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Paella, From Beginning to End....

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TasunkaWitko View Drop Down
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    Posted: 03 May 2012 at 16:51

Paella, From Beginning to End....

Paella, often acknowledged as Spain's national dish, never gets old, which is kind of ironic, considering that its origins are probably as old as Spain herself, reaching backwards in time through the Golden Era of Spain to the Andalusian days under Mohammedan rule. If one would take the time to look for them, there are probably connections going back even farther, to the Roman Empire and the Phoenician trading vessels that would ply the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

Not long ago, I made a great paella that the entire family enjoyed. It can appear, at first glance, to be an intimidating dish, but the simple truth is that with a modicum of prep work and attention to timing, it is easy as can be. 

We had some discussion on ingredients, rice, methods etc. here, for anyone who is interested in reviewing that information:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=2038&title=time-for-another-paella-discussion

And for some good historical and geographical information, you can click here:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=576&title=paella-the-national-dish-of-spain

Here's an ingredients list for a great paella feast that will feed 6 to 8 people, depending on appetites:

Olive oil
1/2 pound Spanish chorizo (1 pound smoked sausage can be substituted), cut into coins or cubes
6 chicken thighs, or one whole chicken, cut into portions
Salt and pepper
1 large yellow onion or equivalent, diced
4 to 6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Pimentón de La Vera (smoked paprika), generous or scant, depending on taste
3/4 to 1 teaspoon saffron
2 cups Bomba or Calasparra rice (Arborio rice can substitute)
4 cups chicken stock or broth
6 cod fillet portions (any fish can be substituted, as you prefer)
24 medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined, or any equivalent combination of shrimp, clams, mussels etc.)
1 to 2 red bell peppers - cored, seeded and cut into strips
1/2 pound trimmed, fresh green beans, cut into 1- to 2-inch lengths (peas can be substituted)
2 lemons, cut into rings or sections

Keep in mind, the ingredients for paella are very versatile. You can substitute nearly any different meats or vegetables as you prefer, using the same amount of sausage, onion, garlic, stock, Pimentón de La Vera, saffron, rice and stock. Also, some people like to add finely-chopped tomato (about 1 cup) to sauté along with the onion and garlic in order to create a sofrito; I haven't yet tried this, but plan to and urge you to do the same, if you are so inclined.

Let's get on with it!

As I said, this is an incredibly easy dish, made easier by taking the time to do some prep work. Let's take a look, by the numbers:

For the sausage, you can cut it into thin rings, or you can cut it in half lengthwise, then cut the halves in half lengthwise into quarters, then cut the quarters into cubes, as I did:

As you can see here, I used plain ol' farm-type smoked sausage. Spanish chorizo is the sausage of choice for this dish, but this is fine; or kiełbasa, which has a great garlic dimension, or any smoked, non-crumbly sausage, the more garlic and paprika it contains, the better. Under no circumstances should you use those chubs of soft Mexican chorizo, which is a whole 'nother product.

Next, I prepared my produce, transforming it from this:

To this:

Keep in mind that the amounts used are a general guideline. I said 1 large yellow onion in the ingredients list, but if you have 4 small ones, use them. If all you have is white onions, use them. Feel free to use another red pepper, or more or less garlic as you prefer. Don't like green beans? Try peas! As I always say, this is peasant cooking, not set in stone.

Next, I prepared my seafood by portioning the cod fillets and peeling the pre-de-veined shrimp that I had:

Once again, this is another one of those preference things. You can use any fish, or none at all. If you're not fond of shrimp, then use clams, mussels or something else. Or you can leave off the seafood entirely and use another meat. If you don't eat meat, then use no meat and add more vegetables. What you see here is what I did for my paella, and it worked great; however, when you do yours, feel free to make it your own!

Now came the time to measure out two ingredients that are absolutely essential for paella, saffron and Pimentón de La Vera, otherwise known as smoked paprika:

I used twice as much pimentón as I recommend in my list above, and even though it resulted in a much darker dish than is normal, this is fine for me since I love the earthy, smoky flavour that it imparts. If you have no smoked paprika in your area, or can't get any, you can use "regular" paprika if absolutely necessary; however, I urge you to contact friends or relatives, order online, or do whatever is necessary to get the real thing; it's that fundamental to the dish. 

When it comes to saffron, however, there really is no substitute - it's expensive, but you only need a tiny bit of it to get the flavour, aroma and visual benefits of this exotic, golden spice, so it's worth it. Here I splurged a little and probably added half again as much as was called for. It's a good idea, but not absolutely necessary, to give the saffron a quick chop with a small knife; be sure you can account for every strand, as this stuff is precious!

