by Eduard Lopez
The 7 Most Traditional Paella Recipes.
Eduard Lopez Maria Brull
ELG Marketing (2012)
* * *
Rating: ★★★★☆
Paella is one of the most internationally known dishes. You can order Paella in Restaurants all over the world, from Tokio to Chicago, from Paris to Cape Town. You can enjoy this rice dish almost everywhere you travel.
As a person born in Valencia (Spain), born in the center of the region where the Paella started being cooked centuries ago, the author wanted to share the traditional paella recipes; the paella recipes that are cooked in Valencia's households today and the ones that have been being cooked for generations.
The number of Paella recipes that can be found in internet is huge, but there are not so many that reflect the way Paella is really cooked in Valencia.
You can find countless paella recipes variations, using ingredients that were never used by our parents and using cooking procedures that are totally unknown by the people living in the Mediterranean region where this dish is native from.
This short book contains the traditional Paella recipes, the way Paella is cooked today in the valencian households. In fact, my mother together with some relatives and friends helped to put it together to show how they are cooking daily.
There are 7 traditional recipes, the ones most commonly cooked and that you can find today if you travel to Valencia and the counties surrounding this city. You can be sure that this is the way people cook today and, if you venture to cook yourself, you will be able to enjoy a traditional paella at home with family and friends.
We sincerely hope you will enjoy it!
The 7 Most Traditional Paella Recipes
The Way it’s Cooked at Home
for Generations in Valencia (Spain)
by Maria Brull
© Copyright 2012 cookapaella.com
NOTICE: This product does not come with resale rights. If you wish to purchase resale rights for yourself, you must purchase them directly from Maria Brull. If you are interested in purchasing resale rights, contact me directly at: [email protected]
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Another title from the same author:
How to Cook Authentic Valencian Paella. Grab it in Amazon.com
If you want to learn more about the authentic Valencian paella, you can visit http//www.cookapaella.com.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Paella Valenciana (Valencian Paella)
Paella Mixta (Meat and Seafood Paella)
Paella de Marisc (Seafood Paella)
Paella de Verdures (Vegetarian Paella)
Arros a banda (Rice cooked with fish broth)
Arros negre (Rice with squid ink)
Arros al forn (Backed rice)
Preface
What can be found in this short book is unique for most people while it is very common for others.
Its content is unique, in the sense that it is original and comes from personal use and taste. My mother has been using these very same recipes for cooking Paella all her life, so her mother and past generations did. Also all the people in the neighborhood of Valencia, where Paella finds its origins, cook this way one of the most internationally known rice dishes.
I decided to write this short recipe book when I was one day searching on internet something about Paella. I never did before, since Paella has been cooked in my family weekly and I know everything about it. But then, looking at the thousands of pages you can find in Google about Paella recipes I realized the amount of ‘junk’ you find on the net.
You can find on internet countless variations, although many of them are really “bizarre” and not reflecting, in any sense, the authentic and traditional recipes that are cooked in this area; and all of them claimed to be Paella. I thought: “How few people know the real taste of this dish! I have to do something!”.
So, I decided to sit with my mom and detail the way she is normally cooking Paella. She was really excited by thinking of her recipes reaching the entire world.
By compiling these recipes, I only intend to transmit the way of how real paella is cooked, so anyone around the world can have an idea if never visited Valencia. So, if you are interested in how to cook Paella as it’s cooked in its motherland, I think you will like to have this reference.
I want to thank my mother, relatives and neighbors who help to put together these pages with the hope that this will contribute to extend the knowledge of how real Paella is cooked.
Enjoy.
Introduction
The city of Valencia, located in the Spanish Mediterranean coast, is known by its many traditions as well as the climate. Mediterranean climate, with mild winters and warm summers, invites to organize outdoor activities and celebrations.
And having good food is a priority at every event.
Ten kilometers south Valencia there is a lake (called Albufera) where rice fields occupy 223 square kilometers (86 square miles) so, for generations, rice has been part of the daily diet of the local population.
This is the area where Paella was born.
You will find in this book seven traditional recipes where rice is the key ingredient. It includes the most common variations that are cooked everyday in the valencian country, in the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
The last recipe is not formally called Paella, since it is cooked in the oven and using a different recipient, but it is a traditional way to cook the rice at home for week-days’ menu, so I decided to include it also as a typical way to cook rice in the valencian households.
