Paella - How to cook Spain's most famous dish

Spain is famed for its delicious traditional cuisine based on fish and seafood, olive oil, garlic and plenty of fresh fruits. Over the centuries, Spanish cuisine has been mainly influenced by Roman and Arab culture and nowadays the numerous immigrants from Latin America add even more variety to the daily menu.
As Spaniards tend to use ingredients from local merchants, foods vary from region to region due to the diverse climate of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain.
One of the most typical dishes Spain has to offer is without a doubt the famous rice dish called Paella. Once invented by peasants in the region of Valencia in need of a filling dish to be easily prepared during their lunch break, Paella quickly became a part of the Spanish cuisine. In the mid-19th century it was traditionally prepared in a flat pan over a fire with any ingredients that were available in the fields. Today Paella is an essential part of each Spanish family, attentively prepared and cooked for the big meal on Sundays or holidays when Spanish families come together to eat, drink and talk for hours.

There are three different types of Paella that are to be found throughout Spain:

• Paella de carne (or Paella valenciana) with rice, vegetables, beans and meat
• Paella de marisco with rice, vegetables, beans and seafood
• Paella mixta with rice, vegetables, meat and seafood

The elaboration of Paella is quite simple but the real preparation starts beforehand with a walk over to the local market in order to carefully choose the ingredients. Once fish or meat are elected, depending on the type of Paella that you want to prepare, the right equipment has to be bought as Paella is cooked in large pans that usually wouldn’t fit on a normal cooker. Another option is to prepare Paella on a barbecue which makes the taste even better as the fire adds extra flavor to it.
Paella mixta is the most common dish and combines the best of meat and fish and is affordable and easy to prepare with this recipe:     

Preparation time: 1 h 15

Ingredients:                     

(for 6 people)

1/2 cup olive oil
1 white onion (chopped)
2 cups red bell peppers (diced)
2 cups green bell peppers (diced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 pinches saffron
1/2 cup dry Spanish sherry
1/2 lb. whole clams (in shell)
16 chicken thighs
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups fish stock
4 cups rice (uncooked)
12 large shrimps or prawns (don’t have to be peeled)
12 mussels (in shell)
2 cups green peas (frozen)
2 lbs chorizo sausage (diced into 14 half moons)
12 thick lemon wedges
Some salt and pepper

Preparation:

• Chop all of the vegetables and prepare the stock. Clean the seafood and the chicken and add a little salt and pepper for seasoning.
• Heat the oil in the pan so that it’s spread to cover the entire pan and add onion and garlic. The onion should be sautéed until it’s translucent.
• Add the chicken and roast it for a few minutes until it’s browned. Remove the chicken and set it aside.
• Add the chopped peppers and let it cook for 1-2 minutes and add sherry and clams afterwards.
• Add now half of each chicken and fish stock as well as the rice. Spread the rice around and let the alcohol burn off while flavoring the rice. Stir everything together in the pan and let it cook for 10 minutes.
• Add saffron, remaining seafood, the thawed peas and the rest of the stock. Add chicken back into pan and add a small amount of salt and pepper if you wish. Stir all ingredients together.
• Reduce heat to low and leave the rice to cook over medium heat without stirring. The rice will probably take about 30 minutes to fully cook until it’s soft. Check from time to time that there is still enough liquid for absorption and rotate the pan occasionally as it is important that the heat is evenly distributed.  Add more liquid if the rice looks dry.
• Taste a bit of the rice from different areas in the pan to see if it’s fully cooked. It should be soft but still have a bit of bite. The rice on the bottom of the pan should be brown but not burned.
• Once cooked, remove the pan from the heat and cover it to let it rest for about 10 minutes.
• Add sliced chorizo, place the lemon wedges around the edges as garnish and serve.

Paella is traditionally served as a main dish and accompanied with Spanish wine. If you want to invite friends for a Spanish evening you can serve Sangria, the typical wine punch from Spain, while the Paella is on the grill.

¡Buen provecho!