In Spain, the term zarzuela (pronounced thahr-thway-lah or sometimes zahr-zway-lah) refers to a type of light opera consisting of song, dance, and theatre. This culinary namesake, which is a seafood soup, has a full measure of drama, typically featuring halibut, mussels, shrimp, and squid—an all-star cast in an intriguing and finely tuned broth.

My new version takes the traditional dish down a smoky Mexican side road with the addition of ancho chile, smoked paprika, and the aforementioned smoked sausage, which together give the soup a deep, rich, complex flavor profile. The result is gutsy, satisfying, and sophisticated all at the same time.

Because it looks most effective here to leave the clams and mussels in their shells, the tails on the prawns, and the shells on the crab legs if you are including them, this is a messy and very enjoyable dish to eat. Be prepared to dig in with your hands if needed.

MARKET NOTE   Feel free to vary the seafood as you wish, and as market availability and freshness dictate. Although not specified, chunks of halibut are excellent here, as are cracked Dungeness crab legs.

The really important consideration is the freshness of the seafood. I bought everything I needed today at Newman’s Fish Company in Portland, Oregon. It’s a top notch operation, managed expertly by Angela Amos, daughter of legendary Northwest fishing duo, Tom and Joyce Amos. (Newman’s Fish Company is featured in the March 2010 issue of Portland Monthly.)

SERVING NOTE   To create a complete meal in a bowl, mound a cup of cooked Emmer farro (or cooked white or brown rice) into individual wide-rimmed pasta bowls, then ladle the broth and seafood around the rice. Alternatively, serve with long, diagonal slices of toasted French bread brushed with olive oil and garlic.

INGREDIENT NOTE   Farro (pronounced FAHR-oh) is an ancient hard, hulled wheat with a nutty flavor and chewy texture when cooked. It is also called spelt. American chefs are newly enamored with this old world grain, but Italians have been eating it for centuries.  Check Italian cookbooks for interesting recipes.

Smoky Spanish Zarzuela with Chorizo & Emmer Farro

For this hearty soup, I enlivened my more traditional Spanish Zarzuela recipe with smoked paprika, ancho chile paste, and Spanish chorizo. The result is magnifico!

This recipe may read like a lot of work, but I had this soup to the table in under an hour, all prep included. Okay, I had the cooked farro on hand.

2-3 cups cooked Bluebird Grain Farms Emmer Farro, or other farro (instructions below)
2 dried ancho chiles

Seafood Stock
2 cups clam or seafood nectar
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup ancho chile water, from below
shells from 1 pound prawns, from below
several sprigs parsley

Chorizo
2 tablespoons cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
2 Spanish dried chorizo sausages, diced (about 4 ounces or 1 cup diced) (City Market in Portland, Oregon sells an excellent Spanish dried chorizo called Palacios; 4 small sausages per package for $8.50)

Soup Base
2 cups chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced or pressed
2 teaspoons smoked sweet paprika (Whole Foods carries it; it is essential to the smoky flavor of this soup)
2 cups reduced seafood stock, from above
14½ ounce can chopped tomatoes with juice
14½ ounce can crushed tomatoes
½ large green bell pepper, chopped
½ large red bell pepper, chopped
fine sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Seafood
1 pound large prawns in the shell
1 pound small manila clams, shells tightly closed, scrubbed
½ pound small Washington blue mussels, shells tightly closed, scrubbed and debearded

Garnish
¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 thinly sliced green onion

