Which paella rice to choose. Senora paella or what we don't know about Spanish paella

The history and technique of making paella.

Paella- This is the most famous and popular dish of Spanish cuisine. It is surrounded by rituals and myths, has its own tricks and special cooking techniques, as well as strict rules (Never disturb the rice after the broth is added! Never cover the rice during cooking!). At the same time, there are a huge number of options for paella, and discussions about what can and cannot be included in paella do not stop. Paella is an occasion to gather family and friends. On the Mediterranean coast, especially in Valencia and Catalonia, paella is prepared for city holidays. In Spain, there are other rice dishes (casuela, caldero), but paella is the most colorful and impressive. Place a wide frying pan of antique gold-colored rice with a splash of black mussels and white clams on the table, where the hungry company gathered, and you will hear "oohs" and "ahhs". Paella is the queen of rice dishes. It is very beautiful, memorable and, cooked correctly, insanely delicious.

Wide irrigated gardens, la huertas, which Valencia is famous for, are located next to the rice fields. It is in these gardens that paella was born. Rice was the region's staple, and the peasants cooked it alongside the vegetables they grew in their gardens—fresh beans, tomatoes, and artichokes—and snails, which they found in the wild rosemary and thyme bushes. On lucky days or for special occasions, pieces of rabbit, duck, or chicken were added to the rice. A dish cooked in a wide shallow frying pan on smoldering branches of olive or orange trees is called arroz a la valenciana- Valencian rice. At the end of the 19th century it was renamed paella valenciana, according to the name of the special pan in which the rice is cooked and the region where it was born.

Variations of paella using other ingredients came later. There is only one Valencian paella, but there are many others, from classic marisco(with seafood) and mixta(with chicken and seafood), to original combinations such as rabbit and artichokes or pork ribs and turnips. Paella is easy to adapt to seasonal ingredients. In the fall, you can add fresh game, in the spring - asparagus. There is a lot of room for imagination here. Why not add squid rings, sardines, rosemary or wild mushrooms?

But what makes paella “real”, authentic? I've heard some extremely strong statements about paella being not paella if it's made without Valencia's lime-rich water. Some people say that anything that isn't Valencian paella is just un arroz en una paella(rice in a paella pan). The first statement is too narrow, and the second is just a play on words. Paella is paella if the key rules for its preparation are followed. First, you need to use rice, which absorbs liquid and flavors well. It should be remembered that paella is primarily rice, and the rest of the ingredients are used to give it flavor. Secondly, paella is cooked in olive oil, its base is sofrito, and saffron gives it its yellow color. Thirdly, and most importantly, it is cooked in a wide, flat pan, which gives this dish its name. In such a pan, the layer of rice is quite thin, and this is what allows it to absorb all the flavors of additional ingredients and cook quickly. Rice in paella should not be soft, creamy and moist (as in risotto or casuelo). It should be crumbly.

The basic method of preparing paella is simple and versatile, but you can of course make your own changes depending on personal preference. The sequence is as follows: poultry, rabbit, game and seafood are fried until golden brown in olive oil. (Seafood is removed to a separate plate immediately after frying). Then vegetables are added - sweet peppers, green beans, artichokes and, of course, tomato pulp. All this is stewed over medium heat and gives the basis of paella - sofrito. After that, sweet paprika and saffron are added. The broth (or water) is brought to a boil. And only when all the guests have gathered, rice is poured into the pan and after a couple of minutes the liquid is poured into it. Rice is cooked on medium-high heat for 18-20 minutes, and then another 8-10 minutes on low heat. Rice should retain its texture, be al punto (like al dente pasta, or in other words, should not boil and turn into porridge). The whole point is to distribute rice, fire and liquid evenly.

Paella was born as a peasant food, and it can be kept simple and inexpensive. But it can also be incredibly sophisticated. Ingredients range from the cheapest sardine to lobster and lobster. In Spain, as a rule, paella is served for lunch, not for dinner. Paella can be prepared for a huge number of people (and in one pan): in 1992, in Valencia, paella was prepared for 100,000 people.

