Whilst most non Spaniards view paella as Spain's national dish it is in fact a Valencian dish, eaten widely throughout Spain, most Spaniards consider paella to be a regional dish.
Originally a farmer's and farm labourers' food paella was cooked by the workers over a wood fire. Rice would be cooked in a large pan with whatever else was to hand in the rice fields and countryside, tomatoes, onions, snails, frogs and rabbit. The paella was eaten straight from the pan with each person using his own spoon.
Over the generations paella has adopted many variations, Valencia is on the coast so not surprisingly various seafood crept into the recipes. Our home in Spain is in a rural area where rabbit and chicken paella is more common, however, we do on occasion find seafood paella on the menu which includes squid, clams, mussels, shrimps and prawns.
Families congregate on mass to eat paella at weekends, much as we would eat a roast dinner, it is a celebratory meal which takes some preparing, never to be confused with the frozen stuff served in many coastal tourist areas!
Paella is named after the double handed pan the dish is cooked in, once the rice is in the pan it shouldn't be stirred but shaken from side to side so that the grains swell up. The base of the paella should be crusty, crispy and slightly caramelised, this is referred to as the socarrat. At the end of cooking, a clean tea towel should be placed over the paella for 5 minutes to absorb the steam, there is quite an art to cooking 'pa-eh-ya'.
Quite frankly you have to be in a cooking mood for this dish, I don't mean a rustling up a bit of dinner mood, I mean a full on couple of hours in the kitchen with the Gipsy Kings playing in the background and nothing else to distract you!
That said, this isn't a complicated dish, we're not talking double baked soufflé, paella is a rustic dish which is commonly cooked by men in Spain, in the same way our men have a penchant for barbecues. Whenever we are in Spain it is always our friend Raffa who cooks the paella. In fact paella is a perfect meal to prepare with your partner on a Saturday evening whist enjoying a cold beer or a glass of wine, it makes a great change from a takeaway Chinese or Indian.
Paella
Recipe
Serves 6
350g paella rice
2 tablespoons olive oil
3lb free range chicken joints (joints are more tasty than breast and part of the enjoyment is eating the chicken with your fingers, I used breasts because I didn't have any joints so I reduced the cooking time of my chicken)
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
4oz chorizo sausage, skin removed and cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 heaped teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon saffron strands, soaked in a drop of warm milk
12 raw tiger prawns
50g frozen peas
Salt and pepper
2 pints stock
Soak saffron strands in a 1/4 cup of warm milk
Remove skin from chorizo and chop
Heat oil over a fairly high heat, saute the chicken joints on all sides until golden, remove and set aside
Fry chorizo for 2 minutes, remove and set aside
Add onion and peppers to the pan, fry for 6-8 minutes until tinged at the edges
Now add garlic, paprika and milk with saffron and cook for 1 minute
Return chicken to the pan, season and add 2 pints of stock, bring to a simmer and cook uncovered: 10 minutes for joints, 2 minutes for breasts
Remove chicken and set aside
Pour rice into the centre of the pan, bring to the boil, stir once and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, shake the pan occasionally
Make sure rice is immersed in liquid, top up if necessary, after 10 minutes taste rice to see if it is al dente
Return chicken to the pan along with prawns and peas
Cook for 2 minutes, turn prawns over and cook for a further 2 minutes, they will turn pink when cooked
Remove from heat and cover with a clean towel for 5 minutes to absorb the steam
Serve onto warm plates
Serve with a wedge of lemon to be squeezed all over paella
'The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.'
- Julia Child.
Love do
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