Once I cut the lemons into wedges, the preparation was pretty much complete:

Two things (well three things, to be honest) not show above: salt, pepper and chicken stock. I'll give a little more discussion on those shortly.

It's time to begin cooking this feast!

First, get a good splash of olive oil going in your paellera, enough to cover the bottom of your pan, and...

What's that? 

What's a paellera, you ask?

Well, it's more commonly known as a paella pan, and I'm going to borrow Andy's picture to show you what it looks like:

If Andy's photobucket account ever goes dead, let me know, and I'll replace the picture. In the meantime, there it is.

You can follow the links I posted above to go in-depth on the history and importance of the paellera in Spanish cuisine, but suffice to say that if you're going to get into paellas, you should probably get one. You can get a decent one for around 20 dollars, and you will never regret the purchase. Having said that, If you want to make this right now, or don't want to buy a paellera, then the next best substitute would be the widest, flattest pan you have that is of similar dimension - a large, 12-inch skillet should work in a pinch, or maybe even a wok - but it won't quite be the same.

Anyway, get your olive oil heated up to, oh, about medium high - you don't want the oil to burn or smoke, but it should be good and hot. Some of the older cookbooks say to heat the oil "until a light haze forms over the pan," and this is probably as good advice as any. Then give your chicken a modest dusting of salt and pepper. I prefer to use coarse-grained sea salt and a few grindings of a multi-coloured pepper medley, but use what you prefer, kosher salt, black pepper - it doesn't matter.

What I did here was to heat the chicken and sausage together:

This worked, but it was a little awkward, so you might be better off if you choose to brown the sausage first, rendering out its fat and getting it almost to a crispy-brown stage, and then brown the chicken in the flavoured fat renderings. In my case, I stubbornly slogged on, doing them at the same time.

Next, I got the saffron started seeping in warm (not hot) chicken stock:

Some people steep the saffron in two or three tablespoons of vinegar, and this is fine. Doing it in the chicken stock worked rather well, also - either way works. You can use chicken stock, chicken broth, or a combination of the two; you could even use vegetable stock or water.

By this time, the chicken and sausage were browning pretty well:

So I removed the sausage and set it aside on a couple of folded paper towels:

The darker bits of sausage are actually what you're going for; this indicates that they've rendered out the largest share of their fat and have also reached that wonderful, browned, crispy-delicious stage, and that's perfect, as long as they aren't burned.

I also set the chicken pieces on a rack and put them in the oven on its lowest setting to keep them warm:

Next, I removed some of the excess oil from the pan, so that there was a moderate amount coating the bottom, and began cooking the onions:

In the picture above the garlic is in there too, along with the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. In reality, I should have sautéd the onions for perhaps 6 or 8 minutes before adding the garlic and sautéing it only a minute or two, but this was ok; I simply kept an eye on my heat and made sure that the garlic did not get overly-browned or scorched.

Once the onions were translucent and just barely starting to turn brown, I added the sausage back to the pan, along with the rice and the Pimentón de La Vera, stirring everything around gently to get the rice coated with the goodness:

If you did not steep your saffron in the chicken stock, now's the time to add it to the pan. Be sure to keep gently moving the rice around; you do not want to toast the rice, but you do want it to get good and warm.

As I said before, I used twice as much Pimentón de La Vera as recommended, out of personal preference, and you are about to see the consequences of that choice. The next step in the process, once the rice gets just to the point of starting to toast, is to add the liquid for the rice (in this case, the saffron-infused chicken stock):

You want to use 2 to 2.5 times as much liquid as you did rice, give or take, depending on the type of rice. If you use frozen vegetables, cut the liquid by about half a cup, for sure.

As you can see, the Pimentón de La Vera gave this a deep, brick-red colour that is beautiful, but it did overwhelm the yellow of the saffron quite a bit. It's nothing to really worry about, but something to keep in mind - half as much Pimentón (in other words, the amount I actually recommended) would have had much less impact.

This is important: once the liquid is in, stir the pan once in order to distribute the rice evenly, but don't move it around more than you have to. This will minimise the breaking-up of the starches in the rice and keep it from turning your paella into a mushy soup.

