Paella

I finally came around to using the paella pan I bought some four years ago, and to put to use the paella recipe that was written down for me by one of the world experts on the subject. Here it is the front page of the manuscript:



Let me translate the basics of the recipe here for future reference! This is the simplest version possible, without garrafon or snails.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium chicken, cut in small pieces (1.5 kg more or less)
• 1/2 kg of rice (DO Valencia, la Fallera is a good brand)
• olive oil, salt, special food colorant for paella, sweet paprika
  
• 3 ripe medium tomatoes, only the pulp obtained by grating them
• water or chicken stock, see below (2 and a half times the volume of the rice)
  
• fresh green beans (flat ones) cut into 5cm bits (200g)

The broth: Instead of using water, it's much better to use a nice chicken stock. One way of doing that is by using parts of the chicken that are mostly bone or that will not be used in the paella, like the wings. Put those chicken parts in a pan with olive oil and quickly brown them. Add an onion cut in quarters and a carrot peeled and cut in smallish bits. Sautee everything to get some color going. Add water and let it boil on high heat for 5 minutes. Skim the surface. Lower the heat, put on a lid, and let it simmer away. You can add some salt as well. When the time for adding water to the paella comes, just strain this broth and add enough hot water to make up for the volume you need.

Start the paella: In medium heat, add olive oil to the paella pan and fry the small chicken bits in batches, which you season with salt and pepper as you go along. The goal is to start cooking the chicken, but also to obtain a nicely browned meat: color and flavor. Reserve the cooked meat as it gets ready.

In the same oil, sautee the green beans. Reserve as well.

Now fry the tomato, seasoned with salt and a pinch of sweet paprika. The tomato should be well-fried, but not burned.

Next, add the broth, making sure it's pretty hot. With a wooden spoon, release all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the reserved chicken. Cover the paella pan and make sure that the broth boils for at least 5 minutes. Alternatively, you could boil the chicken with the broth in a separate pot and then add everything to the paella pan. If too much broth evaporates, we may need to add a bit of broth when the rice comes in. So, have some extra broth ready just in case it's needed, and make sure it's boiling hot when you add it to the pan.

Add the green beans to the paella pan. Put a couple of tablespoons of broth in a cup, mix in 1/2 teaspoon of colorant and mix well. Return this broth to the pan, making sure it's well incorporated. Taste for salt - it should be sightly on the salty side.

On high heat, and only if the broth is on a rolling boil, distribute the rice uniformly around the pan. Record the time. Make sure the pan is on a rolling boil for the first 5 minutes. Between minute 5 and minute 15, we regulate the fire to ensure that by minute 15-17 there is no broth remaining. If there is too much broth, up the heat; if there is too little broth, lower the heat and perhaps cover the pan.

After 15-17 minutes have elapsed, turn off the fire and let the rice rest for no more that 5 minutes before serving. Ideally, the rice in direct contact with the pan should be slightly burnt - this is what's called rosejat and is highly prized. It can be achieved by upping the heat at the end of the cooking time by a short amount of time.

The final result:



NB: In desperate cases, if there there isn't any liquid left by minute 8-10 one can add a glass of boiling water which has been seasoned with salt and a bit of colorant.