Name: Traditional Paella
Yield: Serves 4–6
Cuisine: Spain
Ingredients: 1.2 litres (2 pints) chicken stock; Few strands of saffron; 12 snails, cleaned (optional); 2 lemons, cut into wedges, to garnish; 225g (8oz) green beans — runner or French, chopped into 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces, or cooked broad beans or cooked white haricot beans or all three; 1 tablespoon paprika; 4 large tomatoes, skinned and chopped; 450g (1lb) short-grain rice; 6 tablespoons olive oil; 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped; 175g (6oz) peas; 1.25-1.5kg (3-3½lb) chicken or rabbit or both, jointed into small pieces; Salt; Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation info

Serves
4–6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Floyd on Spain

By Keith Floyd

Published 1992

About

Paella takes its name from the shallow-sided, two-handled frying pan in which it is cooked. In former times the paellas were made from earthenware, but steel ones are more common these days. You will need one at least 24 inches in diameter to make enough for four to six people.

Spanish restaurants have paellas up to 8 feet in diameter. The very biggest one I ever saw was in Benidorm; it must have been 30 feet in diameter, certainly large enough to feed 1,500 people. It was absolutel