Melissa Guerra, one of TLK’s featured chefs, is an 8th generation Texan, and self-taught culinary expert and food historian living in San Antonio. Starting today, Melissa will be sharing her recipe secrets with TLK in a series of how-to videos that recreate authentic Latin dishes. In the first video, Melissa tackles paella, a classic dish found throughout Spain. Though chefs may disagree on technique, when asked for tips regarding executing an authentic paella, Spanish chefs agree on one thing: It’s all about the rice.
Below, Melissa walks TLK viewers through an easy, at-home Skillet Paella, which you can find on the TLK site and make alongside of her. A Spanish staple, best suited for a large group, we thought the holiday season was the perfect time to highlight this legendary crowd pleaser!
Melissa Guerra, born and raised on a working cattle ranch in South Texas, specializes in the foods of the Americas, especially Texas regional, Mexican, and Latin American cuisine. A cooking course instructor and public speaker, Guerra owns andoperates a website and storefront, The Latin Kitchen Market, dedicated to providing top quality Latin American kitchenware and ingredients. Her newest store at the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio—also the location of the new Culinary Institute of America’s Center for Foods of the Americas—was designated as the #1 shopping destination in San Antonio, the #3 shopping destination in the United States by Lonely Planet Guidebook (2011). Guerra’s cookbook Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert: Norteño Cuisine of South Texas (Wiley, 2006) was a finalist for a James Beard Award in the category of Foods of the Americas, and an International Association of Culinary Professionals award in the same category.
What cooking demos would you want to see next on The Latin Kitchen? Tell us on Twitter and our Facebook page!