This recipe is adapted from Time-Life's „Die Küche in Spanien und Portugal“, published in
1970, a translation of an unnamed English version which was presumably called “The
cooking of Spain and Portugal”. From experience, the translations occasionally
changed the recipes for local use, so this may not be quite the same as the English edition.
Ingredients
For at 6 to 8 people. The quantities are intended for a paellera 40 cm in diameter and 5 to
6 cm high.
quantity
ingredient
step
250 g
chorizos or other hard smoked garlic pork sausage
1
4 (about 500 g)
chicken drumsticks
2
salt
2
freshly ground black pepper
2
olive oil
2
200 g
red or green capsicum
4
olive oil
5
150 g
lean pork without bone, diced into ½ cm cubes
5
75 g
finely chopped onion
5
10 g
garlic, finely chopped
5
200 g
tomato, finely chopped
5
500 g
uncooked rice (preferably Bomba, otherwise round grain or Arborio)
6
1½ l
fumet or boiling water
6
25 g
salt
6
2 g
saffron, powder or strands
6
250 g
shelled peas, fresh or frozen
8
8 (about 400 g)
big raw prawns
10
250 g
raw squid rings
10
12
mussels in their shell
10
other seafood as desired
10
2
lemons, cut lengthwise into six pieces
12
Paella can be varied in its ingredients, you can for example add a lobster or leave the
mussels out, or use rabbit instead of chicken. Diced ham or veal or beef can replace the
chorizo and/or the pork. Green beans or artichoke hearts can replace the peas. The amount
of saffron is the lower limit, a trade-off between price and taste; you can easily use
double the quantity, but prices for saffron range between $5 and $100 per gram. But you
need much more than most recipes claim (a “pinch” is only about 0.14 g, and it's not nearly
enough).
Ideally the seafood should be uncooked, but if it's not available, you can used cooked
seafood. In this case don't cook it with the paella: warm it gently so that it doesn't get
tough, and put it on the paella just before serving.
Preparation
Start at least 90 minutes before serving. The first 5 steps can be done in advance.
Pierce the chorizos a couple of times with a knife or fork, put into a saucepan with
cold water, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from water and cut
into ½ cm thick slices.
Season the drumsticks with 15 g salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil (or normal
vegetable oil, if you prefer) in a heavy pan until light smoke appears (about 210°).
Fry the drumsticks golden, then bake in an oven at 170° for 20 minutes:
Seed the capsicum and slice into pieces about 1×½ cm.
Prepare the sofrito: pour all the remaining fat from the pan and add more olive
oil. Add the diced pork and brown over high heat. Add onion, garlic, tomato and
capsicum. Cook, stirring constantly until the liquid has disappeared and the mixture is
thick. Reserve.
One hour before serving, pre-heat the oven to 200°C or turn on the barbecue. I've found
a gas pizza oven also works well as long as you don't put the pan directly above the
flame.
In the paellera mix the sofrito with the rice, the salt and the saffron.
The traditional recipes now say “put into the oven, uncovered, or on the barbecue”. I
have had difficulties with that, probably related to the rice (see Notes) so I cover it with aluminium foil. Bake for about 20
minutes.
Add raw mussels, prawns and squid, cover again and cook for another 10 minutes.
Garnish with the lemon wedges and serve in its pan.
Minimal approach
Jane Ashhurst asked how to make a simpler and smaller version, about a quarter of the size.
I've never done this, but this is how I'd try:
Clearly the pan needs to be smaller, about 18 cm in diameter.
Omit the chicken thighs. Yvonne does this anyway (she
doesn't eat them), and they're not essential.
I personally would not want to omit the chorizo, but they're not essential either.
Don't omit the saffron.
Without chorizo and drumsticks, the pan will look a little empty. Make up with more
seafood.
Be sure to use short grain rice. It should be Bomba, but Arborio will do.
With that preparation, we could start with:
quantity
ingredient
step
50 g
red or green capsicum
4
olive oil
5
75 g
lean pork without bone, diced into ½ cm cubes
5
20 g
finely chopped onion
5
5 g
garlic, finely chopped
5
50 g
tomato, finely chopped
5
125 g
uncooked rice (preferably round grain or Arborio)
6
375 ml
boiling water
6
6 g
salt
6
0.5 g
saffron, powder or strands
6
60 g
shelled peas, fresh or frozen
8
4 (about 50 g)
big raw prawns
10
60 g
raw squid rings
10
other seafood as desired
10
1
lemons, cut lengthwise into six pieces
12
Adapt the instructions above to the new ingredients.
Notes
This is a complicated dish, of course, and I don't make it very often. The comments below
have accumulated over the years relate to 7 April 2022, the first time after a pause of 3½ years.
What kind of rice? Bomba! But that's almost unobtainable in Australia, and when it is, it costs up to $10 per kg. So
I use Arborio instead. How
does it compare? I have only used Bomba once, and it came out softer. My guess is that
Arborio doesn't absorb water as well, and that's the reason why I cover it while cooking.
Some of the quantities seemed wrong. In particular, 250 g of chorizo? I once had 400 g, but I think
that between 200 and 250 is better. But here's 360 g:
Which seafood for the final garnish? A matter of taste and what's available. Almost
anything will do. See the photos for some ideas.
Sous-vide approach
One of the difficulties in cooking paella is to get everything cooked to the correct extent.
I've found that preparing some of the
components sous-vide helps. Cook the
prawns and squid for 15 minutes at 52°, and the chicken thighs for 3 hours at 65° (warning:
I haven't actually tried the chicken like this).
