Thu, Aug 23rd 2007, 00:00
If there is one dish that symbolises Spanish cooking, it must be paella.
The rice fields around Valencia are where it began...
Paella was originally cooked by the workers in the fields as a lunchtime meal. They would hunt rabbit and wild birds and simmer them in the paella (pan) over an open fire with rice in olive oil and saffron.
Snails were sometimes used, and a few beans added for flavour and texture. It was traditionally eaten straight from the pan, each person using his own wooden spoon.
To this day a true Paella Valenciana has no seafood, but a mixture of chicken, duck, rabbit, green and white beans and sometimes snails.
With Valencias coastal location, it is no surprise seafood crept into the dish over time. These days there are many variations of the recipe; the most famous is what Valencianos call paella marinera containing rice with saffron, seafood and vegetables. With chicken added it is paella mixta.
A delicious variant is paella negra (black paella), which contains squid. The squid ink gives the dish its characteristic black colour.
Although women are the traditional cooks in Spain, paella is usually made by the men of the family, a Sunday barbeque treat. Paella purists insist that the dish be cooked on an open fire in a flat pan of impressive diameter. After all the ingredients have been added you must not stir it anymore. A true artist must neither burn the dish nor serve it crude. Paella is usually eaten on social occasions as large paella dishes can easily accommodate a crowd.
Valencia is known for other rice dishes too. These include arroz al horno (oven cooked rice), arroz a banda (made with fish and shellfish), arroz negre (black rice with squid ink) and arroz caldosa (rice stew). They are traditionally served with allioli (garlic and oil, beaten to give the consistency of mayonnaise). Rice is not the only dish cooked in the paella pan: Fideua is made with noodles and fish stock.
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