1. To prepare the farro, in a large saucepan, bring 6 cups of chicken or vegetable stock (or water) to a boil and add 1½ cups of Emmer farro. Boil for 5 minutes, cover, and simmer for about 50 minutes, until the grain is tender and nicely chewy. Drain and rinse under cold water. Drain again thoroughly and store in a covered container in the refrigerator until needed. (You will have about 3 cups of cooked farro.) Just before adding to the soup, heat for a minute or two in the microwave.
2. To prepare the ancho chile paste, put the ancho chiles into a 2-cup measuring cup and cover with boiling water. Weight the chiles down with something heavy so that they are submerged in the water. Let hydrate for 15-30 minutes. Pour the water through a sieve into a clean measuring cup and taste it. If it is not bitter, reserve 1 cup and discard the remainder. Pull the stems from the chiles, tear them open and scrape away the seeds. Mince or puree the chiles to a paste. You should have 3-4 tablespoons of ancho chile paste. Reserve.
3. To prepare the seafood stock, in a 2-quart saucepan, bring the reserved ancho chile water, clam nectar, and wine to a simmer. Peel and devein the prawns, leaving the tails on the prawns. Add the peels to the water, along with several sprigs of parsley. Simmer until the stock is reduced to 2 cups, and then strain into a clean container. Reserve.
4. To make the soup base, in a 3½-quart or larger skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the chorizo and cook for one minute or so, until starting to crisp and releasing fat. If you now have more than ¼ cup fat in the pan, drain off a tablespoon or so.
5. Add the onions, garlic, and ancho paste to the pan and cook slowly until the onions are translucent and softened, about 10 minutes. Add the smoked paprika and cook for 2 additional minutes.
6. Add the reduced seafood stock from above, chopped tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, green bell pepper, and red bell pepper. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, partially covered, until flavors are melded but soup has not reduced significantly. Season the soup base to taste with salt and pepper. The soup can be made ahead to this point, cooled, refrigerated, and reheated just before serving. In this case, you might want to add another ¼ cup each of chopped red and green bell pepper to brighten the color.
7. Just before serving, heat the prepared farro. Bring the soup to a simmer, add the clams and mussels, and cover. Cook for 3 minutes and uncover to see if all or most of the shells have opened. If not, cover again and simmer for another 2 minutes. When most of the shells are opened, discard any that remain closed.
8. Divide the shellfish between 4-6 large bowls and keep warm for a minute. Add the prawns to the simmering soup base, cover, and cook until bright pink on both sides, about 1-2 minutes. You may have to turn the prawns in the soup to cook them evenly. Divide the prawns between the bowls.
9. Ladle the soup base over the shellfish in each bowl. Add a ½ cup scoop of farro to the center of each serving, and sprinkle with parsley and green onion.

Serves 4-6.

Every year, I rush to Seattle’s Pike Place Market (PPM) in March, expecting to be greeted by a jubilant array of local vegetables, tulips, and daffodils. The tulips and daffodils are always there, and this year is no exception. They are over-the-top magnificent. The local vegetables though are never anywhere to be seen. I know this will be the case, but I can never quite believe it.

Well, think about it. Up until a few weeks ago, the ground was still frozen. The long anticipated sunshine went on hiatus to some other part of the country for the entire month of March, which was bitterly cold. Then, as a kicker, there were many days of heavy rain onto the already soaked ground and that precipitated widespread flooding. Early spring crops don’t fare well under these conditions and many growers sadly lost their first plantings.

In addition, Pike Place Market (although still a favorite haunt of mine) is sadly no longer a true local farmers market (except from June through September on Summer Farm Days and the selection then is not what you will see in other top-rated Northwest farmers markets).

Produce comes into the market from all over the world and it is sometimes difficult to tell whether a particular item is local or imported from elsewhere. In March and April, you get no real sense of local crop availability, except for the glorious flowers. The only vegetative sign at PPM that spring has sprung in Northwest fields and gardens are the crimson displays of hothouse rhubarb, which are welcome harbingers of the bounty to come. (For an early taste of rhubarb, the Zeppole with Housemade Rhubarb Jam & Vanilla Creme Anglaise served at Branzino in Seattle is a lovely dessert.)

But, perhaps PPM’s seafood bounty makes up for the shortcomings in the spring produce department.

These razor clams are gorgeous. In my cookbook, Pacific Northwest Palate: Four Seasons of Great Cooking, there is a recipe for Baby Clam and Spinach Soup with Pepper Bacon that could easily be adapted for razor clams. Or use these in your favorite clam chowder.

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The manila clams look incredible right now; so small and perfect. The same goes for the Washington blue mussels from Penn Cove. I have rough sketched a recipe for Clams and Mussels in Spicy Black Bean Sauce, and there is no better time than now to try it out. Perhaps I can throw in a handful of the wonderful greens that are also available right now. Plus the lovely spring garlic. Wow, I can actually smell this!

I am not a fan of precooked Dungeness crab, but they are also available live. I will share with you sometime the “best” way to dispatch and cook a crab, which I learned from Frank Bradley (MauiJim’s Dad) while he was living on beautiful Birch Bay. Now that I have tasted the difference, I always buy them live, rush them home in a cooler, and then quickly and humanely dispatch them with a knife. No boiling water (cruel!), which causes the pungent gastric juices to permeate the flesh, thus muddying the otherwise pristinely clean flavor.

So an entire month has passed and now it’s April. I bundled up this morning and rushed off to the University District Farmers Market to check out the local produce scene. Surely something must be growing by now.

Well, dandelions never stop growing, right? They are delicious served as a wilted salad with a hot, garlic-infused vinaigrette and toasted hazelnuts.

I was amazed at the variety of produce that is available this early in the season. One of the growers told me that after the flood, he took a look at his beaten down crops and decided to plow them all under and begin again. True grit! With the help of a thick insulating material to jump start germination and then an improvised plastic tunnel to keep the young plants from freezing, this grower had several heaping tables of produce to sell, including …

… the most beautiful baby radishes I have ever seen. I wanted to grab a bunch and beg some salt off someone so I could eat them immediately.

