Paella

Boil all ingredients for 30 minutes.
release foam and dirties over surface. degrease and it keep it warm mean while other steps are done.

I use to have freeze fumet , so I haven't got photos. The photo attached show color and textures that fumet must have.

Fumet quantity is extremely important. here is the rule

150 gr. rice a person.
Rice needs three times in weight of water.
So 4person by 120 gr by 3 times= 1 liter and a half of FUMET.

Quality of water is another important issue. Hard water (higher concentration of calcium) is better than soft. If unsure use bottled water with hight mineralization.

Yes, the three textures are not easy.

Sofrito is usually made of a bunch of vegetables, fried slowly with olive oil. But this a minimum version for shake of simplicity and , I prefer,there is not vegetable debris between rice.

So only tomato.

- peel of tomatoes
- release seeds
- cut into very little pieces
- cook slowly till it reduce to a 25% loosing water, till a dark paste.

The better the chicken the best are the results.
Chop it into pieces mid size. As bones has been used for caldo, this pieces are almost bones free.

Very hot clean olive oil.
fry every piece till brown, not all together.

release the grease.

One of the more characterictics items of paella is the pan, called it self Paella.
It´s needed that it has a wide surface and not very tall.

this permit the correct water evaporation.

A wide fire is needed, O any kind of surface providing fire. A wide vitroceramic or induction could do.

It obvious that heat must be as regular al possible for the whole Paella (pan)

The rice, here a bag of it, from valencia it´s typical, you know paella valenciana , there are others as good as this.

Watch this kind of rice, its important the type of rice, this is called rice Bomba, as it absorbs two o three times its volume in water.

It's has not any kind of manipulation.

Look for it.

poor rice into pan, a hand full for person or 120 gr.

give a frying minute to the rice.
just to oil a bit. try no to brown the rice.
take out the excess of oil, leave a bit.

With medium fire, poor tomato into pan and rice.

One of the most important ingredients, Spanish saffron, not other country,

smash safron and salt it into powder

mess up saffron powder and a bit of fumet.

give a minute of microwave oven, just to soft a bit.

Still with medum fire, watch not to burn ingreientes, poor fryied chicken.

give it a heat.

Have the fumet hot, boiling, 3 minutes at microwave if you keep it hot.

Previous to poor fumet put fire as hight as posible, hear thing complaining crick, prssf, chuff for a few secconds, here begins socarrat mistery.

Just after fumet, pour safron infusion.

Now all ingredients are into pan.
give it a shake, last shake, just for leveling.

try to have pan as leveled as posible.

10 minutes, hard fire.

After 10 minutes this should be the view. If more water give it a few minutes with hard fire, if less water just pour a bit.

Taste for salt, if low give it a bit, think that still there is water to be evaporated, so think in concentration.

Watch the withe spot at inner part of rice, almos done. But still a bit hard.

This is the reference, exterior grains of rice must have this white spot, inner ones are more coocked. be careful.

Now, reduce fire to the minimum that keeps a bit of boiling at center of pan: chup,chup, chup.

Keep it for 5 minutes.

Another vew of this step, still 5 minutes, low fire.

When water is not visible, give hard fire for a minute, smell it for not burning it and hear it "criping" and "chuffing" just try to get the down side rusted, almost burned, this is the socarrat.

after this, cover with a piece of cloth to absorbs excess of mist,
5 minutes covered,

With a plane spoon, try to scract from bottom of paella, rising some socarrat. mix diferent parts of paella for every dish.

A young red wine, full of color and body, malotactics or carbonics and no or very few time of wood, is suitable for this paella rice with chicken

buen provecho.