by Crystal Ward
Dockside cooking takes a bit more preparation and planning than cooking at home, but it's so worthwhile! Making a Spanish Paella at the dock with our dear friend Mr. Festa after a day of diving was a lot of fun this past weekend. And having several boat neighbors join us made it even better.
It all started last week when we made our dive plans, and decided it'd be a perfect weekend to make a paella, something we haven't cooked together since before the Covid19 pandemic.
Mr. Festa immediately ordered the specific rice we'd need and packed the paella stand, burner, and large paella pan. I set about ensuring we had all the necessary spices and making logistical preparations for our dockside cooking.
We always hope to catch something (lobsters, mussels, fresh fish) that can be added to the paella, but our unsuccessful hunting efforts earlier that day (nothing caught on our dives) sent us back to the dock with an empty cooler. No problem - we had planned ahead and hit the local grocery store for our supplies and were pleasantly surprised later in the day as we started the cooking preparations.
As we started the prep work of chopping the vegetables for the Sofrito, we were also still inviting some of the boating neighbors from our dock to join us as they came back from fishing. A few people had caught some fluke, flounder, and blow fish that day and offered it for the paella which we gladly accepted. Other boat neighbors offered to make an appetizer, brought extra dockside cooking tools for us to use, kept us company as we cooked, leveled the paella stand, or provided extra helping hands to stir or hold the lights as the sun set and it got too dark to see the the pan. We also had lots of volunteers for taste testing!
I mention all these contributions as I believe everyone likes to participate or contribute when invited to dinner, and contributions come in all different forms - all of which are welcomed and appreciated! I also believe these contributions enhance our joint memory in the making, to look back on in the future with fun stories to tell as we re-live the event. Our whole evening was richly enhanced by each person's presence and contribution.
The finished Spanish Paella was delicious - beyond our expectations! We were also lucky in that the forecasted rain & thunderstorms never materialized. It was a great summer night and a really fun time was had by all.
I was reminded again how dockside cooking & eating together creates a wonderful sense of comradery.
Please check out the video with complete cooking instructions, and the pictures below.
Me and Mr. Festa cooking the Spanish Paella
Our Spanish Paella - it's almost done, just waiting for the fish to be fully cooked before adding the fresh squeezed lemon and covering it to rest.
Looks so yummy. After reading your blog I’m so upset we were not able to join the G-Dock Paella dinner. It looks delicious! next time for sure.