Key elements

Pan
The wide, shallow pan gives the paella its name. Rice cooked with the same ingredients but in a different type of pan is called in Spain un arroz Rice, but not paella. The differences are very clear, the rules are not subject to change. A paella pan is wide, shallow, with a thin bottom and walls, in which rice is placed in a thin layer in direct contact with the bottom of the dish, where all the tastes of the base are concentrated - sofrito. Such a pan also allows the liquid to evaporate as quickly as possible, which gives the desired dry texture to the rice. Since the pan has a thin bottom and sides, it heats up and cools down quickly. As soon as the paella is removed from the heat, the rice stops cooking almost immediately. The paella pan does not have a lid - the rice is never covered during cooking.

The word "paella" in Spanish means "frying pan" and comes from the Latin patella - a plate or a metal bowl. Often the paella pan is erroneously referred to as "paellara" and this has been the subject of heated debate among Spaniards. Nationally respected culinary expert Lourdes March wrote the book " El libro de la paella y de los arroces(The Book of Paella and Rice), which clearly explained that the pan is called "paella" and not "paella" because the latter refers to the place in the yard where paella is traditionally prepared. Paella is also a woman who cooks paella.

The size of the pan depends on the amount of rice. The more rice, the wider the pan needs to be so that the rice can fit into it in a thin layer. Ideally, when the rice and other ingredients are added, the liquid poured into the paella should reach the handles of the pan. The dimensions of the pan depending on the number of servings:

2-3 servings - 30 cm
2-4 servings - 36 cm
4-5 servings - 40 cm
4-6 servings - 46 cm
6-8 servings - 50 cm
10 servings - 55 cm
12 servings - 60 cm
15 servings - 65 cm

Of course, at home the Spaniards do not have all the pans that would be suitable for any number of guests, and the chefs know how to adapt to the situation. “Where you can feed four, you can feed five,” say the Spaniards. However, don't cook paella for 10 people in a pan for 6, otherwise the whole essence of paella will be lost. If you don't have a suitable frying pan, you can alternatively make a large number of tapas or other snacks, and reduce the portion of paella for each guest. You can also spread the paella between two pans.

sofrito and picado
The key elements of Spanish paella are sofrito - stewed vegetables, meat or seafood that lend their flavor to rice; as well as picado - a mixture of greens, garlic, nuts, which plays the final chord. Sofrito can include onions, peppers, artichokes, meat, seafood (some fried seafood is removed from the pan as it shouldn't take too long to cook). The obligatory ingredient of sofrito is tomatoes, their grated pulp without skin. The ingredients are added in a certain order and cooked in such a way that a thick, sweetish mixture is obtained. The tomatoes are cooked over low enough heat to evaporate excess liquid and darken the mixture, about 12 minutes. In no case should you rush when you are preparing sofrito. It should be tenderly stewed and fragrant. In addition, sofrito must not be left unattended so that it does not dry out and burn. In Spain, picada is more often used for other rice dishes, and for paella, the most typical addition at the end of cooking is chopped greens with garlic.

Liquid
Rice absorbs liquid and is the "conductor" of all flavors. If you are making paella with a few simple ingredients, it is advisable to add a rich broth. If you are making paella with lots of chicken, rabbit, fresh seafood and good sofrito, you can just add water. But in general, the rule is this: the better your broth, the tastier the paella will be. An important point: when you cook paella, there should always be a slow-boiling liquid (in addition to the broth) on the stove, which you can add to the paella if it seems too dry to you. Any liquid is added to hot paella! The approximate proportion of rice to liquid (100 g dry rice per person) is 100 g rice / 250 g liquid.

And in conclusion - the golden rules for cooking paella
1. Do not wash rice.
2. Do not add rice to the pan until all the guests have gathered.
3. After adding the liquid, do not stir the rice.
4. During cooking, do not cover the rice.

Good luck making paella and have a nice sunny day!

Can you brag about eating real Spanish paella? I'm sure not. Frozen convenience foods packed in plastic containers and beautifully stacked in the refrigerators of the nearest supermarket do not count. Pathetic attempts by local restaurants to portray something even remotely reminiscent of this famous dish also do not count. And even if you are an avid traveler and have traveled all over Spain far and wide, it is not at all necessary that you have come across a real paella, and not a skillful parody prepared by a local chef for gullible tourists. And what does real paella mean anyway? It is worth asking this question to a Spaniard, and preferably two or three from different cities. A lively discussion will start, everyone will argue that only in his city you can taste real paella, and argue about which ingredients were originally part of this dish, which has become the property of Spanish cuisine, and which modern chefs began to add at their discretion.

