PAELLA

Recipe for 4 pax

Tools required:

• Ring of fire (or it’s electric equivalent).
• A flat pan (a flat frying pan but not a wok).
• A wooden spatula.
• Hunger and patience.

Ingredients:

• 200/250g Prawns/Shrimps
• 100/150g Clams
• 250g Mussels
• 200g Calamari rings, head and tentacles.
• Olive oil.
• 1.5 Onions, 1 green and ½ red peppers, chopped small.
• 1 cup Green peas.
• Parsley (don’t chop it with your knife, just irregular pieces with your hands).
• Garlics (4 full pieces, just to flavour the pan with the olive oil).
• 2 Tomatoes, blended.
• 500/600g of Arborio Rice (same as Risotto, if you don’t want a mashy Paella).
• ½ l. Fish stock.
• 200cc White wine.
• Warm water (enough to cover every grain of rice).
• The Soul of Paella, the spicies:
  • 2 tblsp sweet paprika,
  • ¼ tblspsp of sea salt,
  • 2 generous pinches of black pepper,
  • 1 tblsp turmeric, or less. Then colour can be corrected.
  • 3 bay leaves. Then follow the tradition and pick up who is washing dishes!
  • ¼ g saffron.

Procedure:

• Cover the bottom of the pan with olive oil, heat and slightly fry the garlics for a minute.
• Add the veggies and cook them slowly until the onions appears translucent. No salt needed now. Seafood is quite salted already.
• Add the calamari. Heads and tentacles first, then the rings. Contract all of them with high heat for 4 mins,
• Cut parsley with your hands on top of the ingredients.
• Add clams. Remember to check they should be wide open between 35/45 degrees when you eat them.
• Gather all the ingredients in the middle of your pan. Do repetitive circles to share temperature and mix the ingredients.
• Stop the cooking process of calamari for a while getting the cold white wine in the middle of your pan, far away from the fire. You don’t wanna burn your eye lashes with a spoiled flame!
• Evaporate at least 80% of the alcohol.
• Add mussels in the middle of your pan. Cold tomato sauce on top of mussels is the second cold liquid we use to cool down temperature of seafood and not overcook it!
• Gather ingredients in the middle again, do the circles with wooden spoon and make a puddle adding warm water.
• Proceed to incorporate and dissolve the spicies. Remember where the good quality of saffron is coming from and sprinkle some of that capsule you got in the famous Boquería’s Market!
• Flavor every little small part of the pan, change the colour of all ingredients.
• Add your prawns. You later decide whether to suck the head or not!
• Add the rice, a handful per person, plus one for the pan (or a kilo every 10 pax), cook for a minute ensuring it doesn’t stick at the bottom with the wooden spatchulla.
• Add the peas (or asparagus in the clock position to make more fancy and charming!).
• Add 3.5lts of warm water and fish stock per kilo of rice. Important: the water should cover every little small grain of rice.
• Terms to cook the rice:
  • 15/18mins.
  • High heat for 7 mins.
  • Medium heat for the last 3 mins.
  • Always should be an empty hole in the middle of your pan in order not to burn the rice.
  • If you do not have the rings of fire and use normal stove: move the pan every 2 mins, North, South, East and West while you drink your homemade Sangría!
  • Never stir the rice, you are not cooking Risotto mate! 
  • Wait 3 more mins while you reflect on your memories on your unique trip to beautiful Barcelona, Gaudi, Parc Güell, the beach and your amazing cooking class!
  • Get garnish: lemon wedges, love and fresh parsley on top.