How to Make Paella

I LOVE PAELLA! It looks impressive and tastes terrific.  It can be made in individual size pans or in an impressive gigantic pan that serves many.  It's a great rice dish that's perfect as a family meal.  It's also an exciting dish that gets Ooos and Ahhhs at a party.  A versatile dish that anyone can make.  Yes, you can!!

You can put anything in a paella and it will come out great.  Just don't forget the all important key ingredients:  a pinch of saffron and Sofrito, which is a Spanish tomato and onion sauce that's cooked with the rice.  But to be honest, I cheat.  I don't make sofrito.  I substitute with canned diced tomatoes.  I don't even dice fresh tomatoes.  Shhhhh.......

I made a seafood paella last Saturday and it came out surprisingly good.  The flavors were well infused; the rice was nicely cooked, and I even got the Socorrat - the highly prized toasted rice bottom of a paella.  Wow! How that happened??

So to share my experience:

FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU WANT TO PUT IN THE PAELLA.  Plan ahead.  Anything goes.  Create your own combo.  I like seafood paella because of the WOW factor.  I like the colors and the busy-ness of all the ingredients: shrimps, squids/baby octopus, clams, mussels, sausage, chicken meat, red and green bell peppers, peas, parsley and wedges of lemons... It is a very festive dish that keep your eyes busy.

PREPARE EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU EVEN PUT THE PAN ON THE STOVE.  This is important.  There are lots of chopping and dicing and the ingredients take different time to cook.  Best to prepare everything upfront and put them in the order in which you cook them.  This includes scrubbing and cleaning the shellfish and boiling a pot of water to blanch them.  I would do this part first.

THE SECRET IS IN THE POT.  You can keep the water that you use to blanch the shellfish or start a new pot of broth if the shellfish makes the broth too pungent.  I don't mind the clams, but sometime the mussels ruin the broth for me.  So, make sure you have a can of chicken broth handy if you don't want to use the blanching water.  Add a pinch of saffron to the broth and season with salt and pepper.  Keep the broth warm.  You will use it to cook the rice.

THE PAELLA ESSENTIAL.  Saute all the ingredients separately - I saute them with garlic - and season as you go.  Next, saute the chopped red onion and the green and red bell peppers, then add the diced tomato and juice (or the sofrito). Add salt and pepper.  Let it cook for a while before adding the uncooked rice.  Stir and add broth.  Cover, let it simmer.  Add more broth as needed.  You don't want uncooked burnt rice.  When the rice is done, start putting the ingredients on top.  Cover the pan and turn down the heat.  Add frozen peas last.  Then, garnish with parsley and lemon wedges before serving.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.  I don't think my paella is perfect but I'm getting more comfortable making it.  I hope to ditch my cooking note one of these days when I make this dish.  The trick is to be organized and don't stress out. Cooking is just as enjoyable as eating.  Have a glass of wine while you cook.

Bon Appetit!  Or, should I say, ¡buen provecho!