CELEBRATE WORLD PAELLA DAY!

 

Rustic, València-style paella.

Get out the paella pan! Heat the olive oil and make a sofrito. Stir in the rice. Will you add chicken or shrimp? Some beans or artichokes? For World Paella Day (September 20), the choice is yours. While the celebration started in València, the home of paella, it has turned into a world-wide affair.

Here are some paella recipes to get you started (click on the titles to link to recipes).

Start by frying the meat and vegetables to build flavor.

Rustic València Paella (pictured above). Here are ingredients and instructions for a fairly authentic Valencian style paella (minus the traditional snails). I tell you what kind of rice to use (no, don't wash it first!) and how to cook it, starting with the all-important sofrito (pictured at left), the frying of meat and vegetables.  

Paella with chicken and seafood.

Paella with Chicken and Seafood. (Paella con Pollo y Mariscos). If you want a showy paella chock full of chicken, shrimp and mussels, here's a classic recipe. This was prepared by guests at a private cooking class in my kitchen.  In Spain, home cooks often use powdered artificial yellow coloring to attain rice with that bright, sunny yellow color.  Real saffron gives inimitable aroma and flavor to the rice, but its yellow coloring is subtle. 

It's all about the rice! Paella with intense flavor.

Rice with Shrimp in Paella (Arroz con Gambas). This version is for purists, those who say, "it's all about the rice." It's not really paella, but simply intensely-flavored rice, without the showy garnishes and with virtually no protein! The instructions tell you how to build flavor with a seafood stock, a slow-cooked sofrito, and, finally, the cooking of the rice and creation of the socarrat, the crispy bottom. This version is finished in the oven, a process that gives the rice that every-grain-separate effect.

Outdoor paella for family and friends.

Family-Style Paella. In Andalusia, where I live, this is an authentic paella—although with clams and shrimp, and no beans, it's not like Valencian paella. This is paella of the domingueros, the Sunday gathering of family and friends at a choza, a rustic country farmhouse. Depending on the season, the paella might include fava beans, peas, artichokes, tomatoes or peppers picked from the huerta, kitchen garden.

Paella rice with cockles, peas.

Rice with Clams (Arroz con Almejas). Some paellas are truly baroque extravaganzas, with a sumptuous assortment of everything from sea, land and sky. Others, such as this dish of rice with clams (cockles), show an almost Zen-like simplicity.  “Un arroz”—“a rice”—is the name for such a rice dish.  'Un arroz' is a rice dish cooked by Mamá in the kitchen, whereas, 'una paella' is a grand event, cooked outdoors by guys. 

Paella recipe in FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS

Vegetable Paella with Picada Topping (Arroz de Verduras). This recipe appears in my latest cookbook, FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain, which features recipes with roots in Moorish Spain. The Arabs introduced the cultivation of rice in Spain, but did they invent paella? Perhaps. We know that rice dishes of that era, before modern milling, were more like porridge, sweet or savory, made with pounded grains. Some were made with whole grains combined with meat and vegetables--not unlike paella today. The sofrito for this paella does not contain tomatoes, a vegetable from the New World, unknown in Moorish times. 

I make this all-vegetable paella when I have guests of several persuasions and serve it with a selection of dishes on the side—sautéed shrimp, clams, fried chicken nuggets, squid rings, garlicky chickpeas—as well as alioli garlic mayonnaise. Each person can garnish the paella to suit herself. It may not be authentic, but it makes a festive party dish.

Vegetarian paella with brown rice.

Vegetarian Brown Rice Paella (Paella Vegetariana con Arroz Integral). Authentic paella  is not loaded with protein ingredients—they're present to flavor the rice. This version is without meat, poultry, or seafood. 

I use whole grain brown rice (medium-short grain "round" rice) to boost the protein. I make a vegetarian stock with kelp. Full of flavor, this paella is perfect for a meatless Sunday lunch. Lunch, because the Valencianos, inventors of paella, say you never, ever, eat paella at night! But, that’s your call.

