Paella

I was born missing an important gene: 

The paella gene. 

It just doesn't exist in my DNA.

My mother was a great paella maker and so were/are most of my family, both  men and women.

I have tried!  Either it comes out too dry, or too wet, or the grains are too mushy or too hard. And the seasonings are never quite right either.

Because I am allergic to most shellfish, I don't eat the "typical" seafood paella. But I like the meat paella, made with chicken, sausage and pork.

I found the right kind of rice at the World Market, you need to have the right kind of rice, not like the long grain american rice or the short grain italian rice (good for risotto but not for paella)

I have been wanting to try to make a meat paella, but I kept putting it off, don't want to be disappointed :)

Friday I went to Ruby's in Whittier to get some clam chowder to go for dinner. On the way I stopped at the World Market to see what was new. They had a package of vegetable paella, it was made in Spain, it looked like this:

All you had to do was saute the rice and add 3 cups of water or broth, you could add any meat if you wanted...So I decided to try it..

                                                    .I added chicken and jamon serrano.
                                      It had to boil for 20 minutes and then rest for 10 minutes more

After 20 minutes I checked it and all the liquid was absorbed

I should have add more liquid and stir the rice after 15 minutes.

The bottom had a crust, which ideally is what should happen, 

however my crusty part was a bit burned.

The rice in the edges was good, but the top part was a bit crunchy.

The flavor was good.

I'll give it a B-