My first encounter with paella was few years ago during our visit to Barcelona. Barcelona by itself was impressive with its beautiful architecture and lively streets. Not to forget “FC Barcelona” and Lionel Messi that unfortunately I only had pleasure to watch only on the hotel’s TV. There was a special TV channel dedicated just to “FC Barcelona” and was playing 24 hours showing games and the best goals. I treasured those moments watching it until deep in the night while my family was sleeping.
As we arrived in the early morning in mid July, we were very tired. After settling in at the hotel, we had couple of hours to rest and recouped our energy. It was near noon time as we stepped out. Summer heat had already emptied the streets. Everything was fairly quiet and it felt like time slowed down. We saw few runners who were undistracted by intense heat. As for us, we absolutely loved the heat. Coming from Canada after a long, cold winter and cool spring, this felt as God’s given gift. With our sunglasses on, walking the streets of this historic city all day long, in a blazing sun was nothing short of ultimate pleasure. We could not have enough of it!
As we were passing by many restaurants we noticed number of displays advertising various kinds of paella. Needless to say that as lunch time came by we in fact had a paella, together with unavoidable refreshing Spanish sangria. It was a sea food paella and we enjoyed it a lot. Sorts of reminded me of Jambalaya but not as spicy, and the rice was dryer, with more sweetness to it.
After the lunch, we also visited a famous chocolate place and enjoyed our coffee with some of their fine desserts.
Overall an amazing experience and looking forward visiting again at some point in the future.
Since that trip, I took a keen interest and made several attempts to replicate paella at my home kitchen. I tried to cook it on the stove, on my charcoal barbecue and in the oven. It did take some learning and it got better with each try. There were several crucial components and techniques that needed to be conquered. For me it started with finding proper Spanish rice. Although it sounds simple, believe me it was not. There are lots of marketing gimmicks out there, but not what you need. Eventually I landed my hands on Spanish Bomba paella rice. Before that I tried with Italian arborio rice but that just did not work out well. I would regularly burn the bottom layer as I tried to create a socarrat, paella’s trademark feature. The socarrat is the crusty crispy caramelized paella bottom. That is what what gives paella the depth of flavor. This is the key feature and is what distinguishes truly delicioso from the average paella. It does take some practice but it is without doubt doable and at the end hugely rewarding.
Another indispensable ingredient is a chicken broth. I normally make it well ahead of time and keep a supply in the freezer. That way it is available in an instant whenever I need it.
The rest of ingredients can be as simple or as complex as is your ambition and inspiration.
This time I made Monastic Paella with Chorizo and Olives. It is relatively simple to make and very tasty. If you like smoked and cured meat, this is paella for you!
The recipe has been adapted from “10,000 Spanish Recipes” book, by Penelope Casas. The recipe originates from the Clarisa nuns of the Santa Clara Convent in Brieviesca, in the Castilian Province of Burgos, in northern Spain.
| Prep Time | 30 min |
| Cook Time | 40 min |
| Passive Time | 10 min |
| Servings |
servings
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- 1/8 cup green olives pitted and coarsely chopped
- 1/8 cup black olives pitted and coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup white wine dry
- 3 cup chicken broth
- 1/8 tsp saffron threads crumbled
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 120 g Spanish Chorizo sausage skinned and cut into about 10 mm (~1/2") slices
- 1/2 Spanish red onion medium size, finely chopped
- 1 Red bell pepper medium size, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 60 g Spanish Serrano ham cut into 5 mm (1/4") cubes
- 1/8 cup flat-leaf parsley finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cup Spanish short grain rice Bomba or Calasparra rice
- sea salt to taste
- 12-16 snow pea pods
Ingredients
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- Combine the olives and wine in a small sauce pan. Over high heat, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low (2 out of 10) and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain the olives and set aside.
- In a medium size sauce pan over low heat (2 out of 10) heat up chicken broth. Crumble in saffron threads.
- Preheat the oven to 205ºC (400ºF).
- Heat olive oil in a large oven proofed pan over medium heat (5 out of 10). Add chorizo and toast it for 3-5 minutes stirring frequently.
- Add onion, pepper, ham and cook until peppers slightly soften about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add garlic and parsley and cook for another minute.
- Stir in olives and rice, making sure the rice is fully coated. Cook for about 3-5 minutes stirring occasionally. By now rice should be toasted, absorbed all the moisture, and start sticking to the bottom.
- Pour in the chicken broth and stir gently one last time. Let it cook about 7-10 minutes or until rice starts to be visible on the surface, DO NOT STIR!
- Scatter the snow peas on top and place the paella in the oven, cook for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and over high heat, cook on the stove for 2-3 minutes. Watch it carefully not to burn! Using a spoon, lift the rice carefully and check the bottom.
- Take off the heat and cover with aluminum foil. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Serve hot with cut lemon wedges on the side.
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