How They Make Paella In Spain

By: Jack Blacksmith

If you’ve never had the customary Spanish recipe of Paella, then you’re surely missing out on something superb. There are actually many different variations of the recipe in Spain, and throughout the Spanish culture, but they’re all equally delicious.

The dish is made traditionally with seafood, however it can be made with chicken, vegetarian style, or rabbit as well. The one common ingredient that runs throughout however is the rice.

The type of rice that you must use for Paella is short-grained rice of which is the long cooking type; this is regardless of any other ingredient variation. If you are looking for a healthier version of the dish, then you can opt for a whole-grain or even a wild rice for yours, just be sure NOT to use instant rice and that when preparing the dish, the rice is able to absorb all the liquids. You want to find that happy medium of the rice not absorbing so much stock so that it becomes limp and soggy. This is when you know you’ve done it correctly.

One thing that’s great about Paella is that it can be an impressive dish, even if you are surprised by an influx of unexpected guests. This is when you’ll simply add more rice to the dish to spread it out over more mouths.

Another great aspect of Paella is how flexible of a dish it can be. You can throw in just about anything you have in your cabinets in a dish like this. Again, you just need the correct rice, and a good hearty flavored stock. This is what gives the dish the flavor that you need to please the pallets of your guests or yourself. Using the ingredient Saffron, also known as azafran, is the key ingredient to the yellowish color that is given to the food. This is what distinguishes it as Paella.

A recipe for a great Seafood Paella is as follows. You’ll need:

4 cups rice
8 cups good quality fish stock
8 king-sized prawns langoustines
8 good sized mussles
½ pound shrimp
8 ounces fresh or frozen peas
2 skinned and then chopped tomatoes. (Here’s a quick Tip: It’s best to skin the tomatoes by first dipping them in boiling water for a few seconds then running them under cold water. This will make the skin peel right off.)
2 garlic cloves sliced very thinly
3 strands of saffron which you’ll simply crumble by hand.

You’ll want to fry the seafood in a good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

You’ll begin by sautéing the garlic in a pot or paella pan. Next, you’ll add the tomatoes, shrimp, peas and saffron. Cook this until the garlic is tender, but do not let it burn. Doing so will ruin the entire dish. Now put in the uncooked rice and stock. This will simmer for around 20 minutes so that the rice absorbs the stock and plumps up. You don’t want the liquids to evaporate too quickly so be sure to cover the dish. Now just poach the remainer of the seafood in boiling water for only a few minutes. You’re ready to eat.

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Jack Blacksmith usually edits detailed reports on information relating to Spain and spanish culture. His publications on paella can be found on his site .

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