Casa Carmela Paella Valenciana Recipe
Casa Carmela Paella Valenciana is the real Valencia deal: thin rice, chicken, rabbit, duck, snails, green beans, garrofón beans and smoky wood-fired flavor. No seafood, no chorizo, no giant mountain of rice. This is paella with its shirt tucked in.
Yield: 6 Servings
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 pound Chicken Thighs bone-in, cut into small pieces
- 1 pound Rabbit cut into small pieces
- 1/2 pound Duck Legs or Duck Thighs cut into small pieces
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Salt divided
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper
- 1 1/2 cups Flat Green Beans or Romano Beans cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 cup Garrofón Beans or large Lima Beans cooked or thawed if frozen
- 1 large Tomato grated
- 1 teaspoon Sweet Spanish Paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon Saffron Threads crushed
- 8 cups Water plus more as needed
- 1 sprig fresh Rosemary
- 12 cooked Snails optional
- 2 1/2 cups Spanish Short-Grain Rice preferably Bomba, Calasparra or Valencia Rice
- Optional for Outdoor Cooking - 1 small piece Orange Wood or Fruit Wood for smoky flavor
Instructions
- Place a 15 to 17-inch paella pan over medium-high heat.
- Add olive oil.
- Season chicken, rabbit and duck with 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper.
- Add meats to pan in a single layer.
- Cook, turning occasionally, until deeply browned on all sides.
- Move browned meats toward edges of pan.
- Add green beans to center of pan.
- Cook until beans begin to blister and soften.
- Add garrofón beans and cook briefly.
- Add grated tomato to center of pan.
- Cook until tomato thickens and darkens slightly.
- Stir in sweet Spanish paprika and saffron.
- Immediately add water.
- Stir gently to loosen browned bits from bottom of pan.
- Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and rosemary sprig.
- Bring liquid to a strong simmer.
- Simmer 25 to 30 minutes, until meats are tender and liquid is well flavored.
- Remove rosemary sprig.
- Add snails if using.
- Taste liquid and adjust salt if needed.
- Sprinkle rice evenly across pan in a thin layer.
- Gently level rice with a spoon, but do not stir after this point.
- Cook over medium-high heat 8 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium-low.
- Cook 10 to 12 minutes, until rice is nearly tender and liquid is mostly absorbed.
- Increase heat to medium-high for 1 to 2 minutes to form socarrat on bottom of pan.
- Listen for a gentle crackling sound, but do not let rice burn.
- Remove pan from heat.
- Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel.
- Let paella rest 5 to 10 minutes.
- Serve directly from the pan with a wooden spoon if desired.