Failed frugality, or how a free fish head led to paella

It probably says something about the underlying assumptions and opportunities of life in New York City that what started out as a simple dinner idea on my part ended up somewhere else entirely--Spain, in fact.

CZ and I were trying last week to get back on track after the competition, which means that housework languished a bit as I concentrated on schoolwork, and that I didn't plan meals more than a day ahead. I relied instead on a daily jaunt to the small specialty grocery on the next block.

It was on one such jaunt that I spied a row of salmon heads poking up out of the ice at the fish counter. I'd been reading about sustainability, so I was taking my time and asking about the origins of each fish. That's probably why I made some quip about the heads.

"You want one?" said the fish man.

"Oh, really? You're selling them?" I responded. "How much are they?"

"They're free."

So I took one. I was thinking I'd make some fish broth and somehow combine it with glass noodles that I had in the cabinet, and a few Asian spices, and make an inexpensive soup.

I got home and looked up some fish broth instructions in Essentials of Cooking. Turns out salmon heads aren't suitable for thin Asian soup broths, strictly speaking. They're suitable for a richer condensed broth made with red wine. I just happened to have some syrah in the cabinet, which I'd bought for some future special dinner. After confirming that it would be suitable, I sliced up some carrots and onions and started my broth. It ended up using half the bottle of wine.

Meanwhile, I read under the serving suggestions that this broth goes well with paella. It was cold out, and the thought of paella laced with little chorizo sausages appealed to me, bringing to mind a cozy Spanish restaurant in the East Village where I'd once eaten dinner with Bob and some of his work friends. Since it was too late in the day by now to make the broth into that night's dinner, I came up with another quicker idea for dinner and started researching paella online.

Finally I ended up combining two recipes, this one and this one. (The most authentic one, apparently, called for a rabbit.) This required, of course, that I go back to the store and buy chorizos, a dozen clams, calasparra rice, and saffron, not to mention a couple of vegetables. Combined with the wine, my formerly almost free, simple meal was now growing quite expensive and not so simple after all.

The resulting paella was, however, delicious, and of course, it went very well with the rest of the wine. I decided that I shouldn't feel too bad about having wandered so far from my original intent, since I had successfully made my first foray into the traditional food of Spain. I figured out what a soffrito was, and I was also delighted to find out that with paella, you're supposed to burn the rice on the bottom of the pan a little. And I have just enough of the imported rice and saffron to make another go at it in a week or two and perfect my technique, since I made a couple of minor mistakes combining the recipes the first time. But that would, of course, require another fish head...