I am not sure when I first started making paella, but I suspect the desire came after my best friend in college, Kelly, showed me a video from when she lived in Spain highlighting people making paella. It was the largest pan I had ever seen in my life, and they appeared to be doing it all outside over a woodfire. I was completely bowled over. This was not a dish I ever had at home because it would have been considered too expensive since it contains a lot of seafood and meats and a particular kind of rice.
I always wanted to make it, but I did not get serious until my friend Mike gave me a book, “The Foods & Wine of Spain,” by Penelope Casas. Mike’s family was from Galicia, a Northern area of Spain, where it is as green as Ireland. Originally, he wanted me to try making Zarzuela, a shellfish medley, which is delicious, but I was much more intrigued by the recipes for paella. The first time I actually had it, was in Chicago when I visited my friend Lois and ordered arroz negro, which is a black rice version of paella that is made dark colored by squid ink. This was a seafood only version and it was delicious and came with a bright saffron scented aioli on the side. I was in heaven!
My first attempt in making it was a bit of a bust as the rice stuck to the pan. I seem to recall my husband John saying as he always did “it’s okay, it tastes good,” but I was highly disappointed. So, I set out to perfect it and practice over and over again until I got it right.
The first thing concerns the rice. You must use the right rice, or it will not turn out correctly. In this case, Bomba is considered the best strain of Spanish short-grain rice for paella. Bomba is unique for its ability to absorb three times its volume in liquid—the more flavorful the liquid, the more flavor-packed the cooked grain—without turning mushy. I did not have access to Bomba at the time, so I used Arborio, which works in a pinch but is not ideal.
I also learned from reading Penelope Casas’ book that real Paella Valenciana contains rabbit and chicken, along with green beans and lima beans, and small snails. This was a surprise. Traditionally, one does not mix meat and seafood as they are kept separate, but lo and behold, the masses loved Paella Mixta with its mixture of chicken, shellfish, and chorizo as it is named, and a star was born.
I have become fairly adept over the years at making it and have tried a number of combinations to the delight of my son Luke, who enjoys it. It has actually been a birthday meal request on a few occasions, and he asked to go to Soccarat, a restaurant in New York, which is known for serving many varieties of paella. Other than rice, the other integral ingredient is saffron. There simply is no substitute. I had paella recently without saffron and to me it was tasteless. A true paella has to have saffron, as it is a very distinctive taste. Therefore, this is such an expensive dish to make as noted, since this is another expensive but necessary ingredient.
I follow the recipe with some modifications now and it turns out great every time. Sometimes I add lobster if I have access to it and I'm feeling fancy. I tend to like my rice dry, but I made it recently with more moisture to accommodate my mom who is not a fan of the dry rice. To that end, here is the recipe I use from Penelope Casas who was the definitive expert on Spanish cuisine and who is dearly departed, but not forgotten.
Ingredients
6 cups chicken broth
½ tsp. saffron
1 small onion, peeled
6 trimmed boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Sea salt
½ cup olive oil
¼ pound Spanish chorizo (this is the hard variety, not the soft Mexican kind)
1 medium onion chopped
4 scallions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. chopped pimentos
1-pound large, shelled shrimp
3 cups short grain rice (I use Bomba)
5 tbsps. Chopped parsley
2 bay leaves
½ cup dry white wine
1 tbsp. lemon juice
¼ lb. fresh or frozen peas
15 littleneck clams, cleaned
18 small mussels, scrubbed and debearded
2 tubes calamari chopped into rings
Lemon wedges for garnish
Chopped parsley for garnish
1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Heat the chicken broth in a large saucepan with the saffron and the whole peeled onion. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the onion and set aside.
2. Dry the chicken pieces well and sprinkle sea salt over the chicken. In the paella pan. Heat the olive oil. Add the chicken pieces and fry until golden. Remove to a platter and keep warm by covering with foil. Add the chorizo and fry until cooked through. Depending on your stove, this could be 5 minutes or a bit longer. Add the chopped onion, scallions, garlic, and pimentos and sauté until the onion is wilted. Add the shrimp and sauté for about 3 more minutes and remove it and add it to the platter with the chicken. Add the Bomba rice to the pan and stir to coat it well with the oil. Sprinkle in the 5 tbsps. chopped parsley and the bay leaves (everything can be made in advance up until this point.)
3. Stir in the hot broth, the wine, lemon juice and peas. Add salt to taste. Bring to a boil and cook uncovered stirring for about 7 minutes or until the rice is no longer soupy but still has some liquid. Bury the chicken pieces, chorizo, and shrimp in the rice. Push the clams and mussels into the rice with the edges that will open face up. Decorate the paella with the calamari and bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit on top of the stove, covered with foil for another 10 minutes. To serve, top with lemon wedges and more parsley.
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