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Making Spanish Paella
The Easy Way by Noel Gomez
Paella is a saffron-flavored
dish made with varying combinations of rice, vegetables, meat, chicken
and seafood. Spain and the Catalan languages, paella means frying pan or
pot. The traditional paella pan is flat and of large diameter, it can also
have handles on each side.
In fact, paella is one of
the most versatile dishes to make. Paella also has the advantage of being
great to clean out the fridge and use up leftover meats and vegetables.
Any combination will eventually be great the secret is in the chemistry.
Spanish Paella is a dish that is generally made to feed several people.
Moreover, Spanish Paella is quite flavorful the next day as the tastes
have had time to mix together and become stronger.
Here are three basic steps
to follow to make wonderful Spanish Paellas while leaving you the latitude
to be creative and to make the dish their own by customizing it to their
taste. |
Plateful
of Paella Made with Mussels, Shrimp and Rice
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at AllPosters.com
|
1. Preparing the rice.
Select a type of rice that
you are comfortable using. Feel free to experiment but know that Spanish
Paella contains a lot of ingredients and if you are unhappy with the end
result with a particular type of rice, you might end up with a lot of waste.
Basmati, brown or a mix with wild rice can add great taste and texture.
Follow the instructions on the package with regards to washing and cooking
the rice. Finely chop some onion, garlic and tomato. Heat a saucepan and
add olive oil once the saucepan is hot (make sure that the oil does not
start smoking. Burnt olive oil is carcinogenic and quite unhealthy). Once
the oil is hot, throw in the uncooked rice. Frying uncooked rice gives
it a nutty taste. Let the rice fry in the saucepan for a minute or so.
Add the chopped onion, garlic and tomato until they soften, mixing constantly.
Spice with saffron, salt and pepper. Feel free to experiment. Cumin, Cayenne
various fine herbs or even a bit cinnamon or cloves can easily be added
for a flavoring of your own. This mixture should not be on the stove for
more that three to five minutes. At high heat with constant mixing, none
of the ingredients should stick but they should mix well together and soften.
Once all the ingredients are combined, remove the saucepan from the burner
and mix in some frozen peas. Add enough peas to make a well balanced mixture.
Paella
Being Served at Hotel Neptuno, Valencia, Spain
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at AllPosters.com
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2. Choosing and
making the meat.
In a frying pan at high heat,
brown some pieces of chicken. Upper thighs, drumsticks, breasts...it's
all good. Do not cook the meat completely but brown the outside. Once browned,
set the meat aside. Lamb can also add great flavor to your Spanish Paella.
3. Combination of it all
Cover the bottom of the Spanish
Paella pan with the uncooked rice mixture. Add the browned chicken pieces
on top. Add uncooked shell fish and small fish filets rolled up and fastened
with a toothpick or string. Use any type of fish but make sure that its
flesh will hold well together. Pour some chicken broth on top (if the broth
is warm the cooking time will reduce). |
Note that you can also add
wine for more flavor. Cover the Spanish Paella dish and cook for about
45 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit or until the rice is fully cooked. At this
point you can add raw shrimp or mussles and cook uncovered for another
five minutes.
In short, the secret to preparing
the perfect Spanish Paella is to make it your own!
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About The Author - Noel
Gomez. Learn how to make Spanish Tapas and Paellas the easy way
by visiting my website
www.spaintapas.com. Each month there is a new free
recipe and more to review received by newsletter! |