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PAELLA

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• Ingredients: 200grs pork sausage, 200grs rabbit (could be chicken if you don’t like rabbit). 4 red shrimps, 4 prawns, 200grs. Clams, 1 cuttlefish. Half red pepper, half green pepper, 1 onion, 2 garlic cloves, 4 tomatoes, 150grs. Green beans (optional).

• 1Kg. Mussels • 400grs. Rice, olive oil, salt, some parsley• Ingredients for the fish soup: 300grs. Bone fish (any fish is ok), 1 tomatoe, 1 onion,

1 garlic clove and a third part of a monkfish head. Optional. You can use water instead or mussels water instead or a mix of fish soup and mussels water.

PAELLA

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PAELLA

• First of all, don’t panic! It’s a bit complicated to perform a paella but if you are tidy and patient, you will make it!!!

• Put the mussels inside a pot with 2 fingers of watter in its bottom, cover the pot and when the mussels open take it away from the fire. The fire should be low all the time. Mussels that don’t get opened should be thrown away.

• Leave the mussels apart and don’t throw away the watter inside the pot. We will need it for Paella.

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PAELLA

• Use a big pan (teflon if possible) and pour some olive oil (see the picture) put the rabbit or chicken and the pork sausage in it. Salt it. The fire should be medium to high. Keep on stirring and turning the pieces so that they get done the same one side and the other.

• When they get this colour, take them out of the pan and leave the meat in a plate.

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• Proceed the same way with the shrimps and prawns. Salt them and have in the pan maximum 5 minutes. They taste better if they are not too done. Take them away from the pan and put them in a plate.

• Sorry for the picture. I was shaking a bit.

• Take the cuttlefish and wash it under the tap.Cut it in small pieces. Before you fry it, dry it with kitchen paper (it can jump out of the pan). Stir it for 15 minutes aprox until it takes out the water and changes its colour.

PAELLA

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• Add the peppers and onion. Mix it all and stir the ingredients for 8 minutes aprox until the onion changes the colour and gets transparent.

• Here starts what we call sofrito the translation could be Culin chopped onion and garlic fried in oil with tomatoe sauce. It’s the most important part of the paella! If the sofrito comes out good, then the rest should also be good!!

• Throw the tomatoe sauce and the garlics in small pieces into the pan.

PAELLA

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PAELLA

• Keep on stirring with a wooden spoon. Be patient. Don’t run. The fire should be medium all the time.

• You will see that the tomatoe sauce seems to disappear in the pan. It gets oily and it gets darker. This is the signal that the sofrito is ready!

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PAELLA

• Take the clamps that have been all the time in water and salt to leave away the sand. Wash them and put them in the pan.

• In 5 minutes, more or less, the clamps will be opened if you put the cover on the pan. After that take out the cover and stir the clamps with the sofrito.

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• When you have the clamps the same way you see in the picture…

• Add the meat and stir up.

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• Pour 100grs of rice per person. 4 persons are 400grs or 2 watter glasses. The fire should be medium/high.

• Mix all ingredients in the pan for 3-4 minutes with the wooden spoon.

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• Add the fish soup to the pan. (8 glasses, same glass used for rice)

• The fish soup should be boiling when you add it to the pan.

• You should start with the fish soup in a different pot while you start the paella. If you do so, you will have both things ready when you need them. It’s very easy: take a big pot and put the tomatoe, onion, garlic, monkfish head and fish bones inside. Cover it all with water, let’s say, 3 or 4 liters. When it starts boiling take the foam away and count 20 to 30 minutes. The soup will be done then. Add the mussels watter in the soup pot. Keep the fire low so that its boiling when you need it.

• 10 minutes after you added the fish soup to the pan, add the shrimps and prawns and some mussels.

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• Leave it for 5 minutes and see if it needs more fish soup. If so, add a bit more. After that put the cover on the pan and leave for another 5 minutes.

• The paella is finished!! Don’t wait too long, if you do, the rice could be too soft. If you eat it too soon then it could be too hard. The timing it’s important! 20 minutes total since you throw the rice!

PAELLA