Valencian paella

It's a high level recipe to start with, but I just did it this weekend. ^_^

Please be aware that this recipe is for the authentic Valencian Paella that is made with vegetables and meat (pork, chicken and rabbit). Or at least this is how has been done at my home for generations. The authentic Valencian Paella doesn't contain seafood ;)

DIFFICULTY: Moderate/High

CALORIES: A lot, but as part of balance diet (We used to eat paella every Sunday at home)

INGREDIENTS: (2-4 persons *)

*I'm not good with amounts, but I used these measures for 2 persons and we had some leftovers for the next day.

VEGS:
1 red pepper (cut into chunks)
2 handfuls of green beans or sweet green beans
1 artichoke (just the heart, optional)
1 tomatoe puree can (natural tomatoes in can, you can buy it in Tesco)
White wide beans *bajocons or garrofons in catalan (half a pot, optional)
Frozen peas (3 handfuls)
Mangetouts (1 handful)

MEAT:
400 g of pork ribs (cut in small pieces)
Chicken tights and legs (the amount depends for how many people)

(The original recipe contains rabbit but as I cannot find it in Ireland and I'm not really a fan of rabbitI didn't include it.)

SPICES/OILS:
Olive oil
Salt
Parsley
Safron
Spear mint (brought from home)

PREPARATION: (around 2 h. or more, be patient!)

(All the cooking is done in a high heat)

Heat the olive oil in the paella pan (if you don't have a paella pan, use the biggest pan -no wok- you have).
Add salt to all the meat and fry it in the pan.
Once the meat is cooked, add the red pepper, beans and artichoke.
Once the vegs look cooked, add the natural tomato (as it's natural tomato you might "kill" the sourness adding a dessert spoon of salt and another of sugar).
Leave it to cook-simmer for 20 min.
Once the tomato looks cooked, add water to the pan until nearly covering and add the frozen vegs (peas) and white wide beans.
Leave it cooking/boiling until half of the water is gone (30 min).
Add water till the top and then add the safron (not a lot, is just to colour, the taste is really strong).
Add also the mangetouts (I add them nearly at the end because they cook really fast).
Leave it boiling a bit (15-20 min) and then taste it (maybe you need more salt).


And here comes the difficult part:
When you are happy with the taste of the broth is the time to add the rice.

The general rule is: double measure of water than measure of rice. But this rule doesn't apply to the paella because you need more water (that evaporates). My mum always explained me that you should add the rice making a cross shape in the pan, in a way that you see a litlle hill of rice above all the broth and vegs. This is why I consider it the most difficult part!
The tip is to always put less rice than you think, so you avoid the rice being burnt or too raw. If you measured the water that you added previosuly, you also can add a bit less than the half of the water measurement :S (I don't know if I explained myself well, sorry for my English).

Once you do "the cross hill" with the rice, spread it all trough the pan, so every inch of it has some rice.
Now add some spear mint and leave the rice to drink up all the broth.

At the end, if you think that the rice might be raw, turn off the heat and cover the paella pan (with paper foil for example). Before, add some natural parsley on the top of the rice, and wait a few minutes (5-10 min) with the pan covered.

You can serve the paella with some lemon wedges aside. And my recommendation is to eat directly from the pan, it's more tasteful!

Bon profit! Enjoy!

My paella didn't have a lot of rice, but it was lovely anyway!

Mama! I cooked paella last Sunday!