No bones: paella parellada

Boneless Paella (Paella Parellada). The recipe for paella Parellada was supposedly invented in Barcelona in the 19th century for a finicky diner (his surname was Parellada) who didn’t want to mess with fish spines, shrimp shells and chicken bones. It’s a paella mixta, mixed paella, because it includes meat (chicken and sausage), fish (monkfish) and shellfish (shrimp, cuttlefish and mussels). You can use all of these ingredients or pick and choose among them, according to availability, tastes and prep time. 

Dare to add sausage to paella! But, chard?

Paella, My Way (Paella a Mi Estilo). Supposedly, for World Paella Day,  Valencianos grant you an indulgence for adding extraneous ingredients, even sausage, to paella. Mine includes chorizo and red chard along with more typical rabbit.

Seafood Paella with Alioli Garlic Mayonnaise (Arroz al Marinero). What I make when my pescatarian friends are coming for dinner: paella with chunks of monkfish, cuttlefish, and shrimp. I serve it with a garlicky mayonnaise embellished with seaweed. 

An impostor! No rice in this paella.

Low-Carb Paella with Cauliflower "Rice." 

Packed with flavor, this rendition of paella has chicken, chorizo, squid, shrimp, mussels, and artichokes. But no rice. Kernels of cauliflower, flavored with saffron, take the place of rice. It may be an impostor as paella, which, after all, is a rice dish, but it's perhaps the world's best cauliflower!

😉

Black rice.

Black Rice with Squid and Shellfish (Arroz Negro con Mariscos). Unlike the classic Valencian paella, tinged with saffron, this version from Alicante is black with squid ink! Also heretical, as I've included chorizo. So, it's not really paella, it's arroz negro. But I've made it in a paella pan, with Valencian rice, so it's a grand way to celebrate World Paella Day.

Not paella! Baked rice with a crust on top.

Rice with Sausages (Arroz con Costra). This is not paella! Valencia paella has big butter beans, flat green beans, chicken and/or rabbit and/or duck, and snails. Snails! No sausage. But, Valencia has hundreds of other rice dishes. Some of those do contain sausage! Just don’t call them paella!

This one comes from Alicante, where rice is also grown. It’s called arroz con costra, rice with a “crust,” because it’s finished in the oven with a topping of beaten eggs. It can contain two or more types of sausage. 

About Spanish rice. Spanish rice, the kind used for paella, is a round-grained, medium-short variety. Senia, Bahía and Bomba are some of the varietals. (Some have denominación de origen, such as Valencia and Calasparra.) Spanish rice has a white perla (pearl), where the starch is concentrated. Its great virtue is as a flavor conductor, soaking up the savory juices with which the rice cooks—olive oil sofrito, chicken, rabbit or seafood,  saffron. Spanish rice is similar to Italian varieties used for risotto. But the cooking method is totally different. Risotto is stirred to develop the creamy starch. Paella rice, cooked “dry,” is never stirred, as stirring breaks up the starch kernel. 

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Twelve finalists from four continents will compete for the PAELLA WORLD CUP. The event takes place in València starting at 10 am CET (European Daylight Savings), tomorrow, Sunday, September 20. Live streaming at WORLD PAELLA DAY .

Quite a few rice dishes can trace their roots to Moorish Spain. Besides the Vegetable Paella mentioned above, this cookbook, FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, has two other traditional rice dishes--Country-Style Rice in Cazuela and Baked Rice with Lamb and Egg Topping--as well as a dessert, Creamy Rice Pudding. See below for where to order the book.
 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times.  (Hippocrene Books)    

 Order on IndiePubs (USA) 

Use PROMO CODE HIPPOCRENE40 for 40% off on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.

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Order on amazon (USA)

Order on amazon.es  (Spain)

Order on amazon.co.uk (UK)

Order on amazon.com.au (Australia)

(If you order on Amazon, please give my book a review!)

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Order from Kitchen Arts & Letters

Order on ark.no (Norway)

HAPPY WORLD PAELLA DAY!

For World Paella Day, my non-traditional paella.

