Saffrondust's favourite paella recipe
A good friend of ours is getting married this weekend, his family has travelled to Australia from overseas, and are staying together in a
beautiful big house in Sydney.
A big paella party is being planned, and we were asked to
share a paella recipe to cook for everyone. With family from Eastern Europe, seafood is
not a familiar option, so a chicken and chorizo paella it is. We have described in this article our favourite paella recipe, but don't be afraid to mix and match this basic technique to discover what works for you.
We are cooking in a Garcima 55cm pan which is recommended
for 16 serves, and cooking over a Garcima 450mm dual
ring gas burner.
Rule of thumb is 80-100g of rice per serve, so for this size pan use around 1.5 kilos of rice, plus fresh ingredients.
Recommended ingredients based on 1 kilo rice (adjust quantities depending on how much rice you use) :
- 1 kilogram paella rice
- 1 kilogram chicken drumsticks, either chunky
pieces on the bone, or filleted
- 2 good size chorizo’s, sliced diagonally or
cubed
- Olive oil
- White wine, or white wine vinegar, for deglazing
the pan
- 2-3 tablespoons good Spanish paprika (a blend of smoked and
sweet, and add hot paprika to taste)
- 2 x 375g cans of crushed tomatoes
- ½ a gram of saffron
- 1 litre of a quality liquid stock – chicken or
vegetable
- 1 litre of water measured in a container, and
extra water not measured
- 4 large spanish onions, finely chopped
- 3 capsicums (red and green), cut into slices
- 500g lima beans (other green bean variety OK if
you cant find lima beans) trimmed
- 1 clove of garlic (or a tablespoon of crushed
garlic)
- 2 lemons to serve, cut into wedges
- Bunch of parsley to garnish, roughly chopped
They say paella is a technique rather than a recipe, I am
going to describe our technique here, but it is by no means the only way to
cook paella. This technique creates a
stock in the pan, and takes a longer time to cook as it relies on using more
water and simmering to create a stock, before cooking the rice.
If you are wanting to cook your paella faster, you can add
the rice before adding the water, cook it with the meat and vegetables for a
few minutes to let the flavours mix into the rice, and then add the water,
bring to the boil, and leave about 20 minutes for the rice to cook.
check out this video for a basic overview of paella cooking technique using the Garcima burner :
Method
- Using the inner ring of the paella burner on a medium to
high temperature, add a good dash of olive oil and the chicken and chorizo, and
cook together well, stirring often. The
meats will release their own oils, and will mix together to start forming a
great flavour base. Cook the meats well
ensuring the chicken especially is cooked through. If you are just using the inner rings of the
pan, you can move the meat outwards as it starts to cook through. Don’t be afraid of overcooking, as you will
be adding water later to cook the meat in the water.
- Once the meat is looking nicely browned and cooked through,
move it toward the edge of the pan, and deglaze with a good splash of white
wine or white wine vinegar. Add onions,
garlic, about 2/3 of your capsicums, and tomato paste to the centre of the pan
and cook together. This is called the
sofrito, and is the vegetable base for your paella. Once the onion starts to become translucent
add the beans, and cook together. Mix
with the meat and continue cooking together.
- Next we will add paprika, but just remember that paprika
burns easily, so we want to have our stock and measured water close by. Add
the paprika to the sofrito and meat mixture and stir together for a
minute. Once the paprika has thoroughly
mixed, and before it starts to burn, add your 1 litre of stock, and your 1
litre of measured water.
- Paella rice needs about a 2:1 water to rice mixture to cook. Since you have just added 2 litres of water
and stock, this is your cooking quantity of water. Take a measurement of how full the pan is,
often you can take a mental reading off one of the rivets by the handles. You will need to remember this level later
when you add your rice.
- Once you have taken your reading of the 2 litres of water
level, add more water until the pan is full to the brim. Add a half a gram of saffron now, and turn
all the gas rings of the burner up to full, to bring the liquid to the boil. Since we are using saffron threads not
powder, saffron needs the boiling water to release its colour and flavour.
- Once the liquid is boiled turn the heat on both rings back
down to a simmer, and reduce the level of the water stirring occasionally. This simmering process creates a stock
blending all of the flavours in the pan.
Simmer the water down until you get to the level in the pan which you
made a mental note of before. You are
now ready to add the rice.
- Add the rice in a spreading motion to get a good
distribution throughout the pan. At this
stage you can quickly stir the paella if you need to to get a good mixture, but
it will come quickly back to the boil. Remember once the rice starts cooking put that
stirrer away, you never stir a paella once the rice is in and the water has
boiled. Keep the heat on a low
simmer. The rice will take about 20
minutes to cook.
- As the rice cooks you will start to see it expanding as it
absorbs the stock. Rice should be cooked
al dente similar to how you would cook pasta.
To see if it is done break a grain apart, it should be coloured all the way
through except for a little white in the centre. Try some it should be soft but never sticky
or creamy. A good paella rice is vital
at this stage. If you have substituted Arborio
rice for paella rice, your paella will be creamy like a risotto.
- As the rice cooks, take your remaining capsicum, and arrange
them in a fan like pattern for presentation.
Once the pools of moisture on the surface of the rice have disappeared,
it means the rice has absorbed all the moisture in the pan. To prevent it from drying out, cover with
foil.
- When the rice is done, if you listen very carefully, it will
start to make a very faint crackling sound.
This is the prized soccarat, or paella crust, starting to form at the
base of the pan. You can turn the heat
up a touch but be very careful, you want your rice crust toasted but not
burned. When you start to smell a slight
toasting scent, turn the heat off, and your paella is done. If in
doubt you are safer to turn off the heat early rather than risk burning the
paella.
- Garnish with your lemon pieces also arranged in a fan like
pattern, and sprinkle chopped parsley across the top of the paella, and serve.
Traditionally, paella is eaten from the pan, with each guest
having a ‘slice’ and working their way in from the outside. Of course you can also serve from a dish with
a sprinkle of lemon juice.
Some of the good paella recipes we have found around the web
:
http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to/paella.aspx