You will not hear a single opinion about what paella should be. But all Spaniards agree that you should not even try this delicious dish in restaurants located on hiking trails, and you should not even touch semi-finished products. It is sure that either the taste will not be the same, or the ingredients are stale, or the portions are monstrous. Paella is a dish that requires slowness, warm company, love and free time, which is why they cook it on holidays or weekends, gathering around their relatives, friends and best friends. The best paella comes from nature, cooked over a real fire and eaten right there in the fresh air. A great alternative to our traditional barbecue! Gather a good company and together, cheerfully, with soul and good mood, cook your own, real Spanish paella.

While you prepare the fire pit and rub paellara - a huge flat thick-walled frying pan with two handles, spark interest and create intrigue, let your friends stop being just onlookers invited to try some new dish, they should crave and discover incredible delicious masterpiece of Spanish cuisine - paella. Tell them the history of this dish and reveal the secret reasons for its popularity. To begin with, paella has not always been the crown jewel of Spanish cuisine. Several centuries ago, the Iberian Peninsula seemed to the Arabs who conquered it a wonderful place for growing rice, which was one of the most important components of their diet. Since then, rice has firmly established itself in the Valencian lands and has become a favorite side dish of the Spanish peasants.

Since rice perfectly absorbed the tastes and smells of various seasonings, meat, vegetables and other products, the Valencians added to it what was their usual food, i.e. fish and seafood, snails, green beans, chicken and rabbit meat. Until the 18th century, a kind of modern paella was cooked in ordinary pots, but over time, special dishes appeared that allowed water to evaporate quickly and evenly, and prevent rice from boiling. This dish exists to this day and is called paella. Paellara is a wide, shallow pan, the size of which, depending on the number of eaters, can vary from 20 to 90 centimeters. Don't skimp on pan sizes! The thickness of the rice layer should not exceed two centimeters, so if you invite 8 guests, be prepared to get a paella with a diameter of 90 centimeters.

Each Spanish province prepares paella in its own way, so it is not surprising that more than 300 Spanish recipes for this dish have accumulated. Which one to choose, how to cook and how to serve? First of all, you need to choose the type of paella. It can be Valencian paella made with rabbit meat, chicken and snails, seafood paella, mixed or vegetarian. No matter which flavor you choose, each paella is based on saffron-flavored rice, olive oil, and tomatoes. So, the story is told, the fire crackles cheerfully, spreading the tempting aroma of grape twigs around, and friends burn with impatience. It's time to start cooking the main dish.

Prepare all ingredients. Cut into fairly large pieces half a small rabbit, 300-400 grams of chicken, clean and rinse about a kilogram of seafood. Cut the squid into rings, peel the shrimp and mussels, boil the oysters in a small amount of salted water, if there is a lobster, cut it into large pieces. 3-4 large tomatoes, peel and seeds and cut into small cubes. Also chop 2 sweet green peppers and 200 grams of green beans. After that, prepare 350 grams of round rice, saffron, olive oil, salt and water. Do not save on rice, if you want to get a good, tasty paella, buy high-quality rice, Valencian is better. When all the ingredients are prepared, you can start cooking.

The company usually gathers around the paella, as if around a fire, and, holding their breath, catching the seductive aromas and swallowing the saliva that appears every now and then, everyone is passionate about the process, and an hour, or even an hour and a half, spent over the paella, fly by unnoticed, only the appetite has time to break out. for fun! Put the paella on the fire and add a little olive oil. Mix the chicken and rabbit pieces, season with a little salt and place in the pan. When the meat is covered with a golden crust, add seafood to it, setting aside squid rings for a while. After 5-10 minutes, add squid, salt a little and start taking out meat and seafood. Leave 5-6 pieces of meat and a little of each type of seafood.

