The first time I had paella I got sick. I thought I’d rather eat horse meat than paella again. It was one of those super eclectic versions of paella that mixed seafood, chicken and meat. But I do like to try things three times: the first time to know, the second to test, the third to make sure. This rule stands, except for cocaine. So, I’ve eaten several paellas since that unfortunate incident and it’s become one of my favorite dishes.
Seafood paella is, to my palette, the best. The paella, a mixture of grilled vegetables, sea food of choice and saffron rice is originally from Valencia, Spain.
When I was a junior in college I studied abroad in Madrid. I lived with a sweet 70-year-old chain smoking former ballerina. By this time in my college career I had gained the freshman 15 twice. And, I was thinking Emerson is so wrong. “Traveling is a fool’s paradise”? No, traveling is a wise woman’s paradise. When you travel to a new place you can change things about yourself and I really wanted to become fit without actually having to think about it every day. Aurelia was the perfect person to carry out my mission for me. I told her I was a vegetarian, that I didn’t eat meat.
Vegetarianism is not as common in Spain as it is in the United States. She seemed to pity me and probably thought it was because of a medical condition. Spaniards are known for eating large portions of red meat, and embutidos (cured meats such as jamon serrano, fuet, salchichón, chorizo. etc.)
I had spoken about my vegeterian lifestyle before I had tasted any of these embutidos. Eventually I told her I could make allowance for fuet, my favorite cured meat in the world to this day.
Seeing as I was not able to eat meat, this woman decided to cook all the best seafood dishes she knew. She made me paella almost every Sunday and every Sunday it was amazing. I have never gotten sick of it because it is one of those plates that offers great variety in preparation. Even if you stick to the traditional seafood paella, you can vary in choice of seasonings, kind of fish and vegetables you add.
I don’t usually like mussels but this last week I added them to my usual mix.
If you want to add mussels to the recipe, boil in water as the rice cooks. When the mussels open up throw them in the rice and cover again with newspaper. Continue to pour water as needed until rice cooks thoroughly.
Note: Why cover the paella with a newspaper? You want the rice to come out al dente so you do not boil it beforehand. In order for it to cook in the frying pan over the vegetables and seafood you need to stuff it. A metallic cover will catch the vapor and turn it into water droplets that will fall back into the rice. But a newspaper will absorb the humidity so the rice stays nice and crisp.