Once you reach this point, things start to happen pretty fast. As the liquid began to boil, I arranged chicken pieces on top of the rice, alternating them with the cod fillets:

I then added the green beans and red bell pepper strips:

And the shrimp:

During the cooking stage, some people elect to use the "Portuguese crutch" and cover the paellera tightly with foil, in order to ensure that the chicken, rice etc. is steam-cooked and not raw. I'm still rather new at this paella thing, so I did that, and recommend you do the same. Once you get more experienced, you will probably wean yourself away from it. If cooking outside on your grill, this might not be a necessary step.

From here, it's a matter of timing for the rice; for the Arborio rice that I used, I cooked covered it for 20 minutes, and this seemed about right. Another minute or three would have been ok, but not much longer.

Once I took the foil off the rice, it looked like everything was done:

The rice had soaked up the water, and all the components had begun to meld together and interchange flavours, whilst still retaining their individuality. It seemed just about right to me, so I removed it from the heat and arranged the lemon wedges around the pan:

Here's another view:

And a closer look:

Not bad for some guy in Montana!

As usual, the family was tired of waiting, so I served it up with oven-toasted French-type bread:

Looking back, I probably should have used lighter-coloured plates, for presentation purposes, but oh well.

When I serve paella, I like to highlight the individual components of the dish as much as I can, so I separated the chicken, the seafood, the rice etc. into their own areas on the plate:

This is the way I like to do it, but you can go ahead and throw it all together, if you want.

This paella was, in my opinion, outstanding, and the entire family enjoyed it. I can't say it turned out perfectly, since there were a couple of minor execution issues, but it was sure delicious and worthy of the name. The chicken, the seafood and the rice were all carried well by the rich, earthy spices of the dish; the sausage provided another savory dimension, and everything was highlighted and enhanced by the crunch of the fresh vegetables and the accent of lemon.
 
 
Taking a bite of this will put you on another continent, under a different sky, the sing-song words of another language in your ears; you might feel warm sand beneath your feet and might hear waves crashing on a beach, or perhaps distant cheers from a corrida, but you will definitely be in Spain, for a while....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 2012 at 20:01
One word;   YUM!!!!

It looks absolutely delicious. One question; did you end up with the nice socarrat on the bottom?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hoser Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2012 at 02:08

Ron...that one is right out of the ball park!

Nice execution of one of my favorite dishes....I agree with you it seems to be a bit easier to render the sausage first, and then brown the chicken, but all is well when it comes out the way yours did.

Did the costra develop the way you wanted it to?

Go ahead...play with your food!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote africanmeat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2012 at 03:38
  I promised  my self not to read your post when i am hungry ...
but i did   Wacko Ron you killing me. it is a great one .Clap
Ahron
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Margi Cintrano Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2012 at 04:37
 
Ron,
 
Truly, exceptional looking I must say. I am sure it was just as tasty as it looks !
 
Thanks so much for posting the instructions, products you have had available and steps 1 - 10.
 
Kind regards and have nice wkend.
MargiC. 
 
 
Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ChrisFlanders Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2012 at 04:51
Quote Ron; "...Not bad for some guy in Montana!"
Not bad? It looks perfect to me. Very nice tutorial Ron, thanks for making me so incredibly hungry 15 minutes before I have a dentist appointment, grrrr.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2012 at 10:42
hey, everyone ~ thanks for the generous comments, they are truly appreciated ~
 
darko and dave - unfortunately, i simmered this on the stovetop at a temperature that was too low to really get a good costra (socarrat) developed; i  didn't want to go too far over the 20 minutes de get a costra, because i wasn't sure how the arborio rice would handle the cooking time. but that's alright - i will simply simmer at a higher temperature next time.
 
ahron - get one going! no reason not to do it, i imagine you should find all the ingredietns within easy reach and would love to see your version of one ~
 
margi - thank you very much ~ i was hoping this would meet with your approval! i can only imagine how wonderful this would have been with some langostas to go along with everything else ~
 
chris - as i said to ahron, get one going! i can only imagine how beautiful the photos of that project would be.
 
thanks again, everyone ~
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Margi Cintrano Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2012 at 10:58
Tas,
 
You are truly a Montana Marvel ... considering you live in what I label as the Boondocks, near the Canadian border, I have to give you credit where credit is due !
 
LOL Your Prawns = Shrimp ( langostinos in Spanish ) look lovely. In South American Spanish, they are Camerones. Red Gambas are smaller and from Mediterranean Sea than the Langostinos which are from Andalusian waters, and a pale coral pink ... Luscious. *** SEE MY FISH & SHELLFISH GUIDE. I have the photos, which are Sketches in black on white, and very clear of each species details. We shall get scanning on Sunday am ... and send as many as possible ...
 
