Trick or Treating Farmers Market Style

It's time to trick or treat and the farmers markets are getting in on the action. Several of the markets this weekend (Saturday, 10/31) are celebrating Halloween with costume contests and carnivals. Grab your costume and head to the market.

The Downtown Austin Farmers Market is having a costume contest for children of all ages from 10 am to 11 am at the big blue Information tent at the Market this Saturday to show off for the judges. The best overall costume will win an Austin Farmers' Market shopping bag chock full of market goodies! The bag will be awarded at 11 am.

Reminder: The Downtown market has returned to their non-summer hours. The Saturday market is now 9 am - 1 pm.

In South Austin, several vendors at Sunset Valley Farmers Market are celebrating Halloween with treats. If Fido or Fifi is jonesing to dress up, Happy Tails is offering treats for your pets sporting a costume.

Or, maybe you need help getting your "zombie" on. Myka Natural Cosmetics can "Zombify" (Zombie makeup) you for $20.00. That seems better than some of the alternatives I can think of for becoming a zombie.

Up North, Brushy Creek Farmers Market is having a carnival with the community center. Bring your children out for fun and games. They are having a costume contest (for people & pets), as well as face painting, crafts, games, palm reading.

Get Your Gobble On: Order Your Local Thanksgiving Turkey Today

Thanksgiving is just four weeks away! This year, I will be celebrating Turkey day in Las Vegas with my family and am trying not to think about the buffet lunch and what it will look like. If you will be feasting at home, it's time to think Turkey.

I have found two options for buying a fresh, local, humanely raised turkey for your Thanksgiving meal. (If you know of others, please share.)

The first is Alexander Family Farm, just outside of Austin. They offer natural pastured Heritage and Broad Breasted White turkeys available for Thanksgiving. To order your turkey, email Kim Alexander at alexanderfamilyfarm@yahoo.com or call 512-247-4455. If found this interesting video, a documentary course project by Keeley Stenson, about the farm if you want to learn more about them and how they raise their poultry.

You can also order a fresh, local bird from Greenling, the organic delivery service. Greenling is getting their turkeys from Richardson Farms, a regular vendor at the Downtown, Triangle and Sunset Valley Farmers Markets. When I think of Richardson Farms, I always think of their pork and beef products and was delighted to learn that they also raise pastured poultry. If you haven't tried the Richardson products, I highly recommend them.

The local turkeys are going fast, so place your order today to make sure you aren't thawing a Butterball on Thanksgiving!

Set Your Alarm Clock: Market Hours Change this Week

The weather has cooled off and on Sunday our clocks fall back an hour, so it is time for the market hours to shift back to non-summer hours. On Wednesday, 10/28, the Triangle Farmers Market at 47th & Lamar will be open from 3 to 7 pm and on Saturday, 10/31, the Downtown Austin Farmers Market at 4th & Guadalupe will return to the hours of 9 am to 1 pm.

Because of the time change, I am shifting the start time for the Picnic in the Park that I host on the 1st Wednesday of every month to 6:00 pm. I hope you'll join me next Wednesday, 11/4, to shop the market and enjoy a nice dinner on the lawn. Bring a chair or blanket, plates, utensils and some cash to buy goodies from the vendors. (Warning: get there early if you want a bison taco!)

Feel free to drop by or you can RSVP on my blog by clicking on the RSVP button in the right hand column.

Don't forget to change the times on you calendar reminders and I'll look forward to seeing you at the market!

Flavors of Austin: Exploring Austin restaurants and supporting SFC

If you participated in Austin Restaurant Week or Go Texan Restaurant Round-Up, you had a chance to sample some Austin restaurants from a prix fixe menu that was, in most cases, a bargain compared to their normal prices. I know I took advantage of the chance to eat at places like Aquarelle and Trio which are normally outside my budget. Wouldn't it be great if you could do that every week?

Turns out you can! Flavors of Austin has organized a year-long restaurant exploration highlighting a new venue every week. On Sunday through Wednesday nights, you can sample a special multi-course, prix fixe menu and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Sustainable Food Center.

Some of the featured restaurants have included Franks, Satay, and Primizie Osteria. This week's offering is from Judge's Hill Restaurant in the beautifully restored mansion near UT on MLK Blvd. J. Black's is featured November 1st - 4th, followed by Bess Bistro November 8th-11th.

