Our epic paella from several weeks ago....She also ended up going to Seafood City to buy some giant squid. Now she knows what disgust I went through cleaning those things! Anyhow, we needed to pick up a few items for future paella dinners...
If you haven't been here before, Pata Negra is on Garnet Ave and is right next to the Travel Depot which is also next to Costa Brava, a Spanish restaurant. Just look for the international flags. Across the street is a strip mall.
Everytime I go here, it's always different. More shelves or the products are rearranged. As you walk in, there are shelves of biscuits and baked goods. At the far left are various hams and cheeses. There is also a meat counter with even more cured ham and sausages (Chorizo de Bilbao, Chistorra, and morcillo).
The middle shelves had canned and boxed gods. The first one had jams/jellies, sweets, candy, cookies, etc. The one behind it had canned tins filled with fish, baby eels, squid, mussels, lulas (the Portuguese word for "squid"), and lots of tuna. Another shelf (not seen but hidden) had spices like smoked paprika, paella mixes (I picked up another one), and saffron. In the back corner are wines and paella rice. I almost forgot to mention that paella pans of every size are found at the very front when you walk in (to the right). My neighbor bought a big one that will cover half of her stove at home.
Some of the stuff I bought - Mahon cheese (made from sheep's milk), which is one of my favorites, and tins of mussels and sardines.
I've never used Chorizo de Bilbao before, so I picked up a package for future use in either paella or pancit. My mom has used this before but I couldn't find any at Seafood City during my last visit. The Chistorra sausages I have bought before. They taste good cut up and pan fried and eaten as tapas. Very salty though. You need to have bread and cheese with this. I've also used this sausage in paella. Romesco's in Bonita uses this in their paella as well.
Now the first two items were my neighbor's - the "Colorante" by Carmencita (a Spanish food brand) and jarred piquillo peppers. The colorante is used to give rice or soups a nice color. I may borrow it from her one day to try it out. We also both paella rice. Looks like we'll be having this soon! I'm itching to make paella again!
Just for fun, we also picked up these Spanish cookies called "Almendras rellenas" (stuffed almonds).
I thought there would be an almond inside, but instead, the cookie is a almond SHAPED and made from almond flour.
They do look cool. The crackly outer part reminded me of wafer cookies.
The filling was filled with an almond paste that bordered on being too dry. The girls did not like them. We, the adult women, felt it would have gone better with coffee. Eating this alone would be total sugar overload. It was sweet but not overly sweet.
According to the salesgirl, these turrones are only sold during the holidays, so I picked up a few as gifts. I thought this was a good deal, $5 and there are five different kinds of turon inside (nougat with nuts).
Ole ole!
Our Iberian shopping adventure wasn't done yet. There was still another ethnic market to check out, one that both of us had never been before....
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