Go on, put some sausage in your paella today. Eat it for supper instead of at midday. Scatter peas on top or add mussels, if you like. València gives you permission to break all the rules. But, just for one day, mind you. 

True València paella has no sausage, no chorizo, no seafood. It’s rice (medium-short grain) cooked with chicken/rabbit/duck plus snails (!), flat green beans and plump butter beans. And it’s only ever consumed in the afternoon, never at night.

But on the web page for World Paella Day, Valencianos declare that, on this day, “we put aside our differences and celebrate the internationality of paella,” a dish of humble Valencian origin that, judging by 8 million web searches on paella per year, makes it the fourth most important dish on the planet. One young man goes so far as to say that, just for today, his mom’s paella is not the best paella in the world.

Chef Jeff Weiss stirs up a traditional paella at Valencian Gold Restaurant. in Las Vegas. Read more about Jeff Weiss here. (Photo by Valencian Gold.)

I couldn’t find snails or duck, anyway. So I was ready for some radical paella moves. I turned for inspiration to a friend, Jeffrey Weiss (chef and author of CHARCUTERÍA--THE SOUL OF SPAIN). Jeff and his partner-in-paella, Paras Shah, recently opened a fast-casual restaurant in Las Vegas, USA, called Valencian Gold, featuring “build your own paella bowl.” Choose chicken, seafood, mushroom-chickpea or mixed grains paella. Add greens, i.e., spinach or rucola! Then choose grilled chicken, lamb, steak or shrimp or, vegan, ratatouille or herb-bean to go with the paella base. Add sauce/dip and salads.

“It’s funny about paella here in the US,” says Jeff. “Folks have varying ideas of what it's ‘supposed’ to be. Whereas, if you ask a Valenciano, paella valenciana is and forever will be rabbit, snails, and a few kinds of beans... and all else is arroz con cosas.

“I’m in the camp that Paella Valenciana has specific ingredients and should be respected for the tradition it comes from. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no room for creativity or paella libre. So for me, as long as the technique of paella cookery is followed then you’ve made paella.”

The technique of paella cookery means real olive oil, real saffron, real paella rice (Bomba or another medium-short grain variety) and sofrito or salmorra or salmorreta, a sauce/base of garlic, ñora peppers and tomatoes that builds flavour.

Because the Valencianos have granted permission to break the rules, I decided to put sausage in my paella plus red chard (green leaves and red stems)! My “secret” ingredient: a spoonful of fat rendered from ibérico pork chops along with the olive oil. The sausage I used was chorizo criollo, a raw pork sausage.

Rabbit and beans are typical in València paella, but sausage and red chard are radical!

Saffron plus a sofrito with tomatoes and pimentón color the rice.

Paella, My Way
Paella a Mi Estilo

Sure, paella is best cooked over a wood fire or on one of those gas burner contraptions designed for big paella pans. But if you're cooking indoors, keep the size to a pan that fits on your stovetop.

Ingredients for flavor.

Serves 4-6.

6 ounces flat (Romano) green beans
1 ¾ pounds rabbit, cut in small pieces
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 ounces fresh pork sausage links, such as chorizo criollo
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 ½ cups peeled and chopped tomatoes
4 ñoras (dried peppers), stems and seeds removed, or 1 teaspoon pimentón (sweet paprika)
½ teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
¼ cup hot water
2 cups medium-short grain rice
4 cups chicken stock
Sprig of rosemary
½ cup cooked red chard, chopped (optional)

Cut tops and tails off the beans and cut them crosswise in 1 ½ -inch pieces. Blanch them in boiling water until crisp-tender (3 minutes from the time the water returns to a boil). Drain and place in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

Sprinkle the pieces of rabbit with salt and pepper. Use the cut-up liver too, if you like it.

Heat 5 tablespoons of oil in a 14–inch paella pan. Add the whole sausage links and the pieces of rabbit. Sauté on medium-high heat, turning, until sausages and rabbit are browned. Remove them from the pan.