So, you get to support the Sustainable Food Center and eat a great meal. What are you waiting for? Make reservations!

A Sunday Farmers Market full of HOPE

If you are anything like me, your Saturdays are packed full of errands and fun events with family and friends. The fall is always the craziest time for me because I like to attend my niece and nephew's soccer games and I'm trying to schedule around the UT football games and I want to go to my friends' house warming or holiday parties. And, I have to pick up the dry cleaning and drop off the library books and...well, you get the picture. Trying to figure out when to go to the farmers market can be challenging at best.

I uttered a huge sigh of relief when I heard that there would be a new Sunday farmers market. Yea!!! A Sunday market! I don't have to do everything on Saturday.

The HOPE Farmers market, a nonprofit organization, will run from 10 am - 3 pm each Sunday and is located in East Austin (414 Waller St.) near Progress Coffee and Rogue Sports. The organization was created by a number of community members including: HOPE (Helping Other People Everywhere) Campaign, Finca Pura Vida, Daily Juice Co., Café Mundi, Nomad Sounds, Big Red Sun, Graphic Glass Studios, Empower Yoga, Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill, Jewel Magazine, Austin AMP and HOPE Events Inc..

In addition to providing another place to buy fresh, local food, the market will also include artisans, local healthy lifestyle companies and community groups. Following is a list of some of the farmers, purveyors and organizations you can expect to see at the market:

Finca Pura Vida

Winfield Farms

McKemie Homegrown Farm

Engle Farm

Rain Lilly Farms

Daily Juice

Cafe Mundi

Texas French Bread

Microbial Earth

SESA Tea

Loncito's Lamb

Thunderheart Bison

Buddha's Brew

GoodPops

Lala's Lemonade

Kala's Kuisine

Hot Rock'n & Pop'n Kettle Corn

Keep it Simple Silly (KISS)

East Side Showroom

Full English Food

Papa's Nubbins

Red Swing Project

Rainforest Partnership

Green Doors

Austin Eco Network

Austin AMP

If the list doesn't impress you, maybe the free coffee will. If you bring your own mug, you get free coffee! Now, that's a real incentive program.

If you have questions or need more details about the market, contact Greg Esparza at market@hopecampaign.org.

Hope to see you Sunday! I'll be the one balancing my bag and my coffee mug.

Bringing the Farm to Your Doorstep: Farm Delivery & CSAs

People sometimes tell me that they don't shop at the farmers market because they think it is inconvenient. Having a busy schedule myself, particularly when I was traveling almost non-stop, I definitely understand the challenge of dragging yourself out of bed on a Saturday morning to shop for vegetables. I'm always glad when I make the effort, but I understand that there are days when it seems overwhelming.

Luckily in Austin, you can get farm fresh vegetables delivered to your door step. Often called a CSA (community supported agriculture) or farm membership, you can "buy" into a farm and get a regular basket of goodies. With some farms, you pick up your veggies on an appointed day, but other farms deliver. I was a CSA-member several years ago and I learned a great deal about eating seasonally from the experience. I don't know that I had ever eaten chard before I got my first CSA basket (there was a lot of Googling recipes), but now I can't imagine a fall without it.

Now that I'm not traveling as often, I have been considering re-joining a CSA. I was excited to learn that Farmhouse Delivery is offering a farm membership, which for them is a CSA plus you can add other grocery items to your delivery. As a single person, I am particularly attracted to the feature of having a delivery every other week as I've been concerned that I couldn't cook through an entire delivery every week.

With a Farmhouse membership, you also get invitations to special member events at Rain Lily Farm - a definite member perk. I attended a dinner there last week and it was one of the most delightful evenings I have had in quite some time. Registration for a Farmhouse membership ends October 30th and spaces are limited.

If the Farmhouse membership isn't the best match for you, there are a number of other farms that offer CSAs in the area. The Austin Farmers Market site has a list of local CSAs and you could also contact Green Gate Farms to inquire whether they still have shares available.

And, if you aren't up for a full CSA commitment, you can order a local produce box from Greenling Organic Delivery service. I have used the service previously and was very happy with the experience and with the box contents.

So, now that we've taken away the "it's not convenient" argument, what's your excuse for not eating local?

Charcuterie Comes to the Austin Farmers Markets

The first time someone offered me a charcuterie plate, I had no idea what they were talking about. Needless to say in Amarillo, we did not refer to the meat portion of a meat and cheese tray as charcuterie, but that's exactly what it is. I have learned to appreciate good charcuterie which can include bacons, sausages, hams, patés or confits.

