Victoria’s Seafood Paella

Every country has her national dish that’s prepared with pride, yet none is as famous as Spain's paella. Who would have thought that it would be on a trip to the Italian Riviera that I would learn how to make the quintessential paella?

If Pedro Almodovar were casting an iconic Spanish heroine in one of his films, Victoria Stefanelli would be in the audition line-up. A beautiful woman who is larger than life, her joie de vivre is as effortless as her style and her attitude about everything from love and life to food and friends. Victoria is a Spaniard married to an Italian with three beautiful children. She grew up eating paella in her family of origin and knew one day she would have to make it for her own husband and children to continue the tradition of her mother’s recipe.

This is no ordinary dish; it is as symbolic of a country as it is of its people. The sheer number of ingredients is indicative of what a boisterous and colorful dish it is. In Valencia, the paella is synonymous with pride. Every mother makes her particular paella with passion and love, and in return, all she asks is that it is consumed with the pomp and ceremony it deserves.

The origins of the paella are very humble for it was considered a poor man’s food, made with whatever was leftover or on hand. The critical base is Calasparra rice, grown on the mountains of Murcia about 1,500 feet above sea level. These conditions create a hearty rice with unique characteristics that make it ideal for paella.

While in the mountains and inland regions paella Valenciana was made with duck, rabbit, chicken or snails and vegetables like onions and tomatoes, the Spaniards who lived by the Mediterranean Sea made it with the seafood that was readily available. Today, there are paella varieties from all over Spain, and each region has its own variation — for instance, paella Andalucia is made with mussels, clams, prawns, chicken or rabbit, pork, and sometimes sausage.

Victoria’s specialty is the paella marinera, a favorite found in the south of Spain, made with seafood. After an invitation and some coaxing, she agrees to show me this ritual. On a typical sunny September day, at her summer home on the western shore of the island of Monte Argentario, she spends some time at the seafood market in nearby Santo Stefano, where she selects squid, clams and shrimp. Her fishmonger is tasked with preparing these ingredients, tenderizing the squid and cutting and cleaning all the parts so they are ready to be used. In Spain, the traditional paella is prepared in the paellera pan, a large, round, shallow pan with two handles, which is placed on an open fire to slowly cook.

We are very lucky to be on the Mediterranean, cooking on a traditional outdoor barbecue, surrounded by the sea on one side and rosemary bushes on the other. Victoria prepares the remaining ingredients: chicken, red peppers, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots and, the most important ingredient