PAELLA - Spain -
At the beginning, paella was a course reserved for special days, like Saint Joseph, an important day in Valencia. But, with the years, the people appreciated the taste of this fantastic dish and the variety of the paellas and began eating paella day in, day out. Finally, the paella isn't a meal just for a special day once a year, but a course for all the weeks. In the restaurants, now, the day for the paella is Thursday. There are two main varieties of paella: fish or meat.

Ingredients (for six or eight people)

1 chicken of 1Kg
- 500g of rabbit - 200g of peas
- 150g of white beans garrofons
- 150g of green beans tavella
- 200g of green beans ferràura
- one green pepper
- 3 ripe tomatoes
- 600g of rice
- saffron
- paprika, salt, olive, oil

Preparation
time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

1. Pour oil in a frying-pan. When it is hot, put the pieces of the chicken and rabbit to roast.
2. Add the pepper, cut into pieces, and the green beans (tavella). Add the tomatoes cut into pieces. Cook everything slowly and add the paprika.
3. Immediately after, pour hot water (2'5 litres), the white beans (garrofons) and green beans (ferràura) without seeds. Season it with salt.
4. Boil at a high heat, then fainter, until the meat is roasted (about 40 minutes). Add the saffron and check the salt.
5. Check the water level, it must be under the handles of the frying-pan.
6. When the water boils, add the rice.
7. Cook it at a high heat for the first 10 minutes, then, turn down the intensity of fire and leave it boil for 8 minutes more. Rest it for 5 minutes before serving.
Marc Ballester