Paella, like other flavorful one-pot dishes such as casseroles, stews, and salads, contains a number of ingredients. A well-known Spanish dish, paella is comprised of rice, meat or seafood, and vegetables, or some combination of the three. In addition to Spain, paella is cooked in Spanish-speaking countries, the US, and the UK, among others.
Paella’s evolution has given rise to several variations of this delectable dish. More than being a rice casserole cooked in a deep dish pan or glass dish, paella is cooked in a large frying pan. Incidentally, paella means “frying pan” in Spanish. The mixture of rice, meat (or seafood), and vegetables creates a texture like fried rice but with very different seasoning, loose and dry, not moist.
While the dish’s origins are in Valencia, Spain, the Moors introduced this dish to the Spanish centuries ago. Historians connect paella to Arabic rice dishes that emerged from Persia in the eighth and ninth centuries, which is a plausible explanation because saffron and rice originated in this region of the world, and are ingredients used in Spanish cooking.
One explanation of how the Moors ended up creating this dish was that servants in the courts of noblemen took leftovers from royal tables in Valencia and threw the scraps together to create paella. Other origination narratives say farmers and laborers in Valencia also cooked the dish for a lunchtime meal with available ingredients. However, according to some food experts, this dish made its way out of Valencia after Spain’s wealthy visited the city, taking the dish with them to their destination.
Traditional Valencian paella contains tomato, garlic, pepper, and onion sofrito (a paste-type sauce used to add flavor to the rice, meat, and vegetables). Saffron and rosemary are additional seasonings used in paella. To make authentic Valencian paella, rabbit, chicken, or duck are the choices of meat, beans (white), and snails. Finally, add two cups of water per cup of rice. After scouring the Internet, though, one will likely find other variations of this dish.
Some of the most popular versions of paella include seafood (or mariscos). Paella Mariscos is a summer dish comprised of shrimp, lobster, cuttlefish (squid), and mussels cooked in herbs, salt, and oil. Another seafood version of paella with origins in Valencia and Catalan is paella negra. This version is black because of the squid ink used in it, and it contains cuttlefish or octopus as well.
Mixed paella combines meat and seafood and is a dish fixed on Sunday in Spain. In this version, the meat flavor dominates the rice, meat, and seafood (squid and prawns) combination. Other versions separate the meat, seafood, and vegetables from each other, for example, vegetable paella (paella de verduras) made with mushrooms, asparagus, mushrooms, and olives, lobster paella (paella bogavante), and meat paella (paella de carne).
For those who like cured meats, white paella contains ham and salami cooked without seasoning, hence the rice takes on no color. Cooked in Andalucia, white paella is served as a part of tapas, a light dish that is not quite a snack but not dinner.
As already stated, cooks can personalize paella to one’s taste. Combine the meat, vegetables, and seafood, or cook separate dishes. Create a favorite sofrito, add seasoning, and then, bon appetit.