In Austin, we are blessed to have some folks who are making truly great charcuterie. Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due crafts incredible sausages, pates, rilletes, and other goodies which they have offered through their Supper Club and Butcher Shop. Starting Saturday November 7th, Dai Due will also have a booth at the Downtown Austin Farmers Markets each week. To keep up with their weekly offerings, subscribe to their newsletter on their website. I recently made a zucchini and chorizo hash using Dai Due chorizo mexicano and it was incredible.

Kocurek Family Artisanal Charcuterie is also offering delightful charcuterie selections at the Sunset Valley Farmers Market. Their recent market offerings included duck bacon, two types of paté, and garlic sausage. The garlic sausage was a big hit at our football watching party.

So, get yourself to one of the markets and enjoy some scrumptious charcuterie. After all, doesn't everything taste better with really great sausage?

Zucchini and Chorizo Breakfast Hash

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion

1 large bell pepper or 3-4 small sweet peppers (you could use hot peppers like jalapenos if you prefer a spicier version)

1 lb chorizo (I used chorizo mexicano from Dai Due)

2 medium zucchini, chopped

1 egg

salt and pepper to taste

Warm olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and saute the onion and peppers until tender. Add the chorizo and cook until it is browned. Add the zucchini and cook until just tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

While the zucchini is cooking, fry an egg in a separate skillet to your preferred preparation. I personally like my yolk to run all over the hash so I cooked my egg over easy.

Plate the zucchini and chorizo mixture and top with the fried egg.

Alton Brown Book Signing at Whole Foods on Sun 10/18

I always joke that I passed the foodie stage and moved into straight up food nerd a while ago. None of the celebrity chefs represent that unabashed food geekdom more than Food Network Star and Iron Chef America host Alton Brown. I love watching Good Eats and learning all the little details of how to cook something tasty.

If you also revel in Alton Brown's mastery of cooking minutiae, you can meet him this Sunday, 10/18 from 1-4 pm at Whole Foods Market where he will be signing copies of his new book Good Eats: The Early Years.

You can purchase a book at BookPeople and they will give you a wristband for entry to the booksigning. With all the food nerds in this town, you better head to BookPeople early!

Could you have a GMO-free dinner at your house?

Over the weekend I read an article by another blogger that has really stuck with me. They attended a dinner at a conference with some African guests. A corn dish was one of the offerings and before eating it, the African guest asked if it was GMO? The host had to look at it and tell them with honesty probably. The guest did not eat the dish. (I apologize for not citing the source of the story, but I read for 4 hours on Sunday and misplaced the link. If you're reading this, let me know who you are so I can cite your story appropriately.)

So, what is a GMO? In food, a genetically modified organism (GMO) is a seed or plant that's been altered genetically. Typically the change is made to make the crop more disease or pest resistant. The problem is that research is starting to show, and I agree that there is still great debate on this subject, that GMOs may cause more food allergies and resistance to antibiotics. And, since plants cross-pollinate, if you have GMO plants and non-GMO plants near each other, the originally non-GMO plant can create GMO seeds. You may remember the Taco Bell brand taco shell scare a few years ago where concerns were raised that the shells had been made with GMO corn and Kraft pulled them from the shelves.

Because of these possible risks, countries around the world have begun to ban genetically modified food or require labeling. As Monsanto is the lead company in the GMO effort and they are based in the US, the US is not one of the countries banning GMOs. Again, I'm not a scientist, but in general, I think the less you mess with the genetic structure of your food the better. Call me a purist.

So, how would you know if you had GMOs in your kitchen? Corn and rice are the most commonly genetically modified crops. The challenge is that corn is in many of the processed foods that we buy. It shows up as corn meal, high fructose corn syrup and a variety of other fillers. Beef and other livestock are also often fed corn-based meal to help use up our surplus of corn.

I stopped buying a lot of processed food about 2 years ago. I buy my meat and produce almost exclusively from the farmers markets or locally-sourced from people I know are not using GMO products. When I buy staples, I try to buy organic or I read the labels pretty diligently. One of my favorite things about my H-E-B, Hancock over off of Red River, is they have a nice organic section and they sell the Central Market Organics brand products which tend to be less expensive than some other brands and make buying organic easier and less pricey.

