Recipe Paella

[indianwells]

[Mod.Edit: this post has been copied here from another thread to form a recipe thread]

Paella. Must admit it is one of my top 5 dishes.

I fried off some onion and chorizo, then added half a litre of chicken stock. A handful of paella rice (or you can use risotto rice) and a sachet of paella seasoning I got in Spain. Just before the rice was cooked I threw in prawns, mussels and a handful of frozen peas to warm through for a couple of minutes.

I have just realised as I write this I completely forgot to add some chopped parsley which I usually do. I also add a pinch of cayenne or chilli flakes just because I like a little kick! Note, Schwartz do a more than acceptable paella spice mix in any supermarket, all the Spaniards I have talked to use spice mix, very few apparently mix their own.

 

[Morning Glory]

a sachet of paella seasoning I got in Spain.

I also love paella and yours looks lovely. I have to ask what is in the paella seasoning. I've never used that as I make it with saffron and home-made seafood stock. I did once buy a paella pan which came with a paella seasoning mix. There was no saffron in the mix and I still have it, unused!

Do you know about the crispy crust at the bottom - the socarrat?

 

[CraigC]

Where is the recipe, including ingredients and directions?

 

[Morning Glory]

Where is the recipe, including ingredients and directions?

CraigC, it was me who moved this post to a Recipe thread (guilty as charged!) - I copied the post from the 'What did you cook today' thread, as several people had asked for the recipe and indianwells had added to his original post to explain how he made it. I realise its not a detailed recipe but felt it was useful to post it as it would then be 'searchable'.

 

[indianwells]

I also love paella and yours looks lovely. I have to ask what is in the paella seasoning. I've never used that as I make it with saffron and home-made seafood stock. I did once buy a paella pan which came with a paella seasoning mix. There was no saffron in the mix and I still have it, unused!

Do you know about the crispy crust at the bottom - the socarrat?

Well I chucked the sachet away and it was the last one I had, I assume there was saffron in it but of course it could have been turmeric for the colour. I am really careful with saffron anyway as the first time I used it I put too much in and it affected the flavour and not in a good way. I use chicken stock in a seafood paella for balance as I find the whole thing too "fishy" if I use fish stock but that's just my individual taste. Apologies for the lack of directions and quantities but as I have mentioned previously I tend to wing it and rely on my instinct. At my age and the time I have been cooking I pretty much know what is going to taste good although I have had my disasters (haven't we all!?)

I too bought a paella pan but I just do it in a wok now. Soccarat is the best bit but I burnt it too many times so now I only get it in Spain when I go to a restaurant. They always say it will be a minimum of 40 minutes to cook it but that's fine as we know it will be properly done, most often over wood fired coals.

 

[medtran49]

Try making a stock from shrimp shells and supplementing with chicken. The shrimp give it a little bump of seafood flavor, but not fishy.

We have a paella pan, but I only use it for serving if I want to get "fancy." The paella pan is too thin to cook on an electric stove and the rice burns. We usually cook it in our cast iron over enamel braiser, which is the same shape, size as the paella pan, just a lot heavier.