Paella

 Paella is perhaps the most famous dish of the rich and varied cuisine Spanish. It is a well-known culinary recipe internationally and is found in  the menus of thousands of restaurants around the world.

Most experts agree that the dish was developed in the Spanish city of Valencia.

The word paella  derived from the Latin patella. It receives its name from the large frying pan used to cook it in, made of iron or steel, which must have no more than 5 or 6 cm of depth.  Another particularity is that the long handle has been replaced by two ears. So when the word paella is mentioned, it may mean the dish, it may mean the frying pan!

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Ingredients Valencian Paella:

 Let´s to quantify the ingredients for 4 diners whose proportion can multiply to make it bigger:

•    800 grams meat (chicken or chicken and rabbit)

•   400 grams broad beans

•   150 grams lima beans(Broad beans and lima beans are the basis of the paella as far as vegetables is concerned, It’s better fresh, but there is also the possibility of frozen or dried as in the case of the lima bean)

•   Artichoke is a season’s vegetable.  We can add if we find.  A trick! Salt water and a piece of lemon to avoid to turn black.

•   1 ripe tomato (crushed or grated)

•   400 grams rice (The rice of Spain has got small rounded medium size grains that absorb the flavors and stock well, but keep their shape.The most popular rice is Bomba rice)

•   8 tablespoonful oil

•   Water

•   1 little tablespoonful paprika

•   A pinch of saffron otherwise saffron dye(Each paella dish has a sprinkling of azafrán (saffron), which turns the rice yellow.If fresh saffron strands are not available you can use another food dye).

•   Salt

Optional

300 grams snails

Rosemary (add during the last five minutes of cooking rice)

Time :90 minutes

 

 Let's make a valencian paella

1.                  Add some oil that serves to level the pan … the oil should be centered, it also adds some salt  and light the fire! 

2.                   When the oil is hot, add the chicken, start to fry, stir with a large spoon until getting done in a uniform way.

3.                    When the meat is  brown, add the vegetables, grated or crushed tomato and some paprika to fry with the meat for a few minutes, we do like  that  because  meat need more time to fry.

4.                   After that,  add the water.  There are many technical recommendations on the  amounts of water and rice. In paella the amount of water should double the amount of rice, so if we use 500 grams of rice we should use 1 liter of water, in any case the water should cover all the ingredients but for now .. water above the handles’ screws.

5.                    Add some salt, the amount will go to taste,  you should keep taste during the process. At this point add some saffron. although you can add just before adding the water, stir for mixing.

6.                   Strong heat to start to boil, cook about 30-40 minutes before adding the rice, this will depend on the strength of the fire, the goal is to let ingredients leave all their goodness in the broth. As well as broth concentrates because it lost water during this process.

7.                   Add the rice in the paella, then with a spoon spread uniformely.  Time is very important, cook rice between 18-20 minutes, if we use more time the grain rice will open  less time will make the grain is undercooked and too much hard.

Fire is essential in this process, the aim is that at 20 minutes the rice is cooked and the paella without broth, more fire less water and vice versa. After 15 minutes of cooking rice,  paella should start to dry this will also produce the coveted “rosetxat” that will be achieved with practice and technical knowledge.

8.                  It's traditional to let the paella stand for a few minutes, but it also serves a purpose. If the rice is still hard it will get more cooked, and if there's too much broth, it will soak in the rice

READY TO EAT, DELICIOUS!!! ENJOY IT!!

Different Types of paella

At least two different versions of the valencian paella exist:

            1. Mixed paella which includes both meat and seafood.

            2. Seafood paella which replaces the beans and the meat, which is usually chicken, rabbit,        or snails, with seafood. Common seafood additions to the seafood paella are lobster, mussels   and shrimp. Although every  region and every family has its own recipes and variations, the   best paellas are made in Spain, on the beach, with fresh seafood.

 

            There are also different kinds of paella whose main ingredient is seafood.
            Arròs negre(black rice). Dish in which the rice is coloured black with cuttlefish or squid      ink. It contains cuttlefish or squid, and sometimes other seafood too, as well as garlic,   paprika and seafood stock.
         Arròs a banda. This rice dish, typical of Valencian coastal towns. It originated with the          fishers of Alicante. It’s usually served with alioli, a strong garlic mayonnaise.
         Fideuà. This isn’t technically a rice dish, but we should include it anyway because it’s so         closely related. This is a lot like the seafood (or marisco) paella – made with a combination        of local seafood such as rockfish, monkfish, cuttlefish, squid, shrimp, and crayfish, plus lots          of lemon – but this dish is made with fine, usually hollow noodles instead of rice.

Now, you haven't got any excuse

not to make your own paella.

Enjoy cooking a Spanish Paella from  your own kitchen

by getting adventurous with your cooking!