Put tomatoes, peppers and beans in a pan, fry a little and fill everything with cold water. Wait for the water to boil and proceed to the most important task - laying rice. Rice should be added in such a way that it is evenly distributed over the entire surface of the pan. When the rice is languishing in the paella, it's time to add saffron and reduce the heat, after which you can immerse yourself in your thoughts and dreams for 20-25 minutes, or just watch the transformation of individual ingredients into the most famous and beloved by the Spaniards dish. From now on, you should never mix paella! A few minutes before the readiness, place the prepared pieces of meat and seafood on top. When the rice absorbs all the water, increase the heat for a couple of minutes so that a fried crust appears on the bottom. Then remove the paella from the heat, shake and leave it alone for 5-10 minutes.

If in these few minutes your paella has not suffered from the raids of hungry friends, put the paella on the table. Forget about plates! Paella is eaten straight out of the pan with wooden spoons. Everyone will remember this day for a long time, when you will fall in love with paella, the queen of Spanish cuisine, with jokes that are funny only for your company, the sounds of wooden spoons scraping off socarrat - a burnt crust of rice, and a glass of dry wine.

Alena Karamzina

The national cuisines of the peoples of different countries differ in many ways: seasonings, cooking methods, but most importantly - sauces. For example, it is the sauce for Spanish paella that can change the taste of a dish beyond recognition. The very name of this dish gives rise to a vivid image of Spain: bullfighting, bullfighter, bulls. Although the word "paella" refers to a very banal thing - a frying pan. And in Valencia - one of the regions of Spain - almost all pots are called "paella".

The very same dish with the same name is made from rice in olive oil, and tinted with saffron. In some areas of Spain, it is even prepared from beans. At the same time, the classic paella includes up to 7 types of fish, vegetables, chicken, various spices, white wine and herbs. Instead of fish, seafood can be used, and instead of chicken, rabbit meat can be used. Each city in Spain has its own version of paella.

This dish has become a real hallmark of this country, so you can taste it in every Spanish restaurant. However, its popularity is so high that paella is served in almost all European restaurants. The Spaniards themselves cook it on Sundays, as well as on the day of St. Joseph, which is celebrated on March 19.

Sauces for paella

And yet, the real taste of this traditional Spanish dish is given by sauces. Not only the taste of this culinary masterpiece, but also the general perception of Spanish cuisine will depend on what kind of sauce will be used in the dish. So, what sauces are most often served with paella?

Aioli sauce

You will need:

• 4 cloves of garlic of medium size;
• 1 yolk;
• 1 lemon;
• 100 g cream with a fat content of 33%;
• 1 tsp water;
• 1 tsp salt;
• bunch of greens.

Cooking order:

1. In a shallow frying pan, first rub the greens, and then the garlic and salt.
2. Pour the cream into the resulting mass, add the yolk and lemon juice, and then beat with a fork.
3. Heat the skillet while continuing to whisk until the mixture thickens.
4. If the sauce is too thick, you can dilute it with water, but then mix thoroughly again and heat again.

Of course, paella is not exactly a meat dish, because chicken, seafood and other ingredients of this dish can hardly be called meat. However, it is appropriate to serve this dish with those sauces that are common specifically for meat.

Sauce "Salsa"

This is a condiment of Mexican origin, so it is based on hot pepper. It is good with meat, especially cooked over an open fire. Many chefs also use it for Spanish dishes, seasoning it with such a savory dish as paella.

What is in this sauce?

• 1 fresh large tomato or two medium-sized;
• 1 onion;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 1 fresh chili pepper;
• 2 tbsp. tablespoons of olive oil;
• 2 teaspoons of lime juice;
• a bunch of fresh cilantro;
• salt.

Sauce preparation procedure:

1. Tomatoes need to be cut, scalded with boiling water and dipped in cold water. After that, it will be easy to peel them.
2. Finely chop the peeled tomatoes, then finely chop the onion and chili peppers as well.
3. Put everything in a deep glass or porcelain plate.
4. Crush the garlic with the handle of a knife and chop. You can also use ordinary garlic, but true connoisseurs of the sauce say that the taste will be different.
5. Separately, mix olive oil, lime juice and finely chopped cilantro.
6. Season the vegetables with the resulting mixture, salt and refrigerate for 2 hours.

During this time, all the ingredients will be saturated with the taste and aroma of each other.

