Recipe

Paella Valenciana

4 servings (38 cm pan) · prep 20 min · cook 45 min

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• lunch
• dinner
• iberian

Authored by the maintainer; Valencian method — no seafood, no chorizo, no peas.

Ingredients

the rice

• 300 g Bomba or Calasparra rice — Albufera Bomba rice paddy
• 900 ml hot chicken stock
• 1.5 tsp fine sea salt — Trapani salt pans

the meat

• 500 g chicken thighs, bone-in, cut into 5 cm pieces
• 500 g rabbit, cut into 5 cm pieces (or another 500 g chicken if you can't find rabbit)

the vegetables

• 200 g flat green beans (ferraúra, or Romano beans), topped
• 100 g fresh garrofó (lima beans), or 75 g dried, soaked

the sofrito

• 1 ripe tomato, grated (skin discarded) — Origin not credited
• Generous pinch (about 0.5 g) saffron threads — La Mancha saffron co-op
• 1 tbsp sweet pimentón (smoked Spanish paprika)
• 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil — Liguria olive mill

the finish

• 1 sprig fresh rosemary

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a 38 cm paella pan (or wide shallow pan) over medium-high heat. Season chicken and rabbit. Brown all over in a single layer, 8 minutes. Move pieces to the edge of the pan. · 8 min
2. Add the green beans to the centre. Stir 3 minutes until they start to take colour. Push to the edge. · 3 min
3. Add grated tomato to the empty middle. Cook down, stirring, until the tomato darkens and the oil starts to separate, 4 minutes. · 4 min
4. Stir in pimentón off the heat (it burns in 5 seconds at heat). Return the pan to medium. Add the garrofó beans.
5. Pour in the hot stock. Add salt, the crumbled toasted saffron, and rosemary. Bring to a boil. Taste — the broth should be slightly over-salted; the rice will absorb it back.
6. Scatter the rice evenly across the pan in a single layer. After this point — do not stir. Stirring releases starch and ruins the texture you're going for.
7. Cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes — the broth should be bubbling vigorously across the whole pan. · 10 min
8. Drop the heat to medium-low. Continue 8 more minutes. The liquid should disappear; the rice surface should be just visible and looking dry. · 8 min
9. Crank heat back to high for 60 seconds — listen for a faint crackle. This is the *socarrat* — the caramelised rice layer at the bottom. Don't let it burn — pull the pan when you smell toasted rice. · 1 min
10. Off heat. Cover loosely with a tea towel and rest 5 minutes. Carry the whole pan to the table; serve from the pan with a wooden spoon, making sure everyone gets some socarrat. · 5 min

Notes

Valencia takes paella seriously to a degree that outsiders find
ridiculous. The Wikipedia *paella valenciana* article runs to a dozen
named regional variants and over twenty named ingredient debates.
The simple version: chicken, rabbit, two kinds of beans, tomato,
saffron, pimentón, rosemary. No seafood. No chorizo. No peas.

The pan matters: wide and shallow so the rice cooks in a single layer.
A 38 cm pan serves 4; a 60 cm pan serves 10. Cooking a 4-person paella
in a small saucepan gives you risotto without the elegance.

Wedge of lemon optional on the table — Valencians don't squeeze; the
rest of Spain does.