103 replies to this topic

[Bonny]

I wrote a piece for National Public Radio's web-only food page today (Aug. 17, 2005) about authentic paella. You can view it by going to my blog at www.bonnywolf.com. I had made paella without a paella pan in the past but it really was easier with the right pan. And cooking it outdoors was great. It was a fun party.

What makes an authentic paella?

Does a paella have to be cooked in a special pan?  (There is one, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment.)

How varied are paellas compared to risotto?

What kind of image is conjured up for you when you think about or hear about paella?

For me, there is paella valenciana (the traditional kind incorporating chicken, pork, shellfish and vegetables) and a vegetarian paella.  I have made recipes which were a blurring of lines between paella and risotto.  What are your favorite kinds and recipes?

Discuss...

[shacke]

I checked the search function and recipe gullet to no avail, surprisingly. I am interested in making a paella and am looking for a gulleteer worthy recipe. I have a paella pan already. Tips and tricks are also welcome.

Thanks

Evan

[shacke]

I checked the search function and recipe gullet to no avail, surprisingly.  I am interested in making a paella and am looking for a gulleteer worthy recipe.  I have a paella pan already.  Tips and tricks are also welcome. 

Thanks

Evan

After several days of looking in vain, I can come up with no recipe for paella on egullet or recipe gullet. Seems bizarre... If someone has a tried and true one, please post it here for posterity. I am forced to switch gears to Louisiana for my dinner guests tomorrow. I would hate to trust my paella to a blind google search.

[hitmanoo]

I checked the search function and recipe gullet to no avail, surprisingly.  I am interested in making a paella and am looking for a gulleteer worthy recipe.  I have a paella pan already.  Tips and tricks are also welcome. 

Thanks

Evan

After several days of looking in vain, I can come up with no recipe for paella on egullet or recipe gullet. Seems bizarre... If someone has a tried and true one, please post it here for posterity. I am forced to switch gears to Louisiana for my dinner guests tomorrow. I would hate to trust my paella to a blind google search.

I'd love a paella recipe or two myself. My friend lent me his paella pan rather than put it in storage, and thus far it has gone unused...

[Chufi]

there are 2 recipes for paella by Penelope Casas on this site http://www.tienda.co...ipes/mains.html

[Paul B]

It's almost time for our annual paella party so I was looking over this forum for ideas and I noticed that no one has offered a recipe. Here is the master recipe that Ian and I put beside us when we're cooking paella for 40 people. I'll post pictures of this year's party later in July. . .

Paella master recipe

Pre-make Soffrito: tomatoes, garlic, onions, reduced to a paste. Before starting the paella, add 11 cups of Arborio rice to the Soffrito, heat and stir.

Heat olive in paella pan.

1. Brown chicken (40 thighs with bone, marinated in paprika for 12 hours) in olive oil
2. Add pork (4 boneless loin, cubed )
3. Add sausage (3 lbs. pre-boiled, cut up)
4. Add squid (4 lbs)
5. Add shrimp, lobster, 6 chopped peppers, 2 lbs asparagus green beans
6. Add mussels (40), clams (40)
7. Add 4 cups stock, 1 cup brandy
8. Add 11 cups soffrito-prepared rice
9. Add scallops, 4 cups frozen peas
10. Add stock as necessary (lots)
11. Cover with newspaper and allow to steam until done
12. Sprinkle with fresh lemon

[Paul B]

Pictures from this year's paella party. The theme this year was The Paella Code. Guests were randomly paired up and given a set of questions about paella. The winner received two small paella pans.

[hitmanoo]

Wow! That looks absolutely incredible!

What apparatus did you use to cook your paella?

[JBN]

Last year when I was visiting friends in Guatemala, they decided to make paella for a dinner party one night. I was flabbergasted when I saw them haul a “box” of “paella” out of the pantry. The box contained some Spanish rice, a can of chopped chicken, a can of pimientos, and I’ve forgotten what else. The cook had to add broth and shrimp. Voila! Paella.

I hadn’t made paella in decades, and when I had it was in a Le Creuset French oven with Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice, pepperoni, and frozen rock lobsterettes. I decided it was time to buy myself a real paellera start experimenting.

I wasn’t looking for “authentic.” I wasn’t going to be serving my friends snails or eels. I wanted a chicken and shellfish paella that would be a wonderfully tasty, one-dish, mostly do-ahead fun meal for company. After four or five tries I ended up with a recipe I’m quite pleased with. It’s based on Penelope Casas, but I’ve decreased the amount of chicken, upped the amount of shrimp, and added squid. The procedure is a bit of Casas, a bit of the new Gourmet, and a bit of “this is what worked for me.”

