Paella

From kitchen of Maite Torme of Valencia, Spain, courtesy of Tom Connolly of Austin, Texas

Ingredients

12 Chicken Drumettes (come in a package, little drum sticks)
Pork Ribs (get 3 or 4 and get butcher to saw into 1 inch lengths)
6 or 7 Large Shrimps
6 or 7 Green-Lip Mussels
1 lb Medium Grain Rice
3 Cloves Garlic, Minced or Put through a Press
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Can Lima Beans
1 Can Italian Style Cut Peapod Beans
1 Large Ripe Tomato, Diced
4 or 5 Cans Chicken Broth
Olive Oil
2-3 gm Saffron (usually comes in 1 gm boxes; 1 gm = 0.0353 oz)
Salt
4 Lemons

Meatballs:

1 lb Ground Pork
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 Egg
Bread Crumbs
Fresh Parsley
2 Tbsp Pinolas (Pine Nuts)

Preparation

First make the meatballs from the ground pork, egg, bread crumbs, parsley, pinolas, and nutmeg.   Make small meatballs, cook them in a little olive oil.  Then set aside for later.

To properly make the paella, you'll need a large pan that you may need to put into the oven.  I use a round pan about 15 inches in diameter, 2.5 inches deep.  It suffices for this recipe.  Put about 1/8 inch of olive oil in this pan.  To flavor the oil, saute in it separately the shrimp (about 1 min to each side), the mussels (until they start to open), and the red pepper (about 1 min).  Saute each separately and then remove. 

Next cook the ribs and chicken in the oil until they are golden brown.  Leave them in the pan.  Add the garlic and tomato.  If you want to cook the meat more, add a little broth.

Add the rice and stir fry for about 1 minute.  Add both cans of beans, drained of water.  Add the meatballs.  For each unit volume of rice, add 2 unit volumes of chicken broth.  Add saffron (and salt if needed).

When the paella starts to dry, decorate with the shrimp, mussels, and red pepper.   Cook over a low flame or put into the oven for 20 minutes at 350 deg F.  When the broth is gone, the paella is done.

Decorate the paella with lemons and then serve from the pan (after taking pictures of it).

Comments

This is a great dish and makes everybody feel good.  We used it in lieu of turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, and everyone was very pleased.

The saffron is rather expensive.  In the above recipe, a little over $20 worth of saffron was used.

I was unable to find mussels twice when I made this.  I substituted oysters and an oyster/scallop combination the other time.  In both cases, it was still excellent.

Pictures

Paella, Thanksgiving 1999.  Note expectant diners in picture at right.

Paella, Christmas 1999