Here is a little help:  
 
1) Langosta = Crayfish
 
2) Bogavante = Lobster ( bo ga van te ) = as in a Maine Lobster, Brittany Lobster and the Cantabrian Sea and Galician northwestern Spain. Bogavantes have huge claws which distinguishes them from other crusteans that appear similar however, with smaller claws.
 
All my best always.
Margi.
  
 
 
Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 May 2012 at 18:09
Thanks for the inspiration Ron!  I made some Paella for dinner tonight. It was a good excuse to use my paellera.

I did mine a bit different. First, I sauteed the Chorizo, then did the chicken thighs after. Once the thighs were done, I took them off the heat, and made a soffrito with diced onions, diced tomatoes and diced fire roasted red peppers. When the soffrito was done I added some white beans and the rice( I used Macedonian San Andrea rice). Once the rice was coated nicely, I added the paprika, stock with saffron, put the chorizo back in along with the chicken, then added the green beans, artichokes, cod & shrimp. 20 mins later... done to perfection.

My version was a combination of your's and this recipe for Valencian Paella; http://spanishfood.about.com/od/maincourses/r/paellavalencian.htm

I was going to take pics, but when I grabbed the camera, there were no batteries in itCensored. Turns out my son borrowed them for his Xbox controller, cause his weren't charged...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 May 2012 at 08:49
say, darko ~ i know how it goes with the camera batteries - i've had that happen more than once myself!
 
sounds like you had a great paella, and excellent success all around ~ i bet the beans really put on a great twist!
 
i'm glad that this post inspired you to give it another go - that's one of the goals of the forum, and we're always happy to see what members try and compare with with what we do, so that we can meld in some good ideas ~
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 May 2012 at 11:50
It turned out well. One of the things I did was to take the suggestion from that other site & used my weber kettle grill and cooked it over charcoal. All the smoke wafting around the paellera gave it an extra level of flavour.

My wife really liked the artichokes, so it looks like that will be a standard ingredient in future paellas.
As for the beans, I don't know if that's authentic or not, but they were good. They did add another dimension to the dish.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ChrisFlanders Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 2012 at 05:13

I was wondering if the following suggestion would be accepted or not by the paella specialists...

This might be an excellent solution for everyone who does not have easy access to seafood for the simple fact they live far inland.

Here it is; buy almost every ingredient from a frozen foods store! I would be surprised if you don't have a specialized frozen food store or a a supermarket offering the "most wanted" ingredients in a paella.

What to get from the frozen food section?

- frozen mixed seafood; which mostly contain a selection of; calamares in rings, baby squid tentacles, small shrimp, mussels and other tinier molluscs. All nicely ready to add to your paella at the right time.

- frozen large king prawns still in their shells. To be added unpeeled on top of the paella, it adds up to the enjoyment of the dish having to peel them!

- frozen mussels still in their shells; nowadays you might find "green lip" mussels frozen from... New Zealand! They look fantastic with a bright green section n the shell and their orangy flesh. To be put on top of the paella at the last moment. They are far better than the mussels you will have on a paella in Spain in summertime!

- frozen peas; a real must in many paellas is a handfull of peas

- frozen snails (optional); are you a dare devil? Snails are very popular on Valencian paellas! If you find them frozen in their little houses, give it a go. Don't buy the ones that are already stuffed with garlic butter (escargots de Bourgogne).

I truly believe you can make a "killer" paella with all these frozen ingredients, added to good rice, good stock with real saffron and just a few pieces of chicken and/or rabbit, little onion, lot's of garlic (use whole cloves, just a little crushed), fresh parsley and a gentle squeeze of lemon juice to finish. That's it, no pimentón, or if you insist, maybe a small handfull slices of real Spanish chorizo which already contains lots of pimentón. All you need to do is identical to using fresh ingredients; to add the (semi-defrosted) frozen ingredients at the right moment... what do you all think?

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 2012 at 09:58
chris - frozen seafood is indeed a wonderful thing ~ not as good as fresh, of course, but for landlocked people such as myself, a great resource.
 
the first paella i made, i did use frozen clams and they worked quite well. i intended to get them again for the paella featured here, but a 9-year-old going through the aisles of the grocery, tossing everything he can find into the cart, will wreak havoc on plans and the memory.
 
i like mussels, but the beautiful mrs. tas is still a little frightened of them, so i haven't gotten them yet, but do plan to ease her into them. the shrimp we did get were really good, but i like your king prawn idea - unfortunately, i haven't seen any but will keep an eye out for them. as for calamari, the stuff we've been able to get here was not all that good, but i am definitely open to trying them again, same with scallops.
 
peas: yep, love them, and they will be in future paellas for sure ~
 
snails - this is one where i would definitely try it, but i know the rest of the family would shun me for it - same with rabbit ~
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Margi Cintrano Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 2012 at 10:26
 
 
Dear Tas,
 
There is a Spanish Adage steeped profoundly in antiquity, and it goes like this:
 
" Spaniards only eat seafood during months that begin with the Letter R " ...
 