Some housewives mix everything in a blender to speed up the process. This consistency is more familiar, but the taste will change significantly. The heat treatment affects the taste of salsa. If all the ingredients are pre-fried in olive oil, then the sauce will be completely different, and the paella will turn out not so tasty.

Sauce "Salsa Verde"

This seasoning differs from the previous one in green color (it is not for nothing that “verde” is translated from Spanish and means “green color”). It is prepared as quickly as the classic one, but it has its own composition and its own cooking characteristics.

Ingredients:

• 2 large tomatoes;
• 50 g green onions;
• 100 g olives (not olives!);
• 100 g green chili peppers;
• 2 heads of shallots;
• 2 tbsp. tablespoons of olive oil;
• 1 st. a spoonful of wine vinegar.

Tomato sauce with basil

The simplest version of the sauce in haste can be called tomato sauce. Nothing is required:

• 100 g of tomato paste;
• 1 st. a spoonful of grated Parmesan cheese;
• 2 tbsp. tablespoons of olive oil;
• salt;
• black pepper;
• a bunch of basil (dark or green - everyone decides for himself).

Cooking method:

1. In a pan with heated olive oil, stir the tomato paste and bring to a boil.
2. Lower the heat, add the grated cheese and stir the pasta until it is completely dissolved.
3. Salt and pepper to your taste.
4. At the end, add finely chopped basil.
5. When cool, serve with the main course.

In contact with

Fans of delicious food will be interested in an entertaining story about the famous dish of Spanish cuisine - paella. If you are in your kitchen not only to look into the refrigerator, but also to cook something new, to please yourself and your family with a delicious dish, then you should definitely take note. So, what is paella, what is the history of its origin, how do the Spaniards treat it? How many varieties of this national dish are there?

Where does paella come from?

Many uninitiated people who have heard this name consider it exclusively Spanish food, although not the whole country, but only Valencia, should be thanked for the appearance of paella - it was in this Spanish city that they began to cook rice, tinting it with saffron and adding olive oil. Already in those days, they tried to experiment with the ingredients of paella, including chicken meat, various vegetables and seafood in the dish. The dish was served on March 19, when St. Joseph's Day or San Jose (Dia de San Jose) was celebrated, and this tradition is preserved in our time, while paella is prepared not only on the holiday, but also on other days. For example, on Sundays, gathering family members at the table and inviting guests. Well, in the tourist areas, almost every restaurant you meet is ready to feed you with paella.

First paella

Probably every resident of Spain knows how to cook paella from an early age. Not a single city holiday, especially in Valencia, is complete without paella being prepared right on its streets as the main treat, symbolizing Spanish cuisine. One of the first references to the preparation of this dish refers to the region of Lake Albufera (Albufera), located south of Valencia, where rice has been cultivated for centuries. They say that it was on the banks of the Albufera, in the village of El Palmar, that the first paella was once cooked.

Leftovers or no leftovers?

Initially, eating paella was common only in the lower strata of society. There is an interesting version according to which the origin of the word itself is attributed to the Arabic language, where it means "leftovers", since among Arab sailors it was not considered shameful to combine the leftovers of a previous meal into a new dish. Still, how can you throw away food that has not been eaten at the master's table! It’s better to “conjure” over it a little more and feed a bunch of hungry sailors.

About the meaning of the word "paella"

Officially, it is customary to consider the origin of the word from the Latin concept patella, which means "frying pan". In Valencian, "frying pan" sounds like paella - close in meaning to the Castilian concept of padilla (small oven), Italian padella (frying pan), French poêle (frying pan, oven), Polish patelnia (frying pan). Among the Valencians, in general, this word refers to all types of pots, including dishes intended for cooking paella.

How paella is prepared

Three varieties are considered the most famous recipes that are very popular, and each of them uses its own composition of ingredients:

• Paella Valenciana- Paella Valenciana with chicken, rabbit, legumes and vegetables.
• paella de marisco- paella with seafood (shrimp, mussels, squid, etc.).
• paella mixta- paella mix with different ingredients.

If you are going to cook a kind of paella with seafood and black rice, then you cannot do without cuttlefish ink (it is they that give the rice color), which are freely sold in many Spanish and some large Russian stores. Of course, these are just examples of the main types, but in any paella, the general principles of cooking remain unchanged, which will be discussed below.

