Lamb Paella

To celebrate National Spanish Paella Day, I just had top make a Lamb Paella. It really turned out good!! And it went very well with the Basque Sheepherder's Bread, recipe in a prior post.


Here is the Lamb Paella. The recipe is printed below.

It was good to have Geno and Debra to try this with me. We will probably see this again, some day!

Authentic Lamb Paella

· Olive Oil (enough to cover the bottom of the paella pan)
· 1 med Yellow onion, diced
· 6 cloves Garlic, chopped
· 2 lbs Lamb, cut into chunks
· 2 Chorizos, diced
· ¼ lbs Green Beans (Spanish-bachoqueta)
· 4 med Roma Tomatoes, ripe and chopped
· 2 Roasted Red Bell pepper, cut into strips – roast your own
· 2 Roasted Yellow Bell pepper, cut into strips – roast your own
· 1 t Saffron
· 2 t of smoky Paprika
· 8 cups Beef stock, heated to 190 degrees F
· 3 c Spanish Rice
· Sea Salt ( to taste)

First, add the olive oil to the paella pan and cook the onion and until it is translucent over med low heat. Add the garlic and stir. Add the lamb and cook until lightly browned. Add the diced chorizos and cook for 4 minutes. Then add the green beans and cook them together with the meat. While they are cooking, make a clearance in the middle of the paella pan and fry the chopped tomatoes and roasted peppers until they look a little pasty, quickly adding the paprika and saffron, stirring quickly and immediately adding the beef stock until it is almost to the top of the paella pans edge.

Cook all the ingredients for about 20 minutes over a high simmer and tasting for salt. After 20 minutes we add the rice, distributing it evenly, making sure the rice is covered with liquid. The heat should be medium high, not interrupting the boil. It takes about 20 minutes for the paella rice to cook. Do not stir the rice once you have added it to the paella pans, just change its position so that the heat gets to all parts equally. All the stock should be absorbed when finished. Take the paella off the heat and let stand for about 10 minutes covering the top with newspaper. If the rice has been cooked correctly, the rice grains should be loose, not clumped together or having a mushy texture.

For a fantastic table presentation, small wedges of lemon can decorate the border and branches of Romero (aromatic herbs) in the middle. Now you are ready to dig into your paella with wooden spoons and eat directly from the paella pans!

There it is. Cooking time is about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Not in the recipe - for the final 10 minutes, add about one-half cup of a red table wine and let the rice absorb it. This recipe will easily serve 10 - 12 people.