I can’t remember when I last saw such an interesting mix of young seasonal greens: arugula, dandelion greens, green kale, red kale, Italian kale, mibuna, mustard greens, sorrel, and spinach.

Mibuna? I admit, I had never heard of it. But thanks to Green Living and the Royal Horticultural Society, I now know that Mibuna is a rather recent entry to the western garden. It can be eaten raw, lightly steamed, stir-fried, or in soup. Young flowering stems can be cooked like broccoli. It can also be pickled. It has a nutty, mustard-like flavor and is similar to mizuna. It is excellent as a garnish or as part of a salad. Next week, I’ll buy a couple of bunches and give them a go in the OtherWorldly Kitchen.

Sautéed Greens Trim and clean two bunches of mixed greens (chard, turnip greens, mustard greens, kale, mibuna, or spinach). Sauté in olive oil; add minced garlic, salt, black pepper, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. When tender, remove to a serving plate with a slotted spoon. Reduce the juices in the pan until syrupy. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and drizzle over the greens.

I do, however, know what to do with sweet, earthy, nutty-flavored sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes): sauté, roast, deep fry, raw in salad, puree into soup, bake in gratin, grate into pancakes, whip with potatoes. Try them in Potato and Five Onion Soup, using half potatoes and half sunchokes.

In addition to the more typical creamy-colored sunchokes, there is also a red-hued variety. They both looked young, tender, and fresh.

Apple Sunchoke Slaw Julienne equal quantities of apple and scrubbed sunchokes. Combine quickly with minced jalapeno chiles and green onions. Toss with a cumin-flavored vinaigrette.

This fragrant young garlic (also called green garlic) is milder and sweeter than later season garlic. It can be used almost in its entirety, as with green onions or leeks. You will find a recipe for Garlic Soup with Sage Leaves and Herb Profiteroles in my cookbook, Pacific Northwest Palate: Four Seasons of Great Cooking. Miners Lettuce Salad, with Baby Beets, Beet Greens, Rapini, & Spring Garlic also sounds wonderful.

You know it’s spring when you begin to see fiddlehead ferns on local Northwest menus and in the farmers markets. Buy soon though because the season is short. I LOVE the fresh pickled fiddlehead ferns that are served in season at Higgins in Portland, Oregon as an accompaniment to Herb-Marinated Chèvre Cheese with Olives & Parmesan Toasts. Sensational!

Parsnips rarely look this young, tender, and delectable. You might like to try these in Spicy Roasted Parsnip Soup or Parsnip and Potato Rosti.

I’m showing you only the sign here because the nettles were packaged in plastic bags, as a safety precaution for unwary shoppers. We live part of the year on five acres in the Cascade foothills and the woods are filled with nettles. I have yet to actually harvest them, however. I may have to step gingerly into the woods now though, because Dana Zia of The Go Lightly Gourmet just posted a recipe for Spring Nettle and Leek Frittata, which looks delish.

Northwest Farmers Markets: Early April Highlights

Pike Place Market

• artisan cheeses
• artisan dried cherries
• artisan cheesecake
• artisan honey
• artisan sausage
• cherry blossom branches
• daffodils
• Dungeness crab
• halibut (first of season)
• hothouse rhubarb
• hyacinths
• lamb
• manila clams
• oysters
• pussy willows
• razor clams
• tulips
• Washington blue mussels

University Farmers Market

• artisan breads
• artisan cheeses
• artisan chocolates
• artisan cookies (lavender shortbread!)
• artisan hummus
• artisan jams
• artisan fresh pastas
• artisan pastries
• artisan pies and tarts
• artisan soups
• arugula
• baby leeks
• bacon
• beef (pasture raised)
• bok choy
• Brussels sprouts
• cabbage
• carrots
• celeriac (celery root)
• chard
• cherry blossom branches
• chiogga beets
• cilantro
• crocus
• daffodils
• dandelion greens
• dried cannellini beans
• edible pansies
• eggs
• fresh yogurt
• forsythia branches
• garlic
• golden turnips
• green kale
• hazelnuts
• hyacinths
• Italian kale
• ladyfern fiddleheads
• mibuna
• mustard greens
• organic eggs
• parsnips
• pork (pasture raised)
• purple sage
• pussy willows
• radishes
• red kale
• red potatoes
• rosemary
• rutabaga (gill feather)
• rye
• sage
• salmon jerky
• sorrel
• spiced apple cider
• spinach
• spot prawns
• stinging nettles (fresh and dried)
• strawberry plants
• sunchokes
• triticale
• tulips
• turnips
• verpas (false morel)
• wheat berries
• Yukon gold potatoes

Resources
Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance

University District Farmers Market

University District Farmers Market Vendor List

Pike Place Market

Portland Farmers Market

Hillsdale Farmers Market