So, finally I have some time to sit down and write another entry on the blog. I had the pictures for this one taken time ago, but I have been so busy at work that it was impossible to finish it.
As I have mentioned before, I was born in Madrid (even half of my family comes from the North of Spain), so paella was never a common dish in my home when I was a kid. My mom cooked very nice rice dishes, but they were more on the "arroz a banda" fashion (a dish from the Murcia region).
Nevertheless, as a Spaniard you cannot escape (not that I ever want to) the omnipresence of the paella, cooked with more or less proficiency all around my country. This is possibly the dish that most foreigners will identify as the "national Spanish recipe", while in Spain it is considered as being only traditional in the Valencia (or larger Mediterranean) area.
In Spain, we cook rice in a very different manner as you can see in France or other neighboring countries. The way we cook it resembles more the way to cook rice pilaf (or similar dishes), in which the rice is not cooked separately from the rest of the ingredients in the dish, but altogether, so all the flavors present can melt in a single bite.
Among all these rice dishes, paella is possibly the trickiest one, since you not only want to achieve a nice mix of flavors in the dish, but also to achieve the perfect consistency of the rice. This is done through three factors:
- First one, cook the paella in a paella. OK, it might sound dumb, but it is not. Actually the name "paella" does not refer to the food, but to the special pan that the rice is cooked in (a Catalonian word for that type of pans). You need to keep the rice/water level shallow, so you don't need to stir the rice while cooking (see point 2). Paella pans will grow up in diameter with the number of portions, so this shallow level is always kept.
- Second one, do not stir the rice while cooking. Yes, it is true. If you cook the rice in a paella pan, the rice will be able to cook through all the height of the water/rice level without need to stir it. Not stirring the rice will get you two good things for the price of one: first one, the starch the rice gives away during cooking will be kept to a minimum, so the grains will stay loose and not mushy, and second, an amazing thin layer of the broth will get adhered to the surface of each grain. And this is what we want (look at the picture above).
- Third one, use a proper type of rice for it. Do not use jasmine, or basmati, or any long grain rice. But do not use also arborio or carnaroli (high starch rice), or Valencia (I know it sounds weird, but it will get you a really mushy paella). Go ahead and get the real deal. Now you can get in Amazon (or a few Spanish stores around) one of the types of rices we produce in Spain for this dish: arroz bomba or arroz de Calasparra. This types of rice will keep the structure of the grain longer (preventing the "mushiness"), absorb better the broth (increasing the flavor pattern of the dish), and not liberate too much starch (see mushiness above).
My last recommendation when dealing with a paella is the same as with many of the traditional dishes you can find around that have a very short list of ingredients: the quality of the ingredients will show in the end result. If you use frozen veggies, your paella will be mediocre. Go ahead and get the fresh ones. You don't need any fancy or exotic ones, just regular tomatoes, garlic and some other things. Keep it fresh and it'll show!
Enjoy it!
Paella de conejo, pollo y alcachofas - Paella with rabbit, chicken and artichokes
Ingredients (4 people - paella pan diameter 40 cm or around 15 inches)
- Rabbit and chicken: 1 kg or 2 pounds (see note below)
- Roma tomatoes: 4 medium grated (skin removed)
- Artichokes: 3 medium, cleaned (see note below)
- Garlic: 2 cloves finely laminated
- Green pepper: 1 large
- Saffron: 1 teaspoon
- Rice: 400 grams (see note below)
- Olive oil
- Salt
Preparation
My recommendation for cooking paella is to have everything ready ahead of time (the famous mise en place). Once you have started with the cooking process, it is a mess to begin to chop the veggies or measure the rice.
First, clean the rabbit and chicken, and cut it in small pieces. This will speed up the browning process, as well as make it easy to eat the paella. Leave the bones, they give a lot of flavor!
Clean the artichokes by removing the harder outer leaves, trim the top (it might be spiny), and the base. Cut them lengthwise in quarters. Peel the garlic cloves and cut them in thin slices. Grate the tomatoes (discard the skin). Clean the pepper removing seeds and veins, and cut it in small pieces.
Once you have everything ready, you have to make sure that your pan will not be tilted during the cooking process, since this will cause having deep/shallow areas with different cooking times.
If you don't use an adapter fire ring (as the one in the picture - see note below), just move the screws in the legs until the pan is flat (I test this putting some water or oil in the pan and making sure that the poodle stays in the middle). In the past when I did not use that ring, I used some aluminum foil packets to raise some areas of the burners.
So, paella in place, flat and ready to go.
Put some olive oil in the pan (for this quantities about 4 tablespoons), and start cooking the meat. You want it to be cooked through, and having the outer part well browned. This is what will give most part of the flavor to your dish, so cook it well.
Once it is ready, reserve in a separate dish.
If the pan is dry, put a bit of olive oil and add the garlic and pepper. Cook it for 3-4 minutes stirring frequently (you don't want to burn it). Add the grated tomato and cook it for 5 minutes more. Once the liquid is gone, add the rice and cook it for 2 minutes. Add the meat, stir well and add the artichokes.
Then, depending on the type of rice you are using, add these amounts of water to the pan:
- Arroz bomba or Calasparra: 3 to 3.5 parts of water per part of rice.
- Any other type of rice (not recommended): 2 parts of water per part of rice.
