Anyone have a really good recipe or any tips for making Paella? I have never made it but I got a good deal on some Saffron at this Indian grocery store and I was thinking of making Paella this weekend.

A cousin of Jonathan's, who grew up in Spain and is an excellent cook has served his paella to us on a number of occasions. He told me that it is important to cook the shrimp, clams and mussels separately and assemble the paella just before serving, so that the seafood doesn't get overcooked.

If anyone ever wants to borrow the mother of all paella pans let me know. I have a cast iron mo-fo that's damn near 3 feet across. It has yet to be used.

Most of the paella recipes you'll find on the internet are hopelessly inauthentic (if my paella mentor is to be believed, but he was from Barcelona, not Valencia) and call for too many pots, or parboiling the rice separately (!) or other crutches like covering the dish or finishing in the oven. This one is actually pretty reasonable, and describes the correct procedure for adding the uncooked prawns and shellfish after the rice has been added and is well on its way to finishing. This Taunton article also provides good advice. Apart from the sofrito, rice and saffron, the choice of meats is meant to be ad-libbed. This is a hodgepodge dish, with most of the work meant to happen in the uncovered paella pan.

Tips: use a proper metal paella pan (available from A&H Seafood in Bethesda). You'll never get the right rice texture out of stoneware. Try to conserve as much liquor out of the shellfish as possible for use as the "stock", especially shrimp stock if you're cleaning some to include with the meats. The critical step is the uniform cooking of the not-too-thick layer of rice, so it really is best to cook over a broad bed of coals with a lot of surface area...the best is a shallow campfire, but one of those cheap square patio charcoal grills works well in the suburbs. Level the pan as much as possible, and let the pattern of bubbling across the pan be your guide. I was taught to vigorously pitch the rice into the pan sauce and meats to help get everything coated, but you should still jiggle the pan afterwards to even out the rice layer. Once initially distributed, do NOT disturb the rice...it's meant to set in place and to begin to form a bottom crust. Use Spanish rice, not Italian...it's meant to finish a little dry and a little toothy, not creamy like risotto.

On the other hand, if you blow off any of the rules, the result will still come out pretty tasty. I've improvised them using Trader Joe's frozen seafood medley, breakfast links and Uncle Ben's cooked over a butane cartridge stove and it didn't totally suck. Good luck!

That article is the first I used with very happy results. Also w little haricots verts (French fillets at Spring Valley Farm), frozen artichoke hearts from Trader Joe's, red bell peppers, chicken thighs, Arborio rice and Spanish chorizo. Don't own a true paella, but didn't chop up a rabbit to cook outdoors, either.

Al Dente: ever seen the Giant Paella that Jaleo makes? Yours sounds like the runt of the formidable litter that theirs came in.

A pilgramage to the absolute source:

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/t...-europe/?page=4

Photos:

http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows...es-of-europe/11

A recipe (but not the one I use):

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/paella-valenciana

This is the one that I have made for 35 + years which is called "Playboy Paella" and first appeared in 1971 in "Playboy's International Gourmet." It became something of a standard, the most popular recipe in this, Playboy's first cookbook. Over the years I have made Paella many, many different ways. This non traditional shellfish and game paella is still the best. When preparing it make certain that you cook it enough to create a "crust" on the bottom of the pan.
There is NO restaurant in the D. C.area that makes a paella that even begins to approach this, not Taberna nor anyone else. I would also suggest that when correctly made this is better than most of the paellas you will find outside of Valencia such as the icon noted above. This is also very expensive to make; the ingredients noted will run more than $100, perhaps much more. Still, this is a great dish, worth the effort and the investment.

1½ pounds Center cut pork loin
2 Chicken breasts; 4 halves, boneless and skinless
½ pounds Chorizo sausage; 1/4" slices
1 pounds Sliced leg of veal pound thin as scalloppini
1/4 lb chicken livers
Olive oil
3 large Garlic cloves; minced
1 large Spanish onion; minced
¼-1/2 teaspoon Saffron powder
½ teaspoon Oregano
2 cup Bomba rice
5 cups chicken stock
2 Sweet red peppers or canned pimentoes, coarsely chopped
2 Sweet green peppers, coarsely chopped
1 pounds Raw fresh shrimp; shelled & devein
½ pounds Fresh mushrooms; sliced thin
½ pounds fresh Bay scallops
1 pounds Fresh peas
Or
10 ounce Package frozen peas
Salt and ground pepp

Trim bone and fat from pork; cut into 1 inch squares, 1/4 inch thick. Cut the chicken crosswise into 1" chunks. Cut veal into 1" squares. Cut chicken liver pairs in half. Cut the peppers into 1/2" squares, discarding stems, seeds and membranes. Shell fresh peas. Heat paella pan; add 1/2 cup oil; add pork and saute until it is a deep brown; remove from pan. Add chicken, chorizo, veal, chicken livers and saute until light brown; remove from pan. Wash and dry pan. Heat pan; add 1/2 cup oil over low heat; add garlic, onion, saffron, oregano and rice. Stir well. Saute, stirring constantly, 5 minutes. Add chicken stock, pork, chicken, chorizo, veal, chiciken livers, peppers, shrimp, mushrooms, and scallops. Bring to a boil. If chicken stock is unseasoned, add 1 to 2 tsp salt. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes. Add peas and simmer 15 to 20 longer stirring gently, but as only as needed to keep ingredients from sticking to the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper

That sounds like some seriously boiled meat, seafood, and veggies.

I have fond memories of making this Tyler Florence recipe (from food 911) in Mr. MV's apartment in the Fan in Richmond when we were dating (awww). It was easy and really, really good.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/re..._22894_,00.html

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I used a hybrid of the Iberia, Taunton and Tyler Florence methods. After having made it I really think this is the best way to do it, half winging it and half bits and pieces of other recipes. Because of the differences in the pan, heating method, rice variety and choice of add-ins I think you need to have a certain amount of flexibility.

I used the Arborio rice since I already had it in the cabinet. It worked just fine and not having a true paella pan I had to use my biggest Caphalon skillet. I have some aluminun pans which would have made a nicer crust probably but they are all too small for the amount of paella I wanted to make. For add ins I used chorizo, squid, chicken legs, clams, shrimp and a few reallllly good sea scallops. I cooked the chorizo and sea scallops separately and added them, and all the other sea food elements, with about 10 minutes of cooking left over. The chicken legs were browned and left in from the start. Oh I also topped it with a bunch of thawed green peas with about 5 minutes left. This really turned out better than any of my expectations. I was really proud of myself. I didn't think a crust was forming so when I put in the green peas I turned my burner all the way up for the last five minutes just to kind of artificially toast the bottom. That actually worked pretty well.

I will say that I find this to be a pretty difficult/labor intensive dish. I think risotto is a lot easier because you can gauge the liquid levels, eye it and make adjustments during the process. With the Paella you pretty much have to guess the correct amount of liquid pretty early if you want a crust to form on the bottom. I feel like I didn't use enough liquid at the start and my late addition of extra liquid is what kept the bottom from crusting up and created the need for the high heat blast the last 5 minutes. But if you overestimate and put too much liquid in at the beginning, the rice will soak up too much water by the time the bottom starts to crust. Seems like this could be pretty tricky and a good reason to use the same type and brand of rice every time.