Jordan Wright
May 2010
Leading Spanish Chef María José San Román Brings Her Paellas to Jaleo’s Paella Festival
Chef Maria Jose San Ramon at Jaleo's Paella Festival - photo by Jordan Wright
José Andrés and his culinary team at Jaleo will celebrate this year’s Paella Festival from June 7th through the 20th. The paellas will be based on the recipes of guest chef María José San Román of Alicante, Spain.
One of the leading female chefs in Spain, she is self-taught and expert in traditional Catalan and Valencian cooking, choosing a career in restaurants after studying law and languages. Today she and her family preside over a number of highly rated restaurants in the Alicante area including La Taberna del Gourmet and the critically acclaimed Restaurante Monastrell.
A bit of refreshment with saffron, green apple and rosemary flowers -photo by Jordan Wright
San Román has presented at a number of culinary conferences around the world including the Culinary Institute of America’s “Worlds of Flavor” conference in Saint Helena, California and the prestigious Madrid Fusion conference. An internationally recognized expert in “crocus sativus”, she works closely with the Universidad de Castilla La Mancha and the Spanish saffron industry and travels the world lecturing on saffron. Her book on the subject “El libro del azafran” will be published by Montagud in October of this year in Spanish and in English.
Chef San Román’s paellas combine interesting ingredients with various types of rice, resulting in exceptional taste and texture. Featured dishes will include Arroz con pluma ibérica y verduras de Alicante, Iberico pork paella with green
Seafood paella -photo by Jordan Wright
garlic and seasonal vegetables; Arroz caldoso con cigalas, soupy rice with Norway lobster, Fideos finos tostados con bogavante, vermicelli paella with lobster; Arroz con verduras y setas de temporada, paella of seasonal vegetables and mushrooms and Caldero de pescados con arroz finito a banda, fish stew with rice. The specials will be rotated throughout the two weeks and will be available for lunch and dinner.
Jaleo has locations in DC, Bethesda and Crystal City.
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