Mark Bittman's Tomato Paella

Oh yes.

You know what this is.

Don't you?

I think you do.

Plump Bomba rice, ripe tomatoes, heavy with juice, spiky and fragrant saffron, smoky, powdery pimenton, a splash of wine and blistering oven heat - all of these things add up to a white flag, waved by yours truly.

The minute I laid eyes on it, I knew I was a goner. Who would be able to resist its allure? The rice, soft, chewy and crisp; the tomatoes, blistered at the edges and pulpy-sweet at their centers. To be honest, I'm a bit at a loss for words.

In the end, I'm not sure there's much else to say, other than to admit that I'm completely smitten. And, you know, I think I'll just leave it at that.

Tomato Paella
Serves 4 to 6

3 cups water
1/2 cup white wine
1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into thick wedges
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Large pinch saffron threads
1-2 teaspoons Spanish pimentón (I just used 1 tsp and it was plenty)
2 cups Spanish or other short-grain rice
Minced parsley and basil for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Warm water in a saucepan. Put tomatoes in a medium bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle them with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Toss to coat.

2. Put remaining oil in a 10- or 12-inch ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, saffron if you are using it, and paprika and cook for a minute more. Add rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is shiny, another minute or two. Add wine and let simmer until it is mostly absorbed, then add the hot water and stir until just combined.

3. Put tomato wedges on top of rice and drizzle with juices that accumulated in bottom of bowl. Put pan in oven and roast, undisturbed, for 15 minutes. Check to see if rice is dry and just tender. If not, return pan to oven for another 5 to 10 minutes. If rice looks too dry but still is not quite done, add a small amount of stock or water (or wine). When rice is ready, turn off oven and let pan sit for 5 to 15 minutes.

4. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle with parsley and basil. If you like, put pan over high heat for a few minutes to develop a bit of a bottom crust before serving.

Comments

[Leah]

If I could eat my screen I would. Holy cow. Just seeing the pictures made my stomach happy. I must make this. Immediately.

[Casey]

I'm not usually a Bittman fan, but this does look luscious.

[Lucy]

God, how utterly gorgoeus.

ALL my favourite things.

[Molly]

Oh WOW! You made it! Holy crap. I saw it in the Times and thought, nah, no way. Not Bittman.

Oh Luisa, I was a doubter.

So glad one of us was brave enough to give it a go. It looks like a stunner! xo

[lolobstersquad]

golly, you´re brave. I´m completely tied down by fear when it comes to paella. also, the rice/water proportion is very different from the classic, and I doubted it could work. will try

[Victoria]

I love that comment above - Holy cow and echo the sentiment. I've remained in tomato bliss having made your Bread and Tomato Soup, the thought of which transports me still, followed the next day by a recipe I use for eggplant, which is essentially slices of eggplant bound breaded with panko instead of breadcrumbs, fried and served hot with room temperature marinated tomatoes on top. Then this alluring recipe comes along tempting me even now at 5:30 a.m. Three questions for you, dear Luisa: (1) Is the pimenton the sweet variety? (2) Can I get the Bomba rice in the City as opposed to ordering it online? (In other words, can I get it right this second?) (3) How am I going to lose the ten pounds I want to lose if you keep coming up with these GREAT recipes?

Victoria

[Lydia]

Now, this is a recipe that reminds you that the rice is the star of any paella. I've been cooking my way through Penelope Casas' wonderful book (Paella!), and her stovetop/oven technique for making paella works so well. I highly recommend that anyone who's fallen in love with paella give her book a try.

[RA]

Yum! I crave paella every so often, but the husband's reticence leads to jambalaya instead, which is fine, but it's not THIS! I will covet this dish from afar.

[gemma]

dammit it looks incredible but ANOTHER tomato dish? you are killing me :)

[ann]

I had the same feeling when I saw that recipe, but not the determination that you have, obviously, because all I did was tag it in delicious to save for a rainy day!
This'll be a perfect way to use up the bomba rice I've got tucked away!

[carrie]

Those tomatoes are beautiful! In high school I was good friends with a Spanish exchange student and she introduced me to traditional Spanish Paella. I will definitely try this! Thank you for sharing about this wonderful dish!

[Lisa (Homesick Texan)]

Wow! That was fast! I tagged it for this weekend...simply gorgeous and I'm pleased to know the recipe is such a winner.

[Christina]

Wow, you move fast! This looks delicious! I thought this looked wonderful in the paper yesterday, thanks for trying it! Good job...

[Jennifer Hess]

Well I guess that's that. Put me in the same boat as those above who were saving this for later, and are now compelled to make this RIGHT NOW. Your photos literally made my mouth water!

[Mercedes]

Oh, what a beautiful, beautiful dish! Stunning!
I have to say, I've almost completely written off Bittman, and I thought the dish looked a bit boring when I read the article, just tomatoes and rice, humph. Apparently, I was very very worng. Thank you for pointing that out to me.

[Luisa]

Leah - happy stomach! Hope it happened. :)

Casey - neither am I, neither am I. But this paella! Bliss. Makes me think Bittman's got a way with rice. (See the stuck-pot rice that I made and loved, though not the second version, with potatoes. Who knows!)

Lucy - that's kind of what I thought! And thank you...

Molly - ha, I know! I usually ignore that column entirely. Oh, I'm SO glad I didn't this time.

Ximena - I suspect being a non-Spaniard would help with attempting such a glorified national dish as paella, but this one seemed like such a friendly, easy version. Go ahead, try it! I know you can do it :) Oh, and a note on the liquids - I definitely had to add some more water and wine towards the end, as he says you might have to.