You can be assured that these ways of cooking rice is what you will find in restaurants and households in the geographical area surrounding Valencia.
I hope you’ll enjoy your cooking and sharing nice time with family and friends!
Maria Brull
www.cookapaella.com
Paella Valenciana (Valencian paella)
Description:
This is the most traditional paella. It’s the one that carries the name after the place where paella was born, and that has even got the Denomination of Origin from the Local Authorities.
To be able to offer someone Valencian Paella, you have to use a list of specific ingredients. If not, you cannot say it’s “Valencian”.
It’s by far the one most typically cooked in Valencia and the counties surrounding it.
It’s the typical dish parents cook on Sundays and at other special events when family or friends get together. I remember my grandmother first, then my mother, cooking Valencian paella every Sunday. You didn’t even have to think: on Sunday it’s almost certain you were going to eat paella.
It basically combines meat and vegetables and can include some local delicacies as snails, being this optional J.
The most common meat is chicken and rabbit, although in some areas they combine it also with duck, very typical around the Albufera Lake, very close to Valencia city.
Preparation:
Cooking time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Ingredients for 8 people:
600 grams of short or round grain rice
1 medium chicken
1 medium rabbit
2 medium ripe tomatoes
400 grams of wide green bean
100 grams of large white lima bean
50 grams of beans
1 tablespoon of sweet paprika
1 teaspoon of saffron threads or saffron colorant
1 cup of olive oil (aprox 3 dl)
Rosemary sprigs
Salt
Water
Directions:
Put the olive oil in the paella pan and heat at medium fire.
Add the rabbit and chicken previously cut into small pieces and fry until lightly browned.
Add the green beans and fry together with the meat. While frying, make a “clearance” in the middle of the paella pan and fry the chopped tomatoes until they look a little pasty.
Mix everything together while frying. Then add the paprika, stirring quickly and immediately add enough water to get the level up to the edge of the paella pan.
Boil for around 30 minutes over a medium / low fire. Add the saffron and taste for salt. Add the rest of the beans.
Add the rice, distribute it evenly, making sure the rice is covered with liquid. The amount of liquid is critical for the end result. This is the most difficult part.
The fire should be fairly high, not interrupting the boil.
Lay some rosemary sprigs on the boiling broth. They will bring both taste and decoration.
It takes between 18 to 20 minutes for the paella rice to cook. Do not stir the rice once you have added it to the paella pan. All the broth should be absorbed when finished.
Take the paella off the fire and let stand aside for about 10 minutes. If the rice has been cooked correctly, the rice grains should be loose, not clumped together or having a mushy texture.
Hint:
For a fantastic table presentation, small wedges of lemon can decorate the border.
Paella de Marisc (Seafood Paella)
Description:
I would say that this Paella variation is the second most popular in the Valencian Mediterranean coast. It’s usually served in the areas close to the sea and typically part of most of the restaurants’ daily menus.
The ingredients are basically fish and seafood although it also includes some vegetables.
As with all the dishes that include seafood, the better quality of those the better final result we are going to get. Fresh ingredients are ‘key’ to a great result. Avoid, as much as possible, frozen or preprocessed seafood. I encourage you to buy fresh ingredients and you will be glad you did.
I love to go to the local fish markets on Saturday morning, where all products are fresh, and make my shopping for Sunday’s Paella.
Sometimes there are some specific ingredients, like tiger prawns, that cannot be found in your local market. I tried with frozen ones and, if they are good quality, the final result is acceptable.
Let me say it again: “Try to use fresh fish and seafood!”
Preparation:
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ingredients for 8 people:
600 grams of short or round grain rice
300 grams of cuttlefish cut in small pieces
300 grams of squid cut in rings or small pieces
8 tiger prawns
8 crayfishes
1 kg of mussels
200 grams of wide green bean
1 teaspoon of saffron threads or saffron colorant
Two ripe tomatoes
1 tablespoon of sweet paprika
1 cup of olive oil (aprox. 3 dl)
Fish broth
Salt
Directions:
Clean the mussels and cook in a pan with a cup of water, for few minutes, until they open. Keep aside.
