Paella is made out of round-grain rice, bajoqueta and tavella (two varieties of green beans), rabbit, chicken, sometimes duck, seafood and garrofó (a variety of lima or butter bean), cooked in olive oil, saffron, and chicken broth. Paella started out in Valencia which is on the east coast of Spain. It was considered a very humble dish because farmers made it out of ingredients they had in their kitchen. Before knowing the origins of the food, I thought it was strange how they would mix seafood and meat into one dish. Now that I know that Paella was made from whatever ingredients they had in their homes makes, this dish makes a lot more sense to me.
When I first tried paella, I was really impressed by the flavor. I really liked all the spices they put in the rice as well as the combination of different meats. The first time I tried paella was right when I came to Spain. My mom helped move me here at the beginning of the year, and we knew we had to try paella! And, luckily, we really enjoyed it, so I was also glad I got to share the traditional Spanish dish with my mom. My older brother really likes to cook, so he promised he would replicate this dish for me when I come back to the United States this summer.
Towards the beginning of the year in October, I attended a cooking class where we learned how to make paella, tortilla, and tarta de Santiago, which are all very traditional Spanish dishes. I was so intruiged by how the paella was made because the chef brought out a huge cast iron skillet.
