Paella valencian pronounced pa ay ya recipe

Paella Valencian (pronounced pa-ay-ya) recipe

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About this recipe

In this blog post I will guide you thru the steps and ingredients needed to craft this recipe. Grab your favorite apron and let's start.
Paella Valenciana is a traditional Spanish dish that originated in the Valencia region. It is a flavorful and aromatic rice dish, typically made with a combination of meat, seafood, and vegetables. This recipe showcases the authentic method of preparing Paella Valenciana, ensuring a delicious and satisfying meal. The dish is known for its vibrant colors, rich flavors, and the unique technique of cooking the rice to perfection.

Keywords: Paella Valenciana, Spanish cuisine, traditional recipe, rice dish, meat and seafood.

Paella valencian pronounced pa ay ya recipe details

Paella valencian pronounced pa ay ya recipe, recipe Rating: 4.7
Number of votes:122

Ingredients

Chunks of meat (about 2 inches square; 1 or 2 of each per serving): 8 to 10 pieces of chicken breast and/or thigh, 6 to 8 pieces of rabbit, or 6 to 8 pieces of pork, meatballs, etc. (all optional, depending on appetites)

1/4 pound of medium shrimp in shells, heads off

1/2 pound calamari, cleaned and skinned, cut into circles, heads whole

12 to 18 mussels

2 cups white rice (before cooking)

1 medium onion, chopped

3 to 4 Roma plum tomatoes, minced

Saffron (or 1 packet of Sazon Goya con Azafran)

Olive oil

1 large red bell pepper, cut into wide strips

1 green pepper, diced

Minced garlic (as much as you like; I tend to do at least 2 large cloves per person)

1 full head of garlic

Chopped parsley (fresh is best)

1 bay leaf

1/2 pound fresh green beans, diced, or canned peas, carrots, or chick peas (depending on your taste)

Instructions:

In saucepan, brown meats in olive oil; remove meat. In drippings, add onion, green pepper, tomato, minced garlic, bay leaf, and parsley and sauté until the onion is soft. Add saffron, browned meats, and 1/4 cup of water and cook over low heat 5 to 10 minutes. Drain the juice from the saucepan and save it.

Steam mussels until they open. Save the juice; set mussels aside. When they are cool, separate the shells, leaving the mussels on their half shells.

Transfer saucepan contents to paella pan, distributing evenly. Place full head of garlic at center of the pan. Divide into pie wedges with the thick strips of red pepper standing on edge so that when it is done, you will see the tops of the pepper strips. Distribute rings and heads of calamari. Sprinkle beans or chick peas evenly around. Then sprinkle rice evenly around meats. Add 8 cups of liquid, including saucepan sauté juices and mussel juice.

Cook, uncovered, evenly over low flame. This can be done in the oven, but is much better over an open flame where you can tend it. I prefer to do it over an adjustable grille, starting relatively close to the hot coals to get it steeping and simmering, but then raising the grille from the coals to slow the cooking and let the flavors mingle. Important: rotate the pan over the flame to make sure it cooks evenly, and keep flame from scorching the rice at the bottom of the paella pan. This pot takes considerable watchful attention.

When the rice has risen to the top and much (but not all) of the water has cooked off, fan shrimp over the top, then stand the mussels in half shells in the rice, points down. I do it in an attractive pattern of circled mussels and fanned shrimp.

As it cooks, gauge doneness by tasting rice from several parts of the pan to be sure it is the correct texture (cooked – not crunchy, not mushy) and consistent throughout. If more water is needed in certain parts of the pan, add boiling water sparingly, sprinkling from a large spoon. If too much water is in the rice, lay newspaper lightly over the top of it and it will absorb excess water.

Best served right out of the pan. In Spain, eating with the men out in the fields, the mussel shells served as spoons.

Serve with crusty bread and a tossed salad. I recommend violating the seafood-white wine rule; this meal goes best with a hardy red of your choice.