Add the garlic to the pan for 30 seconds, then add the ñora, if using, or the spoonful of pimentón. Stir it briefly in the oil and immediately add the tomatoes. Cook the mixture on medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until tomatoes are reduced to a jammy consistency. Scrape the sofrito (tomato mixture) into a blender and blend until smooth.

Cook sofrito until tomatoes are thick and jammy.

Combine the saffron and hot water in a cup.

Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the paella pan. Stir in the rice and the mixture from the blender. Fry the rice for 2 minutes. Add the saffron and its water and the chicken stock. Bring to a boil.

Use kitchen shears to cut the sausage links into pieces. Place them in the pan with the rice. Add the rabbit and any accumulated juices. Tuck a sprig of rosemary into the rice. Cook on medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice with a wooden paddle. Remove and discard rosemary.

Add the green beans and chopped chard, if using, to the rice. Lower heat to medium-low and cook until rice is just tender, 8 to 10 minutes more. Don't stir the paella, but, if necessary, rotate the pan on stove so all sides get direct heat.

Let the paella set 10 minutes before serving.

Paella is best on a sunny afternoon. But, sure, serve it at night if you prefer.

WORLD PAELLA DAY. Celebrate! Make PAELLA!

More variations on the paella theme:

Rice with Chicken (Arroz con Pollo).

Rice with Clams.

Rice with Sausage and Egg Topping. 

Rice "On the Side" (A Banda).

Soupy Rice with Duck and Mushrooms.

Rice with Bacalao and "Cobblestones."

Baked Rice with Seafood in Cazuela.

Paella a la Americana.

Paella with Chicken and Seafood.

Brown Rice Vegetarian Paella.

Low-Carb Paella.

WHAT’S THE SECRET TO GREAT PAELLA?

 

Practice makes perfect.

So, "what’s the secret to making great paella?" I asked Santos, then the manager of D.O.Arroz de Valencia, who drove me around through the shimmering rice paddies of the Albufera (Valencia). His answer was not “it’s the quality of the rice,” or “sofrito is the secret,” or “you need a good caldo.” No, his reply was, “Practice every Sunday.” 

Here’s the secret: your paella will get better and better the more you make it. 

I didn’t follow his advice. I make paella rarely, for cooking classes, for friends and family visiting from abroad or when I’m a guest in someone else’s home while travelling in the U.S. 

Over the years, I’ve strayed from the original, traditional recipe quite a lot. For one thing, to adapt to stove-top cooking, I got myself a small-sized paella pan with a no-stick surface. That pretty much means no socarrat, the crusty rice on the bottom of the pan. I tend to the touristy version, loaded with chicken and shrimp, gaudily garnished with strips of red pimiento and green peas. (Paella maestro, Norberto Jorge, calls such paellas “overwrought.”) Also, taking a tip from chefs I’ve talked to, I’ve become a real stickler for making caldo, flavorful stock, with shrimp heads and shells. 

But authentic Valencia paella doesn’t require any of those things. No seafood. No sausage. No garnishes. And, surprisingly, no stock, just water to cook the rice. And practice.

The return of my big paella pan, 15 years after a friend borrowed it, motivated me to resume paella practice. So, here we go.

Ben has never made paella before. So, he's cooking, I'm coaching and taking the photos. First, level the pan. Add olive oil and heat.

The pan. 

We used a 46-cm (18-inch) pan for a paella with 2 cups of rice, about 2 ½ pounds chicken and rabbit pieces. That serves four, five or six. We cooked it on a gas grill, where it didn’t quite fit. We needed to level the pan, using a rod balanced on bricks. Because there was a stiff breeze, we didn’t get full heat from the three gas burners and we sometimes needed to close the grill cover to maintain temperature.  Having a kitchen nearby, I was able to bring the water to a boil on the stove instead of in the paella pan, which would have taken longer. Moderating the heat, however, may have saved us from burning the rice on the bottom! We got a perfectly crispy socarrat.

