Name: Paella Valenciana
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: For 4–6 people
Ingredients: 450 g/1 lb/2 cups short grain rice; Salt and pepper to taste; 3 tbsp olive oil; 2 chicken breast portions and 2 chicken thighs, cut into small chunks with the bones and skin; 225–340 g/8–12 oz/1–1½ cups rabbit meat, cut into small chunks; 1 small onion, finely sliced; 1 tsp cayenne pepper; 4 cloves garlic, finely sliced; 2 large tomatoes, skinned and chopped, or 2 tbsp tomato purée; 112 g/4 oz/1 cup fresh butter beans, or reconstituted dried butter beans, or fresh broad beans; 170–225 g/6–8 oz/¾–1 cup flat green beans or runner beans, cut into 5-cm/2-inch pieces; 2 pinches saffron strands, crushed in a mortar, or ½ tsp turmeric; 16–20 snails, cleaned (optional); 1.1 litres/2 pints/5 cups hot chicken stock or hot water

Preparation info

For
4–6
people

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
1 hr

Appears in

The Rice Book

By Sri Owen

Published 1993

About

In July 1991 I had lunch at El Delfin, a restaurant facing the sea at Malva Rosa, just outside Valencia. You eat in a large, white room, with black furniture and a stone floor, a bar at the end near the kitchen door, a breeze just lifting the corners of the white tablecloths; when a particularly fine dish comes to table, other patrons are likely to walk across and comment on it appreciatively, praising the cook, Señora Cesar. It is, of course, a family business. I was allowed into the kitch