smoky inspiration.

Pimentón de la Vera is my third favorite culinary discovery of 2009, behind my kitchen garden and the mandoline. I stumbled upon the mysterious "Spanish paprika" in several recipes in October, while preparing a Spanish-themed dinner party in honor of a friend who had spent some time abroad in Madrid. I located the paprika at South End Formaggio, and fell in love. I was a year behind Bittman, and so are you. Buy this spice.

Why do you need it? Because pimentón is paprika's tastier and much more interesting cousin. According to About.com:

Pimentón de la Vera has a distinctly smoky flavor that comes from the process of smoke-drying the peppers with huge amounts of oak wood in the drying houses. Peppers are placed on racks above the fire and farmers turn the peppers by hand once a day. This drying process takes about two weeks.

The smoky, spicy flavor imparted by this paprika adds warmth and character to recipes, and most distinctively a compensatory meatiness in some dishes I had to adjust for my vegetarian guest of honor. For the Spanish-themed dinner party, the recipes I made featuring the pimentón's smoky heat were:

• Smoky Chard Sauté. A simple tomato/garlic/chard sauté with a smoky undertone and slight, pleasant fennel flavoring.
  
• Cauliflower Gratin with Manchego and Almond Sauce. There are no words or photos to describe how delicious and over-the-top rich this recipe is. Golden manchego crust, golden-edged cauliflower, a soft smokiness and a subtly almondine sauce. Sigh.
  
• White Bean and Chorizo Salad, revised with the addition of pimentón, "fake" soy chorizo and extra oil to compensate for the lack of real spiced sausage.
  
• Finally, the entrée: a delicious, improvised, slightly blasphemous vegetarian paella that was satisfying in both taste and texture. I combined several recipes and created the rest, so I would need to work backwards through my memory to piece the recipe back together. Instead, I suggest that you don't make vegetarian paella. Make real paella.
  

I also served many non-pimentón offerings, including vegan moussaka with a pine nut cheese, and a bounty of flan, figs, fresh bread with guava paste, chevre, manchego and gouda, trays of raw and marcona almonds, olives, and a perfect orange-honey-almond spread made with almonds left over from the gratin. This dinner party, for 14 guests, was the first that I had ever prepared. There was plenty of food, and I had done enough prep work in advance that, come dinnertime, I only had to throw the gratin and the moussaka in the oven and prepare the paella and the sauté on the stovetop.

I was too busy cooking to even think about capturing my creations with a camera (a first for me!). Most importantly, the dinner guests and the guest of honor loved the meal. I was quite proud of the results-- with pimentón by my side, the night went off without a hitch. Here is the one food photograph I managed to take at the dinner party, a delicious image but wholly lacking in pimentón:

 AMH