Adventures in Paella Making

A little while ago my friend Claire and I put our collective skills together and made a paella. Both of us have tried to watch and absorb paella-making lessons from Spanish friends, and we wanted to test our skills with a good solo effort. There were a few dicey moments but in the end I must say we came out with a pretty bitchin' paella, so if you're into trying to make one, take a peek at what we did:

First, dice up a tomato and a red and green bell pepper. Toss them in a sauté pan with a bit of rabbit (if you don't find yourself with a rabbit niftily in your fridge, go ahead and substitute chicken. We're flexible like that.) Sauté in a bit of olive oil on medium heat until the peppers start to get tender.

Meanwhile, let's make the broth for the paella. Find some fresh sardines and lop off the heads, tails and guts. Don't be squeamish. Paradoxically, these are the parts we actually want. The little filets...well, as far as this paella is concerned you can feed them to your cat.

Put all the heads, tails, fins and all that into a big pot of water. Also add in shrimp shells and heads from the shrimp we're about to put in the paella. If you are a.) squeamish  b.) fresh out of whole sardines or c.) not Spanish, you can go ahead and use a general fish broth for this part. I've even seen people use boxes of chicken broth. A good quality broth will make your paella better, but compromise is golden.

While all this is going on, you should soak some mussels. Nobody likes sand in their mussels. Then strain your fish broth so it's just the liquid. The fish and seafood parts have served their purpose and the broth should be thick and delicious smelling.

Return to your pan of peppers and meat. Make sure there's still a good amount of oil in the bottom, and if not add a bit more. We're in Spain here, olive oil is practically a religion. 

Add in two handfuls of rice per person. As you can see, I measured it out in a very fancy measuring cup first. Sauté the rice for a minute in the oil, then add in a little salt and saffron (or, as they usually use here, paella coloring). Now add the hot seafood broth. Mmmmmm. The liquid should pretty much but not quite cover everything. There are different thoughts on this: some people like soupy, brothy paella and other people like drier paella, with a more fried-rice liquid ratio. I am firmly, firmly, I say, in the dry paella camp. I know someone will hear me say this and try to change my mind, but I will remain strong. But if you like the soupy stuff then add a little more liquid.

Put the heat on medium high so the liquid starts to simmer. This is the sweet spot. Don't stir the rice while it's cooking - the brown crusty bits on the bottom are a delicacy and the best part of the paella.

Scatter some shrimp around the top. You will have already peeled them and thrown the shells in your pot to make your seafood broth, remember? Also, get your mussels nice and steamed. Mussels like lemon as well, so why not toss a bit in there for fun?

When all the liquid has absorbed (add a little more broth if the liquid is absorbed but the rice is still crunchy), you are finished! 

Lay the mussels over top and add some cool slices of lemon. And then pour a cold glass of an adult beverage of your choice. And then it is time. EAT.