Paella from Valencia to my Kitchen

The paella is a regional dish from Valencia popular throughout Spain and around the world. This colorful delicacy is prepared in many ways  but the mainstay ingredient is saffron and rice.  Many non-Spaniards regard this as Spain's national dish really. A great favorite is the mixed one with chicken, seafood and vegetables. This is the one I chose too for you which I am sure you will like. This is home made and no exact measured ingredients I must add, just the same amount of rice as the broth to cook the whole paella.

For me, the garnish is as important. In Spain they do squeeze a bit of lemon juice on their plate of paella for more flavor and make decorative lemon wedges to place in the center and around the paellera.

Here's how. With a 20 inch diameter paella pan, sautee in extra virgin olive oil onions and diced bell peppers of all colors or just  red if the others are not available. The amount really depends on the size of the pan or taste. Stir in the sizzling pan until wilt and translucent.

At this point add chicken pieces slightly browned previously and sliced chorizos. Stir all around the pan to mix the flavor of each ingredient and  rotating the pan often for even cooking. For this size pan you really need two burners going.

Now add the rest of the vegetables such as French beans, green peas or even artichokes if available.

4 cups of arborio rice is just right for this size pan. Stir to coat every grain of rice with the flavorful mixture.

Grind the precious saffron and stir into the 4 cups of boiling clam juice and chicken broth to pour into the pan.

The broth would have already been seasoned properly with salt before mixing.

Add your seafood and arrange them the way you see nicely. You can put as many or as little as you like.

Let it boil until most of the liquid has evaporated and always rotating making sure that no spot burns in  the pan.

The rice is almost cooked at this point and to finish the cooking cover the pan with a fitting lid or aluminum foil if you don't have a huge one like this. Again rotating the pan in very low heat this time. It might take 15 minutes or less without opening it to have a perfectly cooked rice.

Garnish with strips of red bell pepper previously cooked and lemon wedges. You can arrange them in any way you like. Spain is really blest with a wide variety of crustacean that makes their paella immeasurably more attractive and all so inviting, even reflecting the colors of the Spanish flag, many have observed.

Serve the the paella from the stove to the table. You could even tie red napkins on both handles if you wish. Enjoy!