Every summer we make it a point to make a New England-style paella out at Richmond and Annette's cottage on Plymouth Long Beach. A New England-style paella is just a traditional Paella with some added New England goodies. After all, the seafood we get isn't exactly like you would have in Spain, so if you're taking a few liberties by necessity, let's add a lobster, too!

Honestly, anyone who tells you there is only one authentic recipe for this Iberian beach classic just doesn't get it. Think like a Spanish fisherman ready for dinner with your crew: what do you have? Work with what you have, make it nourishing and fun. Anybody have a guitar?

We cooked it outside on the Smoky Joe grill over hardwood charcoal. The rice was a special "Paella Rice" that I had found at Morse's Sauerkraut on one of our expeditions, and it worked great, but arborio rice works just fine. You cook the rice like a risotto, except you add lots of goodies along the way. All the flavors mingle and come together in the rice - it's a wonderful thing. 

We included the traditional chourico, but we added a zucchini and an ear of corn from the farmers' market. Richmond had dug a sea clam that morning so we chopped it up and cooked it into the rice. We grilled some chicken breasts beside the paella before adding it. The shellfish came last (shrimp, mussels, and cherrystones), including a lobster to make it especially festive.

The finished paella was our best yet! It was beautiful, and the array of flavors was incredible, harmonizing and contrasting in taste, color, texture, and smell. The rice was the perfect base for all the flavors. The grilled chicken breast had nice smoky notes, and the lobster and the corn lent it a New England taste that complemented the very New England view.

We took no prisoners. It was so good we just kept going back to that big paella pan, finding a new treasure with every visit.

There's no wine that accompanies a paella like a sangria, of course. I made this one on a base of very dry Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, with a special Sangria kit I invented for that dinner: 1/2 cup of brandy, 1/2 cup of Triple Sec and a tablespoon each of Orange Blossom Water and Falernum Syrup. Chopped canteloupe and delicious strawberries from Quebec were the fruits.

With full, happy bellies and cold Sangria we relaxed with the sunset over Plymouth Harbor and bid a contented adios to Labor Day and summer.