Victoria - My pimenton doesn't say if it's sweet or not, which leads me to believe it's not, but it's really not spicy either, just smoky smoky smoky. Almost too much so, which is why I used less than Bittman calls for. I bought Bomba rice at Balducci's last night - it was pricy, but not as much as it cost to buy online (where you can also find it). As for your last question, I'm just going to say that I don't think you need to lose an ounce! Have fun cooking :)

Lydia - ooh, what a great recommendation, thank you. Ben's brother-in-law is a Spaniard and one of the best cooks I know - I'm still hoping for a one-on-one paella tutorial some time...

RA - feh, jambalaya! Make this anyway - I think he'll convert. How couldn't he?

Gemma - sorry, my friend. In a month, they'll be gone, leaving those nasty, cottony specimens in their stead. I have to eat 'em while I can! ;)

Ann - ooh yes. Now I have the luxury of hunting down more Bomba-using recipes. I think next up might just have to be a "real" paella. We'll see!

Carrie - thank you! If you could have only tasted them. So perfect it almost hurt to cook them instead of gobble them down raw, you know?

Lisa and Christina - I know, but I couldn't help myself! So glad I moved quickly. You should, too!

Jennifer - oh good!

Mercedes - oh, if you only knew how much I've written him off (in fact, poke around in the archives, by all means)... which made this delicious dish all the more satisfying. Finally!

[Hillary]

Yea...how could you not be smitten with that gorgeous paella? I want to eat this sooo badly! Nice recipe and nice execution.

[Carmen]

One obviously eats very very well at your table!

[Jackpot]

I had this for dinner tonight. It was awesome!

[Nicole]

I knew someone would be posting about this soon! It looks gorgeous and now I'm even more determined to try this soon!

[Steve]

Hmmm ... I probably would have peeled the tomatoes - why? The peel sticks in my teeth! Great pic!

[Jillian]

I saw this wednesday and am all set to make it sunday after i can get some tomatoes at the farmer's market! So glad you approve! My other favorite Bittman recipe that's become a staple at my place is his asparagus risotto from a few months back! You should give it a try!

[Maroto]

Excuse me! You can't call that thing paella, it may look interesting as a rice but that s all. I am from Valencia and our recipe can be flexible... but this is not a paella, no way...

[Sarena]

That looks absolutely beautiful!

[mallow]

This was already on my To Do list, but after seeing your pictures, it is moving up a few spots!

[Luisa]

Hillary - well, you never know, right? But this was a winner, yes. Even kept up as leftovers!

Carmen - One might eat well, but one will also end up on dishwashing duty, at least the eater at my table will ;)

Jackpot - so glad you liked it!

Nicole - yes, you must! Absolutely.

Steve - hmm, that would be a problem, yes. Our tomatoes got such an amazing consistency, almost like firm jelly, that the skin was secondary.

Jillian - I hope you liked it. Bittman's got a way with rice, that's for sure.

Maroto - I'm just the middle man...

Sarena - thanks! It was just as tasty>

Mallow - wise thinking ;)

[Leah]

It happened! Last night. I even took photos, which are on my flickr. And you were right about it, in every way. I also made the plum crumble. Oh. My. God. Not very good photo of that also available.

All I have to say is I might have to stop reading your blog for a while, because all that weight I lost is going to come back VERY QUICKLY if I keep this up.

PS - Ajumma report coming soon. First I had to post something about some banana bread (because the world needs more banana bread recipes...)

[Chef Tom]

W O W ! I love tomatoes and that looks soo good! I'm bookmarking this one for sure! Thanks.

[tom]

Why have many of you "written off" bittman. Curious. I'm a fairly new cook and find his books and simple approach fantastic.

[wellunderstood]

I made a quick "note to self" when perusing last week's Dining secion about this gorgeous thing! Glad to see it worked out well!

[david]

sounds great, and i'm making it at this very moment only to realize a quantity of salt is not specified. i'm guessing at least a teaspoon and a half for 2 cups of rice, but how about leaving out the guesswork next time, mark?

[Doug]

Delicious! I made it last night after reading your blog. (I've been lurking.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/planetgordon/1372874634/

[Grubbjunkie]

Hello, first time checking out your blog - found you looking for Bittman's article - and just wanted to say I'm impressed and hope to check back often.

I made a version of this paella last night with chorizo and gulf shrimp and it was friggin' delicious. I browned crumbled chorizo before adding the onions, and added a half dozen shrimp on top for the last couple minutes of cooking, but otherwise followed your recipe fairly closely. The results were fantastic and I will definitely be making this again.

[Luisa]

Leah - So glad you loved both! We've been on a tear lately, haven't we? Yum. As for banana bread, the world can ALWAYS use more of it. I've got two frozen bananas in the fridge and I'm feeling an urge coming on... Can't wait to hear about Ajumma.

Doug - hello there. And gorgeous! Good job.

Grubjunkie - thank you! That sounds like a pretty spectacular variation on this paella. Did you use fresh or dried chorizo?

[TheQueen]

Doesn't get much better than this. Served this for our Wednesday night dinner group and there were no leftovers! Definitely a make-again recipe.

[Honeybee]

I made this last night and it was ever so good. Loved, loved, loved it. Thank you!

[eastcoast]

That't an awsome recipe. I will have to try it.
Cheers,
Peter

[ooopinionsss]

How you think when the economic crisis will end? I wish to make statistics of independent opinions!

[ure]

That's what I've been looking for - cheers for sharing. It looks absolutely delicious.