So, here's my challenge to you. Go check out your cupboard and fridge. Could you have a GMO-free meal at your house? If so, up the ante, could you eat GMO-free for a week?

Warming Up with Butternut Squash & Pear Soup

During the recent cold-ish front, I found myself craving soup. Not having pre-planned, I had to forage through what I'd bought at the market. So, I had 1 butternut squash, pears, and an onion. Hmmmmm...

I'd heard of pairing butternut squash and apples, but not pears. I needed to make sure I wasn't about to create a massive disaster. Time to hit the internet.

Fortunately, my complete addiction to the Food Network paid off and I found this great recipe for Butternut Squash & Pear Soup from Dave Lieberman. It was easy and very flavorful with a little bit of a tart bite from the pears. I will definitely be making this again.

There's another cold-ish front around the corner. Grab your squash and pears at the market this weekend.

Butternut Squash & Pear Soup

from Dave Lieberman of Food Network

4 tablespoons butter(personal note: I only used 2 tablespoons butter)

2 medium onions, diced (personal note: I only had one onion so that's what I used and it was fine)

1 medium butternut squash peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces

4 pears, peeled and chopped into roughly 1-inch pieces

1-quart low sodium chicken stock, or enough to cover

1 sprig rosemary

Heavy cream

Salt, freshly ground black pepper and granulated sugar

In a 4-quart saucepan melt the butter over medium-high heat, and add and sweat the onions. Add squash and pears and sweat those too a bit. Pour in the stock, enough to submerge solids. Add sprig of rosemary and bring to a simmer and cook until squash is fork tender about 15 to 18 minutes. Remove rosemary. Puree with immersion blender. Add a touch of cream and season, to taste.

(Note: If you don't have an immersion blender, you can put the ingredients in a regular blender or food processor, just be careful with the hot ingredients.)

Celebrate Fall with a Local Farm

It's fall and it's raining and everything is green, which is a little odd, but I'll take it. What better way to celebrate than to head to a local farm!

This weekend, you have the opportunity to visit three local farms, meet the farmers and share some great food.

Johnson's Backyard Garden (9515 Hergotz Lane) is having their annual potluck on Saturday, 10/17 from 3 pm - dark. True to its name, this local farm started as a backyard garden and has transformed into a full-fledged farm. There will be farm tours, games, and music from Gringo Sol. They ask that you bring a dish to share, your own place setting, something to drink, and something to sit on. Please leave your canine friends at home. All people are welcome, so feel free to invite others.

Saturday night (10/17, 6-10 pm), Rain Lily Farm (914 Shady Lane) and Farm House Delivery are hosting a Cuban Pig Roast featuring a hog from Full Quiver Farms. Tickets are $35 and reservations are required. You can email info@farmhousedelivery.com or call 512-529-8569 to buy your ticket. I am so excited about this that I bought my ticket about 3 minutes after reading the e-mail. I love the grounds at Rain Lily Farm and have yet to have anything but delicious food when visiting there.

Finally, on Sunday (10/18, 5:30-8:30 pm), Montesino Ranch in Wimberly is hosting a "good weather" potluck. There will be a farm tour and usually some form of entertainment like local musicians or a movie. It is open to the public so please invite your friends and family.Bring a dish for 6 people and pack for a picnic. Call 512-847-7393 for more details.

I will be attending the Johnson's Backyard Garden & Farm House Delivery events on Saturday and I hope to see you there!

Pass the Pickled Peppers, Please

Several of my friends have lamented in the last week about the plethora of peppers currently in their gardens. Fortunately, I was the recipient of some of this bounty, but it did get me thinking about what they could do to preserve the peppers.

I remembered a recipe my older sister Lee uses to pickle jalapenos. I was never a big fan of pickled jalapenos until I tasted these - they are delicious. I love adding them to black beans or migas to add great flavor. I think it's the garlic that makes them particularly tasty. Lee even likes to use the liquid from the jar to marinate chicken.

Hmmm... I might have to buy some jalapenos this weekend at the market.

Be warned: if you are going to handle this many peppers, please wear gloves. You don't want to find out the hard way how much the jalapeno oils burns.

Lee's Jalapeno Pepper Pickles

about 1 lb of jalapenos per quart jar, washed and sliced into 1/4-1/3 inch rounds

1 cup vinegar, white or cider

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt

4-5 cloves garlic

1 tsp pickling spice, Lee recommends the Central Market pickling spice from the bulk area

Pack peppers tightly in quart-sized pickling jars.

