Preparing for a Paella Recipe

Our next Columbia Cookbook recipe - Paella Havana - requires yuca. You can actually buy a 5-pound bag of frozen yuca at our grocery store, but we only need a little, so we purchased a small piece of fresh yuca root. This site showed how to prepare it. Cut off the ends and slice into 2-3" sections. Then cut off the outer peel. Cut vertically in quarters to slice out the inner core. (The process is very similar to preparing a pineapple.) Cook the pieces in boiling water for 20-25 minutes. Drain and use in your recipe. (Or freeze to use in your recipe later, particularly if you're not paying attention and purchase this before a long vacation instead of after!)

Note that there's a difference between malanga and yuca, although from what I can tell they are prepared identically, so are probably fairly interchangeable, especially if you're not trying to be authentic. We had some malanga in the freezer - left over from this recipe over ten years ago! It may not be the highest quality now, but it should still be good and I figured it was about time to use it. We're trying this recipe, or maybe this one.  (Whipped Malanga Puree with Brown Garlic Butter or Crema de Malanga soup)