Paella Recipe

Waddling into another cuisine is always a little of a minefield, especially when attempting a dish iconic of the cuisine. Case in point: the paella. There's a lot of debate regarding what goes into a traditional paella, and adding something non-traditional can send quite a few people into an apoplexy. It can be daunting trying a dish for the first time, but this recipe from J. Kenji López-Alt couldn't be more simple to follow. This is the ultimate one-pan recipe: easily customisable (don’t hate on me!) and simple to prepare. 

Paella Recipe

Recipe by J. Kenji López-Alt

Makes 4 servings in an 8-inch skillet 

I'm the first to sigh when a recipe doesn't come in metric form, but I admit that for this recipe, measuring everything in volume is much faster, which is great when dealing with high heat. The rule of thumb is about 100ml of rice per person, and to put in 2.5x the volume of water to the volume of rice. 

INGREDIENTS

Half a chicken, chopped into pieces

1-2 tsp fine salt

3-4 tbsp olive oil 

1 cup green bean/ yardlong beans, chopped into roughly 2 inches long 

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped finely 

2 tsp smoked paprika 

Large pinch of saffron

400ml rice (Spanish Bomba/Calasparra, or controversially, Italian Arborio or Japanese sushi rice) 

1L water, or chicken stock

Rosemary, to taste

STEPS

1. Season chicken with salt. Set aside. 

2. Set your skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and heat until shimmering. Add chicken; turn over after a few minutes to allow the chicken to brown on all sides. 

3. Clear a space in the centre of the skillet and add green beans. Stir to combine with chicken. By this way of clearing a space in the centre of the skillet one at a time for each ingredient, add garlic, then tomato, and then the paprika/saffron. Stir to combine after each addition. 

4. Add rice to the skillet and allow it to toast for about a minute, then add chicken stock (or water). Add rosemary. 

5. Increase the heat to high, and allow the liquid ingredients to come to a boil. Leave uncovered for about 20 mins, until most of the liquid has evaporated and you’re left with a nice crust of socarrat. 

6. Serve immediately.