Heat mixture to boiling. Pour the mixture over the the peppers so they are covered. Lee suggests adding the garlic to the jar as well. Seal jars and put them in a hot water bath (1/2 to 3/4 height of the jar) and process 10 minutes; until the jars pop.

Let the jalapenos sit for at least 3 weeks to come to full flavor.

Why Bother Shopping Local?

A funny thing has happened lately. Maybe it's because the blog is about to turn two years old or maybe it's because I've struck out on my own, but my friends (yes, I mean you, Doug and Melissa) have been pushing me to define why I write this blog.

The conversations have gone something like this:

Friend: "So, how's the blog going."

Me: "Great. Readership has really picked up."

Friend: "So, what's the next step."

Me: "I'm not sure. I've had this idea or that idea."

Friend: "Ok, but why?"

Me: "Damn."

So, here's the why. I write Austin Farm to Table because I like to cook and I think eating food that is grown locally is better for you. Why?

I imagine that most of the folks who read this blog have their own answer, but here's mine. It would be an understatement to say that I haven't always made the best choices in my life. Through those mistakes, I learned the hard way that our daily decisions effect our lives and those around us. It's true for the big choices and the "small" ones like food.

Buying a chicken from Sebastian at Countryside Family Farm doesn't just impact me by providing me with a flavorful bird that had a very happy life as it roamed this earth and is free of antibiotics and pesticides. It also means that Sebastian and his family, he has a lovely wife and daughter who I met at the market, have a better life. I want that for me and for them. I'm connected to them. And, if for some bizarre reason, I got a bad chicken from Sebastian, I could look him in the eyes and tell him that. There is integrity and trust in our transaction. There is no way that Chris from Milagro or Larry from Harvest Times is going to sell me a bad vegetable.

I'm not going to lie. I started shopping at the farmers market because I thought it was fun, and it is. I love roaming the booths and running into old friends I didn't expect to see. I delight in hearing a band I know nothing about while I shop for tomatoes. But, it didn't take long for me to realize that there was more to it than that.

The food I bought tasted different - better. Because the vegetables are picked right before the market, they are at their peak when you eat them. And, the meats are tastier - fresher - the sausages handmade and lovingly seasoned.

And then, there are the farmers. When I skip a weekend or two, I notice that I miss them. When I visit a different market, I feel like I'm cheating on them. I've gotten hooked on Coop Coffee at the Sunset Valley Farmers Market, but I still go downtown because I have certain vendors I have to see.

So, is eating locally better for you? Well, you are getting the freshest food possible and aren't pumping pesticides and antibiotics into your body through what you are eating so I'm going to say "Yes" to that one.

Is it better for the environment? I'm not a scientist, but the logic part of my brain says that not shipping your food across the country or world and not pumping pesticides into our ground/water is also better for the environment.

Does it taste better? Usually. I'm not going to tell you that there aren't better products somewhere else, but, particularly with produce, being able to eat something that was picked closer to its ripeness is key.

Is it better for your soul? YES! Wouldn't you just love to be connected to the people who feed you?

The great thing is that there are farmers markets everywhere. I'll be highlighting more as we go along in the blog, but there is one in almost every area in Central Texas now. And, many of the local grocers, like H-E-B, Central Market and Wheatsville, agree that buying local is a good idea so they have made it easy to find the local products.

If you aren't a cook, there are plenty of choices for you, too. I've started highlighting the restaurants who work with local farms and there are a growing number of sustainable restaurants to visit in Central Texas.

I'm not perfect and don't claim to be. I don't eat sustainably every meal, but I try and it's worth it. I'm healthier and happier than I've ever been, both physically and mentally, and I would love for you to have the same thing.

That's why. Now, I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

So why do you shop sustainably? Feel free to share!

Embracing Your Inner Spaniard with Farmers Market Paella

When I completed the application for the Next Food Network Star, I had to tell them what I considered to be my three signature dishes - dishes that highlight your cooking style or are particularly sought after by your friends and family. The first dish was easy - pizza. My crazy pizza experiments have become quite the hit with my friends.

But, what were my other two dishes? I knew the answer, but I hesitated to write it down because I had never made them for the blog. If the idea of sustainable cooking was my pitch, how could I answer with two things I'd never cooked sustainably. I was unnerved that I had neglected to make two of my favorite things for Austin Farm to Table.

