Published: August 15, 2025
In a ceramic pot that could be placed whole into the oven, fragrant olive oil and vegetables grown right here in Granado Castle were prepared.
And fresh seafood caught early in the morning—fish, shrimp, and shellfish.
Seeing the lineup of ingredients neatly arranged in the Granado Castle kitchen, my eyes sparkled involuntarily.
“Amazing! They look delicious!”
“It’s not you who’s going to eat, it’s Nanny Ella,” Adam said with a smile. Fatigue showed on his face. He had ridden hard on horseback before dawn to the port town to buy ingredients and rushed back.
Thomas, who had also run around the market in the royal capital, was wiping sweat with a towel. I offered drinks to both of them and thanked them repeatedly.
“Lady Marie! The bouillon soup is ready too!”
Head Chef Toppo twirled as he burst into the kitchen.
Yay! I greeted him with enthusiastic applause. Toppo stopped elegantly and bowed gracefully, breathing heavily.
“Are you going to prepare the seafood now? I want to help! Proper prep is key for seafood.”
“Oh? You seem really motivated?”
“Yes, Toppo’s fired up for the first time in a while. I think it’s a wonderful idea for you, madam, to serve your guests dishes from your homeland. Toppo is all for it.”
“Hehe, thank you.”
“The ingredients Adam got are great too! It’s rare to find such fresh shrimp in Dilz. With these, we can make a delicious paella. I’m looking forward to the leftovers!”
Haha, so that was part of the plan too.
I rolled up my sleeves and immediately set about making the paella.
Following what Tender Mama taught me, I washed the shrimp thoroughly...
The fish and shrimp Adam sourced were already prepared, but they smelled as fresh as the sea. The shellfish had been soaked in saltwater and had even been purged of sand during transport. But the real challenge started here. As Toppo said earlier, proper prep is essential for seafood.
Especially when cooking rice whole with everything, you have to remove all blood and scales that cause a fishy smell and wash everything carefully. I quickly prepared the other fish and shellfish and gave the rice a light rinse to remove dust... Wait, did I have to soak it for a while afterward? How did it go again...
While I occasionally reread Tender Mama’s recipe notes, Toppo started rolling some ingredients around. I thought he was preparing a staff meal, but he was making a Spanish dish to accompany the paella.
“The dish is called tortilla. It’s a Spanish-style omelette,” he explained.
“Omelette... but why use so many potatoes?” I asked, watching the chunky potatoes roll around. Toppo nodded happily and began working with impressive skill. I managed my own prep while sneaking glances at him cooking.
I had never heard of a dish called tortilla before.
Toppo said it was an omelette, but it looked and was made quite differently.
The ingredients were potatoes, onions, garlic, and eggs. The only seasoning was salt, but they used fragrant olive oil. When cooked well in a deep frying pan, it becomes thick and round, almost like a cake!
He prepared thinly sliced potatoes and onions. He put plenty of olive oil, minced garlic, and salt into the pan, heated it up, then added the potatoes and onions to fry.
I thought it was done, but then he drained the oil by placing the potatoes and onions in a sieve.
“That extra step is important,” he said happily as he poured the hot oil into a bowl.
Next, he cracked eggs into the bowl and mixed in the fried potatoes and onions. Then he heated oil again in the pan and poured all the egg mixture in at once.
The sizzling sound was delightful, and the aroma whetted my appetite... As the edges began to set, Toppo brought a huge plate.
He covered the pan with the plate, flipped it over with a heave, and removed the tortilla. But it wasn’t finished yet. He returned it to the pan and cooked both sides two or three times. Finally, he put it back on the pan and steamed it gently over low heat...
“Done!”
As Toppo declared, my paella was just finished as well.