In Valencia, both the pan and the food cooked in it are called “paella”. Elsewhere in Spain, folks might call the pan a paellera. It is a wide, shallow, two-handled pan that allows rice to be cooked quickly over a fast-burning wood fire. It should be shallow enough so that, initially, liquid covers all the rice. That way the rice cooks evenly and all the grains soak up the flavors.

Traditional paella pans are made of rolled and polished steel (acero pulido). (There are also paella pans with flat bottoms especially made for induction cooktops; enameled pans; stainless steel pans, and pans with no-stick surfaces.)

 

Fill a new pan with water and bring it to a boil. Drain and wash the pan with soapy water. Dry it thoroughly and it’s ready to use.

After using the pan, allow it to soak in soapy water for 10 minutes to loosen encrusted bits. Use a stiff brush or metal scratcher-pad to clean the pan, inside and out. Dry the pan completely using paper towels or cloth. Rub it inside and out with a light coating of oil. Store the pan upright, preferably wrapped in paper (such as newspaper), in a dry place. 

A paella pan used every week, like a wok or cast iron skillet, gradually builds up a seasoned surface. If used infrequently, you will need to wash off the film of oil before using the pan. Dry it well. 

Use round-grain rice for paella.

The rice.

Use Spanish medium-grain round rice, such as Senia, Bahía or Bomba. (Some have denominación de origen, such as Valencia and Calasparra.) The great virtue of Spanish rice is that it’s a terrific conductor of flavor, soaking up the savory juices with which the rice cooks—chicken, rabbit, the herbal essence of snails, fresh vegetables, the heady scent of saffron. Long-grain “American,” “pilaf,” or converted rice is not a substitute for paella making.

Do not wash the rice before cooking. Once rice and liquid are in the pan and distributed evenly, do not stir the rice again. Stirring releases the rice starch and makes a gummy paella. 

Flat beans, fat beans, tomato, olive oil.

Other ingredients.

It’s all about the rice. All other ingredients are to flavor the rice. Start with olive oil. Sauté chicken and rabbit, cut in small pieces. (If rabbit isn’t on your shopping list, use all chicken.) In Valencia, wide, flat green beans, called ferradura, are used with fat butter beans, garrofón. The fresh green beans can cook in the paella, but butter beans should be precooked (or use canned or frozen ones). 

Create a sofrito with tomato, garlic and pimentón (paprika). Hint: if you’re cooking over gas, use smoked pimentón to add a hint of smoke; if cooking over a naturally smoky wood fire, use ordinary pimentón (not smoked.) 

A sprig of rosemary adds a characteristic herbal note. (Snails, often included in Valencia paella, are a natural herbal package.) Pull the rosemary out of the liquid after a couple of minutes so the flavor doesn’t overpower the rice. Use real saffron, in threads. Crush it between your fingers and sprinkle it into the bubbling liquid in the pan and stir to mix it in. (Saffron won’t give a brilliant yellow color; for that many home cooks use artificial yellow coloring. Just sayin’.) 

1. Allow 15-20 minutes to slowly brown the pieces of chicken and rabbit in olive oil. 

2.  Push the pieces of meat to the outer edge and add the green beans and butter beans to the oil. Continue sautéeing.

3. Stir the pimentón into the oil. Have ready the grated tomatoes, so the pimentón doesn't burn.

 4. Add the tomatoes with crushed garlic. For the sofrito, allow the tomatoes to reduce—stirring frequently—until reduced to a dark, jammy consistency. This will take about 10 minutes.

Add water or stock to continue cooking the meats.

5. Now it’s time to add the liquid—water or stock. Add sprigs of rosemary. Add salt. Bring the liquid to a boil. (Remove the rosemary.) Keep the liquid bubbling on medium-high heat until reduced. If you started with 5 ½ cups, you want to reduce the liquid to about 4 ½ cups, 15-20 minutes. This step creates flavor—the meats and sofrito flavor the liquid. That's why you don't need stock. Crush the saffron with your fingers and sprinkle it into the liquid.

Add rice to bubbling liquid.

6, On a hot fire, with the liquid bubbling, add the rice. Stir to distribute the rice and other ingredients. Cook 8 minutes. 

