Party Hardy With Paella

Tori Ritchie: Classic Dish, Great For Gatherings, Easy To Make

(CBS)  Paella is a classic Spanish rice, seafood, meat and veggies dish that you may have seen on menus, but never considered making at home.

Perhaps you should!

On The Early Show Thursday, cookbook author and cooking teacher Tori Ritchie pointed out that paella is relatively easy to prepare, even though it may look complicated.

At the flagship store in Manhattan of specialty home furnishings retailer Williams-Sonoma, Ritchie told co-anchor Hannah Storm paella is also great to serve at parties.

Paella is the national dish of Spain, and there are as many recipes as there are cooks. The most famous Paella comes from Valencia, where the rice that's the basis of this dish is grown.

In general, it's a saffron-flavored rice dish that contains various meats, shellfish and vegetables.

The dish was traditionally cooked over an open fire, which makes it a natural choice for the barbecue. It's practically a meal in itself, so it only requires a few simple accompaniments.

Paella is named after the paellera, the pan in which it's cooked, which is essential to the dish. It's a wide, shallow, slope-sided pan with two handles. The shape of the pan enables the rice to cook in one layer and develop a slightly crusty bottom. Paella truly does require special equipment; there's just no way around it if you want to prepare it correctly.

There are two ingredients that are essential for paella.

The first is rice. You can't use long-grain or converted rice, because it doesn't absorb the broth well. Medium-grain Spanish rice is the best. However, that can be difficult to find. Arborio rice (used for risottos) is a good substitute.

The second important ingredient is saffron. It's the world's most expensive spice and no wonder: It's actually the dried stamens of the crocus flower. But a little saffron goes a long way, so you don't wind up spending too much on the pungent spice. You can buy saffron in both powdered form and in threads. If you can find the threads, they have superior flavor.

For Ritchie's recipes, go to Page 2.