This is the final article of a three part series on "How to prepare & cook a traditional Mallorcan Slow Food Paella."
Today we invite you to one of our show cooking courses at Refugio Son Pons just outside of Campanet in Mallorca.
In our video and in this blog, we will give you a step by step explanation of how we cook our signature slow food paella. We will also list the ingredients and give you some pointers on the technique.
Step One: The Fish Broth
For a traditional Mallorcan seafood paella it is important to put care into creating a very good fish broth. The broth determines the flavor of all the ingredients of your paella.
Our fish broth includes the following ingredients, all fresh from the island:
1. Rock Fish (from the Mercat de Oliver fish market)
2. Carrots
3. Onions
4. Garlic
5. Leek
Add all the veggies to a pot of cold water and bring to a boil. Add the rock fish and boil for a half hour. At 4:10 in the video Janko explains this step.
Step two: El Fondo (The Base)
These are the ingredients that we prepare for the fondo, the base for our paella:
1. fresh onions
2. green beans
3. red peppers
4. mix of parsley & garlic
5. grated tomatoes
6. paprika
7. saffron
8. salt
9. olive oil
10. white wine
11. bomba rice
Step three: The Seafood
Once you have prepared the fish broth and have prepared all your vegetables, we start by frying the seafood in a paella pan. Be sure to use the right size pan for the right size of your group. In our show cooking video we use a pan that serves 10-12 people.
For this paella we cook with the following seafood:
1. Calamari
2. Mussels
3. Crayfish
4. Prawns
Start by frying the prawns and crayfish first for about 5 minutes on a high temperture. Only for about 5 minutes because if you cook it too long it will become to dry.
While cooking the prawns and crayfish, we add the picado - a Mallorcan spice mix.
In Mallorca, there are many picados. You can make one with almonds, sobrasada, or peppers. In this case, the picado we are using is the parsley and garlic mix.
Once you have mixed the picada with the prawns and crayfish for about 5 minutes, remove them. Later you will put them back in for the final steps of cooking the paella.
Step four: Add the fondo
Now we start cooking the fondo. First add the fresh onions and red pepper. Then cook for about 7 minutes until it's soft and you get a good color.
Then add the green beans.
Important: Always keep stirring or keep everything in the pan moving or you will run a risk of burning the ingredients.
After stirring for a few minutes, you can now add the calamari.
You may need to adjust the flame to low so as not to burn the calamari.
Once the calamari has been cooked (about 1-2 minutes) you can now add the grated tomatoes.
The grated tomotoes give the color and flavor for your rice.
At 7:45 into the video you will see what the ingredients look like before adding the tomotoes.
Step five: Add the rice
"In Spain, the rice never waits for the people, the people have to wait for the rice."
Manu Marin, Mallorcuina Private Chef
Add the rice evenly over the fondo and fry it, but be sure to continue stirring so as not to overcook it. To measure, use 100 grams per person.
Once you have fried the rice, turn it off and let it sit for about an hour. Once your guests have arrived, you can turn the burner back on and add the fish broth.
Step six: Add the fish broth and seafood
When you add the fish broth use a 2:1 ratio with the rice, twice as much broth as rice.
Now you are ready to decorate the paella with all of the seafood - prawns, crayfish and mussels.
Cook everything for about 15 minutes, shut off the burner and let the paella sit for another 10 minutes covered, so that the rice can absorb the fish broth for maximum flavor.
Congratulations! Enjoy your paella!
Best Regards,
Manu & Janko
If you would like to book a show cooking course at your villa, just send us an email.