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Paella Valenciana
I am on a mission to find the greatest version of chicken and rice, if such even exists. We now travel to Spain, where we experience Paella Valenciana. Today, I invited chef and my friend from Madrid, Paula to make me the original version of Paella. Unlike the one you might be familiar with, this doesn’t have pork or seafood, but instead chicken and/or rabbit. This recipe is actually from her culinary school, Le Cordon Bleu, which she attended a few years ago when switch careers and pursue her passion. It starts with searing chicken thighs with the bones we removed, which will help us create a better stock later on. Once we get color on these butter beans and green beans we remove them, they’ll go back in soon. Saffron and sweet paprika toast for a bit before adding the grated tomato. We cook that down with rosemary then cover everything in water to help create the stock to cook our rice in. We cook the bomba rice uncovered, and paella rule number 1 is to never move the rice when it’s set, we want to create that glorious socarrat. To finish it off, we light up some rosemary and throw it in to give off its aroma. To take it to the next level we infused some olive oil with rosemary and garlic then made a mayo out of that to top the rice off with–not so traditional but it’s something that’s gained popularity as of late. This was beyond delicious, everything just worked so well together and the flavors were subtle yet complex. The crispy socarrat added texture and toasty flavors which combined so well with the fatty and acidic mayo. I’m giving it an 8.9/10.
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