Obviously, the lack of Refrigeration had brought on this proverb ...
 
However, one must know which shellfish are truly worthy fresh and which are seasonal in Greenland´s waters and the surrounding colder Atlantic and which are not available.
 
Here is what I know to be available fresh in Spain June, July and August:
 
1. langoustinos = large Andalusian shrimp
2. gambas = medium size Alicante shrimp
3. octopus = La Coruña Province and Rias Baixas, Galicia
4. camerones = tiny shrimp - Andalusian waters
5. burriquito = donkey fish - Cádiz
6. fresh sardines = Andalusia
7. Clams called chirlas can sub mussels ( as Brittany, France Mussels and the gems of Galician are unavailable in summer ) Their season is early December and Christmas through March.
8. Calamari and Squid ( 2 types ) = andalusia
9. white tuna
10. sicilian swordfish = andalusia, north african coast and sicilia
 
*** this is about it that it prized here in Spain.
 
Frozen: my viewpoint is simply simple, if I can buy locally and fresh, I do ... I am not desperate to have a paella, and it is very laborious ... I love shrimp and buy them fresh ... Clams shall do, if it is a choice of frozen mussels or fresh clams ... *** OCTOPUS A LA FEIRA is my absolute and there is no place in the world where it is better than Galicia.  Ask Ferrán Adría or any of the Top Basque Chefs, where they chowdown for Pulpo a la Feira !  Along the El Camino a Santiago de Compostela, Galicia Routes  ...  
 
 
RON; you have all that stunner lake fish and river fish ...  
Kind regards Tas.
Margi.
 
 
 
Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 September 2018 at 14:44
Here are some good sources for paella equipment and some specialty ingredients, as well as ktis that will make your first paella easier.

For starters, you can get a paella pan from World Market:

https://www.worldmarket.com/product/15-inch-paella-pan.do

World Market also lists many ingredients and other foods that can be useful in planning a paella dinner.

Another great source for paella equipment and "fixin's" is La Tienda:

They list two paella kits that I would heartily recommend; although they are a little pricier than the first one I bought, I do find the quality and customer service at La Tienda to be first rate, so it is worth a try. The first is a "Mini Kit" intended for two people:

https://www.tienda.com/products/mini-paella-kit-peregrino-pa-10.html

The second is a more traditional kit that will feed 6:

https://www.tienda.com/products/traditional-paella-kit-peregrino-pa-02.html

Finally, the original company that I got my kit from, El Avion, offers paella kits in three sizes:

http://www.elavion.com/en/productos/paellas-arroz/

The site is a little hard to follow and navigate, so I recommend downloading the catalog and contacting the company directly; however, the company does indeed offer authentic, quality ingredients from Spain, as far as I can tell.

(Note - please click on these links in order to check out these products; doing so helps this forum pay for itself! )

Hope this helps -

Ron
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 December 2018 at 13:45
FYI - The El Avion kit referred to above is currently available trhough Williams-Sonoma, with free shipping.

This is the same kit that I used to open my own door to Paella; it's a good-quality product for a beginner, and straight from Spain.

https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/spanish-paella-gift-set-in-paella-pan/
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Margi Cintrano Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 December 2018 at 06:52



It is free shipping In The Usa,  but WM SONOMA does NOT ship to  Spain !!     

Definitely merits as shipping is costly ..  

I never forgot that I had ordered a 2nd hand  book from  Amazon for  2 Euros and paid 20  Euros to have it shipped to Spain !   

I could of bought the book in Spanish  and paid same in Brand new condition ..  And no shipping !

Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 December 2018 at 09:48
I ordered the El Avion kit for my sister and niece for Christmas, along with a short yet fairly comprehensive book on making paella.

Now, The Beautiful Mrs. Tas wants me to make a paella soon.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Margi Cintrano Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 December 2018 at 16:31


Tas, 

Paella is a true jewel for the 1st January to enjoy New Year´s  Day. 

We are making one as well ..  



Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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