Traditional Valencian Paella
Think of paella and you may immediately think of a rice and seafood dish? However, the most traditional paella originated in Valencia, Spain and doesn’t contain any fish or shellfish at all.
Paella is the name of the shallow iron pan with two handles in which the dish paella is cooked! Traditionally cooked over a log fire, or nowadays on a calor gas ring, paella is a traditional peasant dish that uses ingredients sourced locally. Rice, for example, is grown in Valencia with the best for paella being the short-grain rounded ‘Bomba’ variety. Bomba grows very slowly resulting in a dehydrated grain which is great for absorbing liquid when cooked.
Locals working on their land and small holdings inland would start a paella for their lunch and use whatever was to hand, hence no fish. Instead, a traditional Valencian paella would include in-season vegetables, especially green beans and large garrofó (lima) beans, with rabbit meat and chicken (the animals and birds bred for that purpose) and also snails. In some areas, regional varieties use duck, meatballs or artichokes. The dish is then seasoned with saffron, rosemary and quite often, pimentón dulce, sweet smoked Spanish paprika.
Healthy, hearty and easy to make, paella was perfect after a long morning of hard manual labour in the sun. The best paella is thinly spread across the large pan resulting…
