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Paella Valencian




Source of Recipe


Internet


List of Ingredients




Chunks of meats (about 2 inches square; 1 or 2 of each per serving)
8-10 pieces of chicken breast and/or thigh
6-8 pieces of rabbit
6-8 pieces of pork, meatballs, etc. (all optional, depending on appetites)
¼ pound of medium shrimp, in shell, heads off
½ lb. calamari, cleaned and skinned, cut into circles; heads whole
12-18 mussels
2 cups white rice (before cooking)
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 Roma plum tomatoes, minced
Saffron (or 1 packet of Sazon Goya con Azafran)
Olive oil
1 large red bell pepper cut into wide strips
1 green pepper, diced
Minced garlic (as much as you like; I tend to do at least 2 cloves per person)
1 full head of garlic
chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
½ lb fresh green beans, diced, or canned chick peas (depending on your taste)

Instructions:
In saucepan, brown meats in olive oil, remove meat. In drippings, add onion, green pepper, tomato, minced garlic, bay leaf, parsley and simmer until the onion is soft. Add saffron and browned meats, ¼ cup of water and cook over low heat 5-10 minutes. Drain the juice from the saucepan and set aside.

Steam mussels until they open. Save the juice, set mussels aside. When they cool, separate the shells, leaving mussels on their half shells.

Transfer saucepan contents to paella pan, distributing evenly. Place full head of garlic at center of pan. Separate into pie wedges with the thick strips of red pepper standing on edge, so that when it is done you will see the tops of the pepper strips. Distribute rings and heads of calamari. Sprinkle beans or chick peas evenly around. Then sprinkle rice evenly around meats. Add 8 cups of liquid, including the saucepan juices and mussel juice.

Cook uncovered, evenly over low flame. This can be done in the oven but is much better over an open flame where you can watch and tend it. I prefer to do it over an adjustable grille, starting relatively close to the hot coals to get it steeping and simmering, but then raising the grille above the coals to slow the cooking and let the flavors mingle. Important: rotate the pan over the flame to make sure it cooks evenly, and keep flame from scorching the rice at the bottom of the paella pan. This pot takes considerable watchful attention.

When the rice has risen to the top and much (but not all) of the water has cooked off, fan shrimp over the top, then stand the mussels in half shells in the rice, points down.

As it cooks, gauge doneness by tasting rice from several parts of the pan to be sure it is the correct texture (cooked; not crunchy, not mushy) and consistent throughout. If more water is needed in certain parts of the pan, add boiling water sparingly, sprinkling from a large spoon. If too much water is in the rice, lay newspaper or paper towels lightly over the top and they will absorb excess water.


Recipe