Note: The first time you cook a paella you will find how much water the rice is "asking for". This depends not only on the type of rice, but the quality of the water and even the altitude of the terrain. In Valencia, there is people that will bring their own water just to make sure they don't mess it up... paella can get really serious in some parts of Spain!
Now it is time to add the saffron (it will add not only color but also flavor), and check the salt level. Remember that the rice will retain some of the saltiness of the broth, so the final result will be not as salty as the initial broth.
Make sure again that the pan is flat, and cook it at high temperature for 8 minutes. Lower the heat to keep a minimum simmer and cook for 5 minutes more. Check the water level: if it's very low keep the heat to minimum and cook for 2 minutes more, if there is still some water increase the heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes. Beware it is better to have a paella not very dry but well cooked than a dry one with under cooked rice. Experience is key with this dish, keep trying until you know what works for you and your equipment.
Let it rest covered with a kitchen towel for 5 minutes more, and serve it immediately.
Rice
As I mentioned above, please use bomba or Calasparra rice for paella. They have been developed over many years to achieve the perfect degree of broth absorption without loosing the structure. You use arborio for risotto, correct? Use the same strategy here!
Adapter ring
We brought this one from Spain, where it is used to be able to cook indoors with larger paella pans. Some people told me that they saw something similar in stores with Asian kitchen utensils too. You can get one of this in Amazon if you need it, it will keep the fire distributed more evenly around the surface of the pan, and prevent any over/undercooking in different areas.
First, clean the rabbit and chicken, and cut it in small pieces. This will speed up the browning process, as well as make it easy to eat the paella. Leave the bones, they give a lot of flavor!
Clean the artichokes by removing the harder outer leaves, trim the top (it might be spiny), and the base. Cut them lengthwise in quarters. Peel the garlic cloves and cut them in thin slices. Grate the tomatoes (discard the skin). Clean the pepper removing seeds and veins, and cut it in small pieces.
Once you have everything ready, you have to make sure that your pan will not be tilted during the cooking process, since this will cause having deep/shallow areas with different cooking times.
If you don't use an adapter fire ring (as the one in the picture - see note below), just move the screws in the legs until the pan is flat (I test this putting some water or oil in the pan and making sure that the poodle stays in the middle). In the past when I did not use that ring, I used some aluminum foil packets to raise some areas of the burners.
So, paella in place, flat and ready to go.
Put some olive oil in the pan (for this quantities about 4 tablespoons), and start cooking the meat. You want it to be cooked through, and having the outer part well browned. This is what will give most part of the flavor to your dish, so cook it well.
Once it is ready, reserve in a separate dish.
If the pan is dry, put a bit of olive oil and add the garlic and pepper. Cook it for 3-4 minutes stirring frequently (you don't want to burn it). Add the grated tomato and cook it for 5 minutes more. Once the liquid is gone, add the rice and cook it for 2 minutes. Add the meat, stir well and add the artichokes.
Then, depending on the type of rice you are using, add these amounts of water to the pan:
- Arroz bomba or Calasparra: 3 to 3.5 parts of water per part of rice.
- Any other type of rice (not recommended): 2 parts of water per part of rice.
Note: The first time you cook a paella you will find how much water the rice is "asking for". This depends not only on the type of rice, but the quality of the water and even the altitude of the terrain. In Valencia, there is people that will bring their own water just to make sure they don't mess it up... paella can get really serious in some parts of Spain!
Now it is time to add the saffron (it will add not only color but also flavor), and check the salt level. Remember that the rice will retain some of the saltiness of the broth, so the final result will be not as salty as the initial broth.
Make sure again that the pan is flat, and cook it at high temperature for 8 minutes. Lower the heat to keep a minimum simmer and cook for 5 minutes more. Check the water level: if it's very low keep the heat to minimum and cook for 2 minutes more, if there is still some water increase the heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes. Beware it is better to have a paella not very dry but well cooked than a dry one with under cooked rice. Experience is key with this dish, keep trying until you know what works for you and your equipment.
Let it rest covered with a kitchen towel for 5 minutes more, and serve it immediately.
Notes:
Meats
Valencian paella has only meats (no seafood please), and only rabbit and chicken. You can change the rabbit for some extra chicken in this recipe if you don't like the rabbit, but I assure you that the flavor of the dish is amazing with it!
Artichokes
Valencian paella has only meats (no seafood please), and only rabbit and chicken. You can change the rabbit for some extra chicken in this recipe if you don't like the rabbit, but I assure you that the flavor of the dish is amazing with it!
Artichokes
The artichokes we find in US are typically very well developed, meaning that the cores are already not good for eating (too fibrous). If this is the case, remove the fiber in the core with a spoon, because it will disperse through the paella.
Rice
As I mentioned above, please use bomba or Calasparra rice for paella. They have been developed over many years to achieve the perfect degree of broth absorption without loosing the structure. You use arborio for risotto, correct? Use the same strategy here!
Adapter ring
We brought this one from Spain, where it is used to be able to cook indoors with larger paella pans. Some people told me that they saw something similar in stores with Asian kitchen utensils too. You can get one of this in Amazon if you need it, it will keep the fire distributed more evenly around the surface of the pan, and prevent any over/undercooking in different areas.
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