General principles for preparing paella

So, the main thing is to take into account the most basic principles so that paella is appetizing and tasty.

The wide variety of ingredients used in the preparation of paella makes this dish very popular. In different regions, they adapt in their own way, which serves the emergence of new recipes, of which, according to the Spaniards, there are more than three hundred. If we talk about the classic paella recipe, then it traditionally uses rice, several types of fish, and seafood. In addition to these ingredients, it is also cooked with chicken, spices, herbs and white wine. There are regions where Spanish paella, in the absence of rice, is made from beans. In any case, this is not a dietary dish at all, but a nutritious and very tasty dish, with which it is easy to satisfy your hunger.

You will hardly find many Spanish restaurants where this dish is not on the menu. I will say more - because of its popularity, paella is found in almost all self-respecting European restaurants and everyone cooks it in their own way, experimenting with varieties of all its components.

We specifically do not write any one specific paella recipe because the choice is too large and depends solely on your preferences. BUT there will be a video at the end of the article preparations with description cooking process of paella with seafood- so it will be clearer.

In the future, we plan to visit the Spaniards and film the entire cooking process, making a separate article about it (with all the chef's secrets). So stay in touch and stay tuned, we will notify you when such an article is released in the update mailing list.

We show imagination

If we talk about Lots of paella recipes in the national cuisine of Spain, then its main ingredients must remain unchanged. Everything else is a matter of taste and imagination. Here, for example, according to the recipe for "Rice with a crust", black pudding is an obligatory ingredient.

There are recipes with spicy Spanish chorizo ​​pork sausage, which they like to add to paella. If you want, you can use other sausages and sausages, eggs, mussels or shrimp, meatballs and white bread crumb, adding sweet peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic, fresh herbs, lemon slices and green peas, wine and broth. The main thing is that the combination of products is appetizing in appearance and taste. With the advent of multicookers, cooking paella has become much easier and many housewives, having one of the recipes on hand, do an excellent job of preparing this dish in their kitchen.

Paella analogues in other countries

In eastern countries, paella can be considered an analogue pilaf, in Italy - risotto(risotto), and the Creoles prepare a similar dish called jambalaya(jambalaya). Even among Valencian dishes there is something similar to paella - fideua(fideua). But instead of rice, vermicelli is put in it, and the appearance of such a dish is attributed to the cook of a fishing boat, Juan Batista Pascual. According to rumors, sailors did not appreciate such an innovation in the menu, but over time, the dish gained its popularity. Now there is even an annual competition, which is held in one of the cities of the autonomy of Grandia to prepare the best fideua.

Summarizing

If you don't have a Spanish paella cookbook handy, you can find the right one for you on the Internet. You can also add your own imagination to the cooking principles described above, and then the dish will acquire its own unique flavor. As you can see, in order to taste paella, it is not at all necessary to leave the confines of your own kitchen. But, if you are on holiday in Spain, you can hardly resist stopping by one of the many local restaurants where you will be served a real Spanish dish.

By the way, red wine or sangria is perfect for paella, which you can cook according to our favorite recipe described.

It should be remembered that in restaurants paella is prepared for several people at once (usually for two or four), and not in portions. It is better to order it in the company of friends or family. If somewhere they offer a portion for one, then most likely the paella was cooked earlier (and it is not known how), frozen and will simply be warmed up - this is not at all the same.

Finally, we offer you classic seafood paella recipe video by which even beginners can understand the whole process and repeat at home

Not so long ago, my husband and I came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a joint gastronomic blog (my husband is a gastronomy expert and chef) dedicated to our culinary journeys and recipes that we prepare together. That's what came out of it! All recipes can be found here:

Paella is one of the symbols of Spain, a dish, at the mention of which, people who have visited Spain roll their eyes with rapture. And this despite the fact that most of those who try the national dish here, most often, do not even know that they are eating just a tourist parody of the original. It's like finding a real borscht in the first place you come across - it's almost impossible.

When friends come to visit, Juanqui always prepares paella “for tourists”, with a huge amount of seafood beautifully laid out all over the dish. In fact, the classic paella is, for the most part, rice.

