The Perfect Paella

Re-creating the Spanish Staple at Home


By Roy Creekmore
Photography by Paul Skrentny
    Paella. Just saying the word brings visions of Spain and wonderful food. No other dish so typifies a culture and a people. Paella is Spain.
    I have eaten the traditional rice dish in several regions of Spain, but my most memorable experience with paella was in France. My wife and I arrived in the Provence village of Céret on a beautiful Saturday in May 2006 to see the town transformed into a giant market. It appeared that the whole population was out in the fresh air, shopping, eating and having a great time.
    As I wandered through the hundreds of stalls and booths, I noticed one in particular. It was on a raised platform where a French cook was making paella. He was using two giant paella pans, approximately 4 feet in diameter, which sat side by side over an open fire. In one pan he was making a seafood and poultry paella while the other dish was completely vegetarian. The artistry of his cooking combined with the aroma wafting from his stall left an indelible impression—I watched him serve customer after customer, who patiently waited for him to fill their containers with paella.
    Finally, I got in line and tried the seafood paella. It was unbelievably good, containing the flavors of the sea, the smokiness of the open fire and the comfort of rice, herbs and chicken. When I asked him about his recipe, he laughed and said it was different each week because the available ingredients changed. The attached recipe is as close as I could come to the delicious version he fixed that day.
    Paella is highly successful with improvisation; so don’t be afraid to experiment with your components, especially if shrimp, mussels or clams aren’t up to your standards when you’re shopping for ingredients.
    Before getting started, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
    In a medium saucepan, heat the chicken broth to boiling, then turn down the heat but keep the broth hot. Add the saffron, paprika, bay leaf, lemon zest and salt to the broth and stir the mixture, dissolving all the ingredients.
    In a paella pan or large skillet, heat the olive oil and cook the chicken, turning the breasts frequently. When the chicken is golden on all sides, move it to a platter and set the dish aside, keeping the chicken warm.
    Add the fish to the pan and cook the fish on all sides until it turns white. (This process should take a few minutes.) Remove the fish and place the pieces on the platter with the chicken, making sure both stay warm.
    Put the chorizo in the pan and cook it for 2-3 minutes until the meat releases its color. Add the onions and garlic and stir the mixture often until the onions soften, or about 7-8 minutes. Pour the rice into the pan and stir the rice mixture until it’s completely coated with oil. Then deglaze the pan with the white wine, scrapping up any brown pieces stuck to the bottom. Pour in the seasoned chicken broth and simmer the rice for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes, peppers and green beans to the pan and stir them into the rice.
    Place the fish and chicken pieces back into the pan, distributing them evenly. Arrange the shrimp, mussels and clams throughout the paella in a decorative manner, nestling the clams and mussels into the rice so they are standing up and can open. Scatter the peas over the top of the dish and place the paella, uncovered, into the preheated oven.
    Cook for 15 minutes. Remove the paella, sprinkle the parsley and reserved lemon juice over the paella and cover the dish with foil.
    Allow the dish to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

PAELLA

3 cups chicken broth
¼ teaspoon saffron
3 teaspoons smoked sweet paprika
1 bay leaf
1 lemon, zest and juice separated
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 boneless chicken breast halves, each cut into 3 pieces
1 pound fresh codfish (or another firm white fish) cut into 2-inch pieces
¼ pound of chorizo, sliced into ½-inch slices
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups Arborio (or another short grain) rice
½ cup white wine
2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 roasted red bell peppers, seeded and chopped (canned are fine)
12 green beans, stemmed and cut into thirds
12 medium shrimp, shelled
12 mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded
18 whole small clams, scrubbed
½ cup frozen peas
1 tablespoon chopped parsley