In that latter category, I found that unless I was going to Chinatown to get my shellfish and could buy shrimp with heads and other scraps to make a very hearty fish broth, I was better off using chicken stock. I just couldn’t get enough flavor into the broth using only shrimp shells. I also found that the clams and mussels didn’t always open fully and that if I gave them a bit of help in the microwave they looked better, tasted better, and I could add the juices to the fish broth. Finally, Casas doesn’t explain, Gourmet does, that if you’re using a 15-inch paellera on a regular home burner, you’re going to have to place the pan over two burners and keep rotating it to avoid hotspots. This was really awkward the first couple of times I tried it, but soon enough I just got into a rhythm.

I’m new here, and just came across this thread with people saying that they had found very few actual recipes for paella on the board so I thought I'd pass along this one. But it seems from a few posts I’ve read that people put commentary in one place and the actual recipe somewhere else. Is that true? If I’m doing something wrong here, I’d appreciate help, advice, or even initiation rites.

Joan


To serve 8 to 10

Paella a la Valenciana
(adapted from Penelope Casas)


18 small clams
18 small mussels
1 tablespoon of cornmeal
6 cups of very strong chicken broth or fish broth
½ teaspoon of saffron
1 small onion, peeled
1 small chicken, about 2½ to 3 lbs
½ cup olive oil
½ pound chorizo cut into ¼ inch slices
1 large pork chop, boned and diced
¼ pound chunk domestic prosciutto, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 roasted red peppers chopped or cut into strips
1 to 1½ pounds medium shrimp, shelled
½ pound squid
2 live lobsters, split and divided into tail sections and claws
3 cups Montsia or Calasparra rice
5 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 bay leaves, crumbled
½ cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon lemon juice
¼ pound frozen peas
Lemon wedges and parsely for garnish

1. If mussels are uncultivated, put in a bowl of salted water (½ cup salt to 1 cup water), sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of cornmeal, and refrigerate several hours or overnight. If cultivated, just scrub clams and mussels, put in a bowl, and refrigerate, coverered with a damp cloth, until needed.
2. Heat broth with the saffron and whole onion. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Remove the onion and measure the broth--you need exactly 5½ cups.
3. Cut the chickens into small pieces -- breasts and thighs cut in half, wings into two pieces. Dry well and sprinkle with plenty of salt.
4. Heat the oil in a 15-inch paellera. Fry chicken over high heat until golden and set aside. Add chorizo, pork, and ham to the pan; stir fry about 10 minutes and set aside. Add the shrimp and squid and sauté 3 minutes. Add to reserved chorizo mixture. Add the lobster and sauté 3 minutes until barely red. Remove to the platter with the chicken. Add the chopped onion, scallions, garlic, and peppers and sauté until onion is wilted. Add the rice to the pan and stir to coat it well with the oil. Add 5 tablespoons chopped parsley and the crumbled bay leaves. (Can make 2 to 3 hours in advance up to this point.)
5. Cook clams and mussels in the microwave for about 1½ minutes on high or until just beginning to open and release their liquid. Strain liquid into broth and bring broth to a boil.
6. Add hot broth, wine, lemon juice, and peas to the rice in the paelleria. Bring to a boil and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, over medium high heat for 10 minutes. Bury the shrimp and the chicken in the rice. Add the clams and the mussels, pushing them into the rice, with the open edge facing up. Arrange lobster pieces on top and then bake, uncovered, at 325 F. for 20 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven, cover tightly with foil, and let sit on top of the stove for about 10 minutes. Decorate with lemon wedges and chopped parsley.

[Paul B]

Wow!  That looks absolutely incredible!

What apparatus did you use to cook your paella?

The paella pan is sitting on top of a dedicated three-ring propane burner that has its own legs. It's a great invention. The first time we made used the pan we built a temporary stand out of cinder blocks and used charcoal. We almost set the yard on fire. The next year we got the burner (from paellapan.com) and it has made all the difference.

If you look closely at our t-shirts you can see a picture of the burner when it is lit. It became the symbol of the paella code this year.

[John Woods]

Looking to run a paella seafood special. Any ideas on presentation or "special ingredients"?

[chefmcone76]

To chefs in a restauraunt situation where you need to pick up orders quickly, what is the best way to parcook a paella? Do you parcook the rice a bit, then finish in the oven with hot stock and prebrowned chicken/rabbit, and vegetables?

[meicjos41]

I'm also interested in how to best prepare paella for a restaurant. Does anyone have any experience par cooking rice, and cooling it so that the pick up can be fairly quick (under 20 minutes)? I don't want to give up the crust by using par cooked rice. Any help or info would be great.

[heidih]

This Cook Off topic may be of interest.