Celia! The paella looks wonderful. I didn’t spend any time in the kitchen, but the littles brought me a bowl of cereal in bed and then we spent the day at the zoo with a picnic lunch put together by hubby…couldn’t ask for more! =)
Abby, perfect day! We don’t go to the zoo anymore, but it was one of our favourite activities when the kids were little!
I bought a huge paella pan a couple of years ago too…and ashamed to say that I only used it once. Must find it in the garage and use it again. Mine just fit over the webber kettle bbq we have, so I cooked it outside over the coals. Probably needed a bit more trial and error to get the amount of heat right, etc. Fitting it in the oven is a really good solution. I would not even try with my pan and oven. Your oven is huge so your pan must be huge too if it only just fits in there!
My kids are of the age when mothers day is a huge event. They get so excited planning out what to do, what to get me, what to make me. It is really sweet. I am sure it won’t last long so I try to soak it all up as much as I can!
SG, your mother’s day sounded fantastic – foot and hand massages? That’s the life, girl! :)
I love paella. My mum spent a few years in Madrid when she was younger and her sister still lives there so she’s quite a pro with a paella pan!
Claire, I’d love any tips she has! This is our first attempt, and we weren’t really sure what we were doing…but the end result was very nice!
Great Paella Celia. I have been wanting to get one for quite a while too, but what I want to know is does one that large fit over more than one burner? I was contemplating getting a pan the size of my whole cooktop, and using it with multiple burners, do you think that would work? I also love how you have solved the storage solution for me by mentioning Pete’s hook!
For my mothers day, I lay in bed for 2hrs, reading with a little globe and pretending to be asleep whenever the kiddies checked on me, while they made breakfast in bed. As you can see by the 2hrs time delay, we missed church, but it was nice hanging out with each other instead. For dinner I made a roast dinner with all the trimmings and we ate it in front of the TV ( but don’t tell anyone!) and caught up with some family friendly shows together. All together a lovely day!
Becca, I believe that’s what Anna does – as I mentioned above, I’ve always held off as we don’t have room for a dedicated burner, but when I saw that Anna was cooking it over a couple of hobs on the cooktop, I thought it was worth a punt. We ended up using our 42cm pan right over the wok burner, and it worked quite well, although finishing it off in the oven was a good option for us. Your oven is about the same size as ours from memory, so it might fit as well. For what it’s worth, the 42cm pan was enough to feed all four of us, with another half serve or so leftover.
Your Mother’s Day sounds grand as well – I’m so happy that all my friends have had such lovely days! :)
Your paella is beautiful,Celia
I made one last week with a large frying pan- I couldn’t have finished it in the oven because of the handle- but it was so pretty and delicious!
My sons made a marvelous baked salmon with sugared orange slices and ramps and asparagus. We had black olives, and gouda cheese and crusty breads and a green salad with pepper olive oil and pear basalmic vinegar.
It was so very good.
Glad to hear that your day was happy and that the boys let you have full reign in the kitchen while they handled the cleanup!
Heidi, how gorgeous that your sons cooked dinner for you! I reckon we’re in the in-between stage – they’re too old to be bringing me breakfast in bed, but too young to be cooking a full-scale meal. Having said that, kitchen lackeys is a perfect present for me! :)
This month has been so hectic that I totally forgot that I bought and seasoned a paella pan about 6 weeks ago. You’ve just reminded me of its existance – now where did I put it?!
Mother’s Day was earlier in the year for me and my girls completely forgot. I think I’ll send them this post as a hint prior to next years. I’m very impressed by the thoughtfulness of your boys.
Ah Sally, my boys don’t often remember either, but they’re nice about it when they’re told. ;-) Hope you find your pan, would love to see what you do with it!
What a lovely Mother’s Day you had Celia and your paella looks incredible. We are thousands of kilometres away from both my and Pete’s mom. We enjoyed our normal Sunday of a big bacon and eggs breakie at home with a lovely long walk on the beach and drinks with friends in the afternoon.
:-) Mandy
Mandy, sounds like a glorious Sunday for you! Glad you had a good time, even though family are so far away – won’t be long now until you’re home! :)
aren’t the paella pans fantastic.
I’ve always wanted one, but have no space in my kitchen.
You’re also kicking me into action to make a Catalan fideua as my husband doesn’t do rice I’m afraid.
Beautiful cooking. I come to expect no less whenever I visit Celia.
Gill, thanks love, the pans are remarkably flat, so I reckon your fella could find a spot to hang one up for you! I have no idea what a fideua is – will head to Google now! :)
Coo, what an enormous pan. Finding somewhere to put it would be my best present – well done Pete.
I use my paella pan for all kind of things, pancakes, baked mac and cheese, German pancakes, gratins, even paella once in a while.
I agree with Choclette… “Well done, Pete!”
Maz
Fabulous work! I knew you’d make a stunning paella and what a killer combination of flavours! :D
Oh your paella looks so amazing! It sounds perfect and flavourful :) I wish I had that pan :)
Choc, Maz, he’s a bit of a star, isn’t he? I bought the pan on impulse, and was a little panicked by the size of it when we came home! :)
Lorraine, thank you! It was very nice indeed!
Tes, you should definitely get one – the one I bought was black steel and very reasonably priced!