My Life in Valencia

Yesterday, I went with some of the study abroad students on an excursion to just outside of Valencia to enjoy in some Paella making and eating. I have eaten Paella before but have never cooked it myself or watched the process. It is definitely an art and although it doesn’t SEEM particularly difficult, it does take a lot of time, patience and vigilance to get it just right. We broke into teams–2 teams cooked the traditional Valencian Paella and the third did a smaller vegetarian version. There was even a competition to see which Paella was the best….wouldn’t you know it, the vegetarian one won! Regardless of which Paella won, we all had a lot of fun and it all tasted delicious!

Most of you probably know that Paella gets its name from the pan it is cooked in–a wide round flat and shallow pan with two handles. Most people also think of Paella being made with seafood, but the original and traditional Paella of Valencia (the home of Paella) is with chicken and rabbit along with green beans, garrafon (local bean like a lima bean), saffron and sweet paprika. In the winter they also use artichokes when they are in season. And sometimes snails are used although we didn’t use them in ours.

There are many stages to making Paella and as I said, it takes a lot of patience because although there is not a lot of chopping involved, there is a lot of waiting between stages as it cooks. Paella can be cooked on a stove (assuming you have a big enough stove top if cooking a lot of it) but the traditional (and I think the best) is done over an open fire with wood. That’s how we did it. That is also tricky because it is hard to control the heat…..you can’t just turn it up or down if it’s cooking too fast or too slowly which is why you also have to watch it. The proportions of the ingredients is also part of the art….there is no measuring, you just need to “eye ball it” . This is particularly tricky with the amount of water and rice to use and is ultimately what made the difference between the two different Valencian Paella’s. Of the two Valencian Paella’s my team, the Red Team, came in second and I am convince it was because of two things: not enough salt, and the water to heat ratio wasn’t exactly right. Our chef had to “dig out” the fire from the middle because the water was cooking too quickly and evaporatingye…..regardless they all tasted amazing.

Here are the basic steps:

1. Prepare and cut the chicken and rabbit into pieces with the bones in (that was done for us) as well as prepare the beans and grated tomato pulp (yes, I forgot that there is tomato although you wouldn’t really know) .
2. Cook the meat first at a high heat until it is golden and crisp.
3. Add the green beans
4. Add water, seasoning, and garrafon beans
5. Bring it to a boil and let it cook for about 15 mins
6. Add the rice…..we were told to make a cross with the rice (see pics) to determine the amount of rice to use
7. Stir the rice in and then continue to let it cook for another 15-20 minutes until all the water is absorbed. Once the rice is added and mixed in, DO NOT stir again. Here are some pics!

As I said, it was a great activity to do as a group and I think the students really loved it. I might try my hand at a smaller vegetarian version one of these days on my stove…I’ll let you know how it turns out. In the meantime, if you want to try it yourself, here is a recipe for the traditional Valencian Paella. Buen Provecho!