Perhaps there is no other such controversial dish in Spain, in the preparation of which there are a huge number of disagreements and everyone believes that his method is the most correct. This again something like Russian-Ukrainian borscht. How many cooks, housewives, so many opinions. There is not even a single idea where this dish came from.

Nevertheless, if we are talking specifically about Valencia paella (Valencia is a province in the east of Spain), which is considered the most delicious, and not without reason, there is a certain list of ingredients that, as a rule, is part of this dish. There are only ten of them. It is clear that in our realities it is far from always possible to find traditional components, but you should not worry about this, almost everything in this world is replaceable. Although, of course, it will no longer be "the same taste."

So the products are:

- Chicken grown on "free bread" (it is very different in taste from those grown in stuffy poultry houses, although, of course, at home it can be replaced with an ordinary one)

- Rabbit

- ferraura - one of the varieties of green beans, very thin, allowing you to cook it very quickly
- Garrofon - another specific type of beans, white, large and oily in taste. Again, it is completely optional to use it, however, it will not work to replace it, therefore, if you have not found Garrofon , just exclude it from the list of products.

- Very ripe tomatoes

Rice of the Bomba variety, which guarantees you a high-quality taste of paella, alas, is not always used, even in Spain in quite decent places. Of course, you can replace it with other rice (I’ll talk about this at the end), but, nevertheless, it gives a real taste Bomba

Water - alas, you definitely won’t find water like in Valencia, but at least you need to filter it, or buy drinking water.

Saffron - you should not abuse it, because its excessive amount can spoil the taste.

Garlic - it is best to use pink-raspberry, with it the taste is especially rich

Attention, paella no one contains onions, contrary to popular belief! Never, do you hear? Never!!)))

Depending on the zone, paella may also include: duck, artichokes, mashed tomato with garlic and olive oil, Tartracina E-102 dye (which allows you to give the paella its famous color without adding saffron. Do not use turmeric, because it has taste too pronounced for paella), sweet peppers, small snails. You can also add one or more of these ingredients to paella.

Please, please, count your paella so that there are no leftovers. Heated paella can cause a heart attack in a Valencian)))

Paella rice should NOT be soaked or washed. Ideally, paella is cooked on an open fire, however, this requires some skill and experience, so start with a conventional gas or electric stove.

If you're cooking in Spain, you'll have no problem finding good quality Valencian rice. Outside the country, it is more difficult to do this, although in large cities of Russia and Ukraine rice varieties “ Bomba “It won’t be hard to find. If you still can't find one, a similar result can be achieved with sushi rice or Carnaroli rice, traditionally used for risotto. That is, our goal is large round rice. However, once again, it is better to look for classic rice.

It is also clear that not everyone will be able to find a special frying pan. paellera for making Paella. Of course, if there is an opportunity and if you plan to regularly cook a dish at home, you need to get one. However, if Paella is still an experiment for you, and you are not sure if you want to repeat it, try cooking in a skillet or in a shallow saucepan. Important: it must be large in diameter and with low sides! Try to find as close as possible to the original.

So here's our interpretation of the recipe, although it's certainly not perfect, and I'm sure there are people out there who can make it better. But, for a home option - just perfect!

paella for two(I’ll make a reservation right away, for two people who love to eat)))

100 ml olive oil Extra Virgen

6 pink garlic cloves. 1/3 chopped, the rest whole

8 small pieces of chicken (part of the bird is up to you, we like the upper parts of the drumsticks) - 160 g

8 small rabbit pieces

12 young green beans

6 young green beans, quartered

1 ripe tomato

1 tablespoon sweet red paprika

1/3 green pepper (we use a narrow long pepper, something like our ground)

Rice "Bomb" (we prefer Sivaris ) 150-220 g, depending on the appetite of the guests

½ teaspoon paella coloring

12 saffron petals

Pour three-quarters of the oil into a paella pan ( paellera ) and brown the chicken and rabbit over low heat until golden brown. Move the meat to the corner of the pan and lay out two peeled garlic cloves. Fry, turning them over so that they do not burn. Add beans, continue browning vegetables together. Remove the garlic, and put it in a mortar, preferably a wooden one. Add the remaining peeled raw whole garlic (4 cloves), saffron and set aside. Mash in a mortar and set aside.