Hi Sheila, do you think you could share your detailed technique and recipe for paella Valenciana with us? I've been making paella for years and I absolutely love it and so does my family however I'm convinced I'm still doing it wrong.
Hi French Fries! No problem.
I've seen through the net lots of paella recipes in big recipe blogs that people just copy and paste from other blogs and so on like a kids game, but nobody really knows how to cook paella or has ever cooked paella before. That's why I decided to start my own blog about what paella really is and how to cook it. The "start" is going to be my next post, but I give you in advance what it is about cause my idea is to share and bring paella to tables in a right way. The most, listen, I reapeat, THE MOST important step is the beginning and it is called "sofrito". The "Sofrito" has its own recipe and it is not cooked always the same way. It depends on the type of rice you are going to cook (seafood paella, rice soup, baked rice, meat rice.........) The TOTAL ingredients for sofrito are onion, garlic, peppers (red or green depending again), tomato (always fresh), olive oil extra virgin and the meat, vegies or fish. You don´t use always all the ingredients for sofrito, it depends again on what you're going to do, that's why there is a unique recipe for each type of paella or rice. And also, you don´t follow always the same order when adding the ingredients to the pot or pan. I know it is confusing. Of course, the second very important point is the broth. For seafood paella, depending on the main fish or shellfish, you choose a specific fish for the broth. At this point, I hope everybody understands that cooking paella is an art. The third point is the type of rice and the fourth point the type of water for the broth (yes, type of water). Because of the difficulty of giving you a specific recipe, I invite you to look around my blog (some pages aren't written yet because the blog is brand new) and pick a recipe. Then, before cooking it, we can discuss it here for tricks and tips. I will suggest to start with an easy one like the one I suggested in this thread before (arroz del senyoret). Must read the post about the different types of rice and check if you can find a proper one close to you. Also, be sure that you use a paella pan and not a frying pan. See you soon, and regards
RICE WITH CRUST: A 500 YEARS OLD RECIPE!
