La bomba paella rice

It’s been a weird summer weather-wise. I’ve stayed in the UK, working on my house and garden, painting rusty gates, weeding, and saying things like ‘ooh sun’s over the yard arm, time for a drink’ as it approaches 5pm. In Spring, I invested in an awning from The Victorian Awning Company, so even the rain hasn’t stopped me eating outdoors. It’s been lovely, my nine month old granddaughter Ophelia in a high chair, eating the same food as the adults in a method known as baby-led weaning.

It’s a moment to recreate a holiday vibe by cooking vacation food. This is an unconventional recipe for paella, probably Spain’s most famous dish, because it contains no seafood, or as in the case of Valencian paella, chicken.

The most important ingredient in Paella is the rice. I’m using a short-grained type called La Bomba. Brindisa sell a single estate variety ‘illa de Riu‘ from Tarragona. Monika Linton, the founder of Brindisa describes it as “the Japonica type, which is plump and slightly opaque with a bright white concentration of starch in the centre of the grain”.

From my research, both risotto and paella contain short-grained rice but risotto grains form a binding creamy sauce, while paella grains swell, absorbing up to three times their size without breaking. Paella rice should remain separate, slightly dry and even a bit crispy, part of the famous soccarat ‘crust’ at the bottom.

I used a traditional black and white steel enamel paellera, picked up in Spain for about four euros, which you can buy here at souschef.co.uk. This pan has, like cast iron pans, been seasoned with oil, then cooled, to create over time, a non-stick base.

In Spain, they cook a paella over a wood fire, so it could be made over a barbecue for instance but our rainy summer obliged me to cook indoors, over a gas hob.

A paella should not be stirred, so you have to watch the sides carefully to make sure all the liquid is absorbed evenly.

Again using paella rice, there is a recipe for overnight orange rice pudding.