Ibiza Cuisine |
Paella is one of the most famous Spanish dishes and an absolute must do when you find yourself in any Spanish restaurant offering this treat. You won't forget your first one
There is no one-way of making paella. Every chef has his own specific method and the list of ingredients varies enormously from one chef to another.
This recipe works well, but feel free to experiment with the ingredients, by adding in your own personal favourites.
The traditional paella pan is shallow with a large base area, like a very big frying pan, but with ring handles on either side. This is because the traditional, large, communal paella do's can often cater for as many as 100 people at a single sitting and cannot be lifted from the fire by a single person!
This recipe, however, is sufficient only for four (hungry people)
Olive oil (half a glass)
600 gms long grain or saffron rice
A Green pepper (sliced)
A Red pepper (sliced)
3 pint of fish stock
250 gms of peeled shrimps
A cleaned squid
A can of green peas
1 chicken
1 rabbit
A finely sliced onion
4 sliced tomatoes (cubed)
Garlic (to taste)
Salt
1 a fresh lemon
Fresh parsley
Wash and dry the chicken and rabbit pieces then heat the olive oil in the pan and add the onion and garlic, stirring for a couple of minutes. Add the meat and cook until brown then add the cubed tomatoes and stir these in with the chopped peppers for a further 5 minutes.
Then pour in the rice stirring all the time, for a couple of minutes, before adding the fish stock and the other fish that you have chosen to include e.g. shrimps, squid, clams, mussels etc. Stir the mix carefully with a wooden spoon and add the green peas. Reduce the heat to a minimum and leave uncovered.
Watch the rice carefully and add hot water if necessary, but don't stir the dish simply shake it once in a while. It should take 20 minutes, but try the rice and add salt to taste till the rice is soft. Then simmer it for 5 minutes, garnish with the parsley, sprinkle with lemon and serve immediately.
Useful Information on cooking in Spain, Ibiza
One of the nicest surprises when you visit Ibiza, or anywhere else in Spain, is the low cost of eating out. It's often cheaper to go to a restaurant than to buy and cook the ingredients yourself. This is especially true of the 'menu del dia' - the Spanish lunchtime menu which will normally involve at least three courses, often with wine thrown in and is ridicrosly cheap. Bear in mind that it does get hot here and the least attractive place to spend the hottest part of the day can be your kitchen - playing with the oven.
The quality of the locally grown food is another example of the effect that enormous amounts of sunshine have on living organisms. The vegetables are as healthy as the indiginous population are happy, and the same appears to apply to all of the other animals with that we share the island with. We'd never thought about a happy chicken before, coming from England where they all used to live in battery farms...
Anyway, the point is... it is far easier to make really good food with really good ingredients, so, in the same way that artists seek out the island as a place to create their art - the light here is unique (very sunny), culinary artists are also attracted to this oasis, because the local produce is powerful and produces phenomenal results (it grows well in the sunshine). We shouldn't be surprised really... every other type of artist is represented on the island, from the physical to the spiritual ... why not the nutritional?
The choice becomes bewildering as the miriad of other 'summer only' restaurants open up too. Some are fantastic, others not quite so good - we'll try to keep you informed whilst trying not to get too fat. After all we have to research the beaches in our thongs as well..
