Paella

Valencia is probably best known for its native dish of paella, a rice dish most often made with seafood. I must admit that I have never tasted this Valencian delicacy, either here or elsewhere. It is prepared in a round, flat frying pan with two handles that is taken from the stove and placed on the table. These pans, or paelleras, are sold almost everywhere here in sizes ranging from 8 inches to almost two meters in diameter. If you shop at the central market in the old part of Valencia you will see dozens of stalls that sell almost nothing besides paelleras. I noticed that we had one among the pots and pans in our apartment.

Paella is a very flexible dish that can be made with chicken, rabbit, beef, or even vegetarian style if you don’t feel like seafood. Most Valencian recipes call for shrimp, squid, mussels, clams, and scallops. I have never seen finer seafood than what is available here in Valencia and I have lived near an ocean my entire adult life. The shrimp here are absolutely incredible and the largest variety are almost as big as cats. They are hideous creatures that would be terrifying if they weren’t edible.

Besides the rice, the other essential ingredient in Paella Valenciana is saffron. The Saffron filaments, or threads, are actually the dried stigmas of the saffron flower, "Crocus Sativus Linneaus". Each flower contains only three stigmas. These threads must be picked from each flower by hand, and more than 75,000 of these flowers are needed to produce just one pound of Saffron filaments, making it the world´s most precious spice. Saffron is horribly expensive in the United States and is kept under lock and key in upscale grocery stores. I must admit that I have never tried paella and I have never had any dish made with saffron. I looked up a bunch of recipes for paella online and almost every one recommends using something other than saffron as the seasoning. Paprika is a common substitute. I thought that this would be a good time to learn about paella.

In spite of the embarrassment of riches in the seafood department I thought that I would attempt my first paella with chicken as it is less delicate as far as its cooking time. I picked up a whole chicken (head and all), and a bag of short grain rice at the market. I couldn’t even remember the name for “saffron” in English when I was shopping, but I thought that I would recognize it when I saw it in the spices aisle. I also knew that I could substitute paprika if the cost was prohibitive. It turns out that I found a box of three servings of saffron for about $1.25. It comes in very, very small individual packets. I had heard that as far as this spice goes, a little bit will do ya, but I was doubtful that such a puny amount could flavor such a large dish as I was about to attempt.

Heat a bit of oil in the paellera and add the chicken pieces. After they begin to cook add minced garlic and onion. When the chicken is thoroughly browned, make an opening in the middle of the pan and add a can of whole tomatoes along with some diced fresh tomatoes. Stir in the saffron at this point and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes. Add about 1 ½ cups of rice to the dish and make sure it is all covered with liquid. You should not stir the paella once the rice has been added; instead just move the pan around on the flame to insure a constant and equal heat. My paellera is rather large so I used two burners on the stove to cook. I also had a few cups of hot chicken broth on hand to add to the paella as the rice cooked and absorbed the fluid.

As soon as I added the saffron to the tomato and chicken mixture I was almost overwhelmed by the flavor it imparted. I wasn’t sure whether or not I was going to be able to pull off this dish but whatever the hell I ended up with was going to taste pretty good because of the saffron. When the rice was almost cooked I added about two cups of cooked peas to the dish just because I remember seeing peas in paella in a picture some place.

I think that I am a pretty good cook. Sometimes when I try a new dish it takes me a few times to really nail it. To this day I have trouble making a Spanish tortilla, a sort of egg and potato omelet. You have to cook the tortilla on both sides which requires flipping this incredibly unwieldy dish. To this day when I set out to make a Spanish tortilla I never know if I will be able to pull it off. I felt less disappointed in my failures with tortillas when I saw a Spanish movie in which one of the young characters tries to make a tortilla and completely fucks it up. So I when I try something new I am always prepared, if not for complete failure, at least for mild dissatisfaction. With that said, I would like to announce that my paella was just about the best thing I have ever made in my entire cooking life.

After my first attempt at paella, and after I have finally tasted this wonderful dish, I look at my dinky little paellera and I feel like the guys in the movie Jaws when they see what they are up against. “I think we need a bigger boat.” Paella takes between 45 minutes to an hour to make, so it is fairly time consuming. If I am going to make paella, I want to make a big load of it. Before I try a seafood version I want to get a bigger pan.