Reduce heat to finish cooking the rice.

7.  As the rice absorbs liquid, the grains begin to show on the surface. Now reduce the heat to low and continue cooking until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente-tender, 10 minutes. If you scrape up some rice from the bottom, you should notice it’s beginning to crust—the socarrat. 

Paella is done. Remove it from the heat and let it rest.

8. When the rice is cooked and liquid is absorbed, remove the paella from the heat. Allow the paella to set 10 minutes, covered with a cloth or sheet of foil, before serving. 

Paella is ready to serve! Not bad for being out-of-practice!

Rustic Valencia Paella

Paella Valenciana

Serves 4-5.

½ rabbit (about 1 ¼ pounds), cut in 2-3-inch pieces 

1 pound chicken, cut in 2-3-inch pieces

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup olive oil

½ cup giant lima beans or cooked butter beans

4 ounces romano green beans, cut in 2-inch lengths

1 teaspoon pimentón (paprika)

2 cloves garlic, crushed 

2 cups grated fresh tomatoes (about 3 large tomatoes)

5 ½ cups water

12 cooked snails in their shells (optional)

Pinch of saffron threads, crushed

2 sprigs rosemary

2 cups round-grain Valencia rice

Chicken and rabbit are cut in small pieces.

Sprinkle the rabbit and chicken pieces with salt and pepper and allow them to come to room temperature.

Heat the oil in a paella pan over moderately-high heat. Brown the pieces of rabbit and chicken slowly, 15-20 minutes. Push the meats to the sides of the pan and add the lima beans or butter beans and the romano beans. Sauté the beans 3 minutes and push them to the sides, leaving the center free.

Stir the pimentón into the center of the pan. Immediately add the crushed garlic and the grated tomatoes. Spread the tomatoes out and continue cooking slowly, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes are reduced and beginning to brown in places, about 10 minutes. 

Add the water. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, the crushed saffron and the sprigs of rosemary. (If using snails, add them now.) Stir to distribute the chicken, rabbit and beans in the pan. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Remove and discard the rosemary. Cook on moderately-high heat 15-20 minutes, allowing the water to reduce by about a quarter. 

Taste the liquid in the pan and add salt if necessary. Stir in the rice. Use a wooden paddle to distribute the rice evenly. 

Cook the rice on high heat for 8 minutes. Carefully, grasp the handles of the pan, using a heat protector, and shake the pan briskly to redistribute the rice and other ingredients. Do not stir the rice.

Lower the heat. Continue cooking the rice on low until all the liquid is absorbed and a crust is beginning to form on the bottom, 10 minutes. 

Remove the pan from the heat and allow to set 10 minutes before serving.

Scoop up some of the crusty rice from the bottom of the pan to serve with the paella.

Crusty brown bits are the socarrat.

More versions of paella:

Paella, My Way.

Paella Made in the USA.

Paella Cooking Class.

Vegetarian Paella.

Rice dishes that are not paella:

Not Paella (with sausage).

Low-Carb Paella.

Beyond Paella (Arroz con Pollo).

Rice with Clams.

Rice on the Side (Abanda)

Soupy Rice with Duck.

Rice with Salt Cod and Cobblestones (Empedrado)

Rice with Chicken and Pork.

Black Rice with Squid and Shellfish.

A WEEKDAY PAELLA

 

You can have this paella on the table in less than an hour--perfect for a weekday.

World Paella Day falls this year on an ordinary Monday (Sept. 20). So, instead of a grand, Sunday production for a crowd, I’m adjusting my recipe to make a weekday paella to serve only two.

What makes this a weekday paella? I’ve cut a few corners, making it fairly quick to prepare. Frozen fish fillets, a package of boneless chicken thighs, canned mussels. The sofrito gets short shrift, done in 5 minutes instead of 30. The small pieces of chicken don’t need slow browning. I’ve used canned, crushed tomatoes and reduced them on high heat. (For an authentic Valencia paella recipe, step by step, see The Secret to Great Paella.)