Warm the oil in the paella pan, lightly fry the prawns and crayfish. Take it out and keep aside.
Add the squid and cuttlefish and fry lightly; then add the green beans and keep frying together. Finally, add the grated tomato and fry a little bit more until it becomes brownish.
Then add the rice and stir together with the rest, frying lightly for few minutes. Add the sweet paprika, mix and immediately after add the fish broth.
As a help, the amount of broth to be added to cook the rice is 3 ½ cups per each cup of rice. When boiling, add the saffron and taste for salt.
Boil during 18 minutes. Few minutes before the end, lay on top the prawns, crayfish and opened mussels.
Finally let cool down for 10 minutes once fire is switched off and serve hot.
Hint:
When adding the mussels on top, remove one shell so they can be visible.
For the fish broth, you can buy very cheap fresh fish and boil for 30 minutes, then strain.
For a fantastic table presentation, small wedges of lemon can decorate the border.
Paella Mixta (Meat and seafood paella)
Description:
As you can guess based on its name, this variety of paella is a mix between the Valencian Paella and the Seafood Paella.
It’s a kind of Paella you can easily find in many restaurants located in the tourist areas of the Spanish Mediterranean cost. I would say it’s a variety of paella tourists like but it’s not so common in the Spanish households.
Being born in Valencia and grown in a society where paella is the most traditional dish you have had since being a kid, I would honestly say that it’s not the best option mixing meat with fish. The taste is not so clearly defined and you can appreciate neither a good taste of meat nor a good one of fish.
Nevertheless, since it’s popular in the summer resort areas on the Spanish Mediterranean cost, we have included in this review for your reference. And, maybe, you like it a lot!!
Preparation:
Cooking time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Ingredients for 8 people:
600 grams of short or round grain rice
1 medium chicken
250 grams of tiger prawns
1 kg of mussels
2 medium cuttlefish
2 medium ripe tomatoes
400 grams of wide green bean
1 tablespoon of sweet paprika
1 teaspoon of saffron threads or saffron colorant
1 cup of olive oil (aprox 3 dl)
Fish Broth
Salt
Directions:
Clean the mussels and cook in a pan with a cup of water until they open. Keep aside.
Peel the prawns and cook the skins and heads in 2 cups of water during 10 minutes. Strain the broth and keep aside.
Warm the oil in the paella pan and fry the chicken cut into small pieces. When brown, keep adding the cuttlefish (also cut in small pieces), the green beans, the grated tomatoes and, finally, the prawns. Keep frying at light fire until the tomato is getting brownish.
Add the rice and slightly fry together with all the rest for 1-2 minutes. Then add the sweet paprika and then add the water from the mussels and from the prawns we had aside.
We have to measure the volume of water. It has to be 3 1/2 times that of the rice. If we don’t have enough water, we should complement with broth.
Cook with strong fire for around 10 minutes and then keep reducing it to monitor the water evaporation. All the rice cooking process has to finish in 18-20 minutes. After this, switch off the fire and keep for some minutes to “rest” before serving.
Hint:
As decoration, you can save some mussels and some prawns aside and, add on top to the rice just minutes before the cooking is over. This will give a colourful touch to the final result.
Paella de verdures (Vegetarian Paella)
Description:
This is a variation of the authentic Valencian paella in which meat is replaced with additional vegetables.
This is especially interesting for spring and summer seasons when more fresh vegetables are available in the market, so we can cook a full vegetarian dish very similar to the original paella and also with a very good taste.
Preparation:
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ingredients for 8 people:
600 grams of short or round grain rice
3 cloves of garlic
100 grams of chopped onion
8 artichokes (cleaned and cut in thin slices)
150 grams of peas
300 grams of cauliflower (cut in small pieces)
250 grams of broad green beans (cut in small pieces)
150 grams of mushroom (cleaned and sliced)
Saffron threads
Water
2 ripe tomatoes
1 tablespoon of sweet paprika
1 teaspoon of saffron threads or saffron colorant
Salt
Directions:
Put the oil in the paella pan, add the garlic and the chopped onion and light fry for some minutes. Be careful the onion does not get burned.