I used to make paella and ravioli regularly for my friends and family, but had gotten out of the habit. When I down-sized living quarters three years ago, I put about half my stuff in storage including my paella pan and pasta making equipment. With limited cabinet space, only the bare essentials moved with me.

Now in a bigger place, I spent time this summer excavating my things from their storage Siberia. With all my cooking equipment back home, I'm not sure how I made it so long without all these great supplies. I almost hugged my paella pan. I did hug my food processor.

From the first time I tried paella, I knew it was going to be one of my favorite dishes. I loved how the flavors melded together and that it could be so versatile, mixing up ingredients based on what was available. I love how a meat paella can taste so different than a seafood paella even though they have the same base ingredients.

I was with my Mom the first time I ate paella and she and her husband rewarded my enthusiasm for this new dish by giving me a paella pan for Christmas that year. My very own paella pan!!!! I quickly began experimenting.

In some ways, I guess this became one of my signature dishes because no one else had a paella pan. But, I like to think I've gotten pretty good at building a nice paella. The original recipe I used came from the back of the label on the pan and it is a solid starting point. Over time, I've collected others including a few from The New Basics Cookbook and Coleman Andrews' Catalan Cuisine (I have the old edition, haven't tried the new edition).

For my most recent paella experiment, I decided to create a farmers market paella using what I could find at the market that day. My standard is a paella with chicken, shrimp, mussels and chorizo, so this was going to take some creativity. Clearly the mussels were out. I chose chicken from Countryside Family Farm and shrimp from San Miguel Seafood.

I couldn't find chorizo at either the Downtown or Sunset Valley Markets so I settled on a hot pan sausage from Full Quiver (at Sunset Valley). While having a different flavor than the chorizo, the sausage had a nice spiciness and proved a good substitute. I have since learned that Jesse Griffiths at Dai Due will custom make local chorizo for you from his butcher shop for $10/lb with a 5 lb minimum. He also puts chorizo on his weekly butcher shop menu on occasion and you can buy 1 lb for $10. If you aren't on the Dai Due e-mail list, I highly recommend that you subscribe.

If you don't have a paella pan, you could use a large skillet. If, like me, you don't have a grill on which you can evenly distribute the heat across the bottom of the pan, you can use two burners on your stove. Using two stove burners means that the center doesn't get as hot as the outsides, so you have to turn the paella from the middle to the outsides to make sure you cook things evenly. You should also rotate the pan about a 1/4 turn every 5 minutes.

Paella is a labor of love as it does take some time to prep everything, but I hope that you find it's worth it. There is something truly delightful about sharing a pan of paella with friends and family. My neighbors were definitely excited to be the beneficiaries of leftover paella.

Farmers Market Paella

about 10 servings

5 tbsps olive oil
2 bell peppers, seeded and chopped (I like using different colors if available to add visual appeal to the dish)
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 large tomatoes - peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cup long grain white rice
2 tsp salt
1 lb spicy pan sausage or chorizo (I used hot pan sausage from Full Quiver)
1 tsp saffron threads (this is about 2 pinches; I find it really difficult to "measure" saffron threads)
3 1/2 cups chicken stock
5 tbsps white wine
1 bay leaf
1 lb shrimp; remove the heads, but leave them in the shell
2 lbs chicken cut into pieces

Place the chicken in a baking dish and brush it with about 1 tbsp olive oil. Broil for 20 minutes, turning at least once.

Heat remaining olive oil in paella pan. Add pepper and onions.Cook until tender. Add garlic and tomato. Stir in the rice, salt and saffron. Be sure the rice is well coated with oil. Add chicken stock, white wine, sausage and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer uncovered for 25-30 minutes over a steady even heat. If you are using a stove top, rotate the paella pan about 90 degrees every 5 minutes and turn the rice mixture from the middle to the outside of the pans to make sure the ingredients cook evenly.

Taste the rice to make sure it is close to being done and then add the shrimp and chicken in the last 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cover the pan with foil. Allow to stand 10 minutes to absorb all the flavors.

If the rice is not cooking, you can put the paella in the oven at 350 degrees instead of trying to cook over the burners on the stove. Put it in the oven before you add the shrimp and chicken. Once the rice reaches the correct tenderness, you can add the shrimp and chicken until the shrimp is cooked – about 5 minutes.