The recipe is for paella Parellada, “boneless” paella, supposedly invented in Barcelona in the 19th century for a finicky diner (his surname was Parellada) who didn’t want to mess with fish spines, shrimp shells and chicken bones. 

It’s a paella mixta, mixed paella, because it includes meat (chicken and sausage), fish (angler) and shellfish (shrimp, cuttlefish and mussels). You can use all of these ingredients or pick and choose among them, according to availability, tastes and prep time. 

Dinner for two, paella rice with fish, shellfish, chicken and vegetables.

Paella Parellada is a "boneless" paella--no shrimp or mussel shells, no fish bones, boneless chicken pieces. 

Boneless Paella

Paella Parellada

This recipe generously serves two, but, as a tapa, starter or light meal, it easily extends to serve four.

Use boneless, skinless chicken thigh or breast, cut into 1 ½-inch pieces. Firm-fleshed, boneless anglerfish is best because it’s so easy to cut bone-free chunks off the center spine. Boneless chunks of any white fish can be substituted. Use cuttlefish, if available. Pieces of squid or whole scallops could substitute. Use cooked and shelled clams or mussels, fresh or canned. Butifarra is a Catalan sausage. If not available, use any pork link sausage. Saffron is optional; pimentón colors the rice. Use grated fresh tomatoes or canned crushed (triturado) tomatoes. Bomba is the best rice for this paella, but any medium, round-grained rice is fine. If possible, use fish or shellfish stock for the liquid to cook the paella. Otherwise, use chicken stock or water.

Ingredients for the paella: in the center are medallions of anglerfish, peeled shrimp, and pieces of cuttlefish. Clockwise from top left: canned crushed tomatoes, Sherry, boneless chicken thighs, Bomba rice, frozen peas, romano green beans, pimentón, Butifarra sausage, canned mussels and diced red bell pepper.

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 peeled jumbo shrimp (2 ½ ounces)

4 medallions of angler fish (6 ounces)

6 ounces boneless chicken, cut in pieces

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 slices butifarra or other sausage (1 ½ ounces)

¼ cup diced red bell pepper

¼ cup chopped onion

3 ounces cuttlefish, cut in pieces 

1 teaspoon pimentón (sweet paprika)

Saffron threads (optional)

½ cup crushed tomato

3 tablespoons Sherry

1 cup Bomba rice

2 ¼ cups fish broth

4 romano green beans, cut in 1-inch lengths (2 ounces)

¼ cup frozen peas, thawed

8 canned mussels, drained

For the picada:

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1 clove garlic, minced

5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Flaky salt

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a paella pan on moderate heat. Add the shrimp and fish medallions and sauté, turning once, until they are lightly colored. The shrimp should be completely cooked; the angler, partially cooked. Remove them from the pan.

Add the chicken and slices of sausage to the pan and cook them until browned. Remove them.

dd the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan with the red pepper, onion and pieces of cuttlefish. Sauté 2 minutes until onion is softened. Stir in the pimentón and saffron, if using. Add the crushed tomato and raise the heat to cook off the liquid, 2 minutes. Add the Sherry and cook off the alcohol, 1 minute. Add the rice and stir for 1 minute. Add the broth and bring the liquid to a boil. Cook the paella on moderately high heat for 5 minutes.

Blanch the green beans in boiling water for 2 minutes and drain them. Add the beans to the pan with the reserved chicken and sausage. Stir to distribute all the ingredients, then don’t stir again. Reduce the heat to moderate and cook 10 minutes. 

Place the pieces of fish in the rice. Place the shrimp on top. Scatter the peas over the rice. Place the mussels around the edge. Cook until the rice is al dente and the liquid absorbed, about 4 minutes more.

Add parsley picada.

While the paella is cooking, make the picada. Combine the parsley, garlic, olive oil and salt. 

Remove the paella from the heat. Spoon some of the picada mixture over the top. Cover the pan with a cloth or sheet of foil and allow the paella to rest 5 minutes before serving. Accompany with remaining picada.

Allow paella to stand 5 minutes before serving.