jennifer rose
Apr 24, 2005, 10:48 AM
Post #10 of 12
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Re: [Carron] Paella
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There's nothing difficult about making paella. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't have to include shrimp. The insistence upon shrimp and ham cuts me out of eating paella at a lot of restaurants. The only constant is rice and saffron. And olive oil. You can make it with chicken, other fowl, snails, or even in a style acceptable to vegans. Use short- or medium-grain rice, and to make it even easier, the precooked (not instant) rice, also works out nicely.
Google "paella," and see what you come up with. Paella is basically a rustic peasant dish, made with whatever ingredients are at hand.
Here's my method:
Prepare a sofrito of tomato, onion and garlic. Set that aside. In the paella pan, saute some chicken or vegetarian chorizo in olive oil. Add the rice and small pieces of unskinned chicken or perhaps rabbit, stirring it around until the rice turns opaque. Add boiling chicken broth, a little at a time, enough to cover. While this is cooking, grind up a pinch of saffron in a mortar and pestle, adding a little bit of hot water to it. Dump that in the rice. Engage in a hearty debate over the proper way to stir the rice, from the center to the outside or in some other manner. Don't cover the pan. Toss the sofrito back in. Add something from the vegetable kingdom such as peas, asparagus, red, green or yellow peppers, more onion, artichoke hearts, green beans. Poll potential eaters to determine what everyone will eat, adding canned or fresh clams, fish filets or even smelt at the last moment, so it more or less poaches. There will always be someone who complains that their version is the only authentic version. Diplomatically hand that individual a glass of wine, tell him or her that you're making the paella, and dismiss them from the kitchen while you cook.
When the cooking has stopped, cover the paella with a towel to rest for five minutes before cooking. While you're waiting, prepare slices of lemon and parsley to garnish the dish.
If you don't have Spanish saffron, in Mexico are sold camotes de azafran, resembling tiny yellow-ish ginger root. That can be grated and added to the paella.
If you don't have a paella pan, a very large frying pan will do. An American friend in Seattle taught me that even an electric roaster will work if you're making very large quantities.
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