Paella

Paella is a traditional Spanish rice and seafood dish with chicken and chorizo sausage and a wonderful dish to make for a dinner party. There are several steps to put it all together, but quite a few of them can be made ahead and cooked together at the last minute.  I have a very large paella pan and made this dish for about 14 of us, but the regular size paella pan is 15 inches and serves 6.  Since my paella pan was so large, I made it on my gas barbeque and used almond wood chips to impart a smoky flavor to mimic the traditional open fire the Spaniards usually use.  You can make the entire dish in the oven and on the stove top.  Try to use Valencia rice which is a short starchy rice and is the traditional rice in this dish, or you can use Arborio.  Soccarat is the prized crusty browned rice at the bottom of the pan which most Spaniards would agree is the best part of paella.  I wasn’t so worried about getting a great soccarat as I was making sure the rice and seafood was perfectly cooked!  Serve some sangria, a great salad and some bread and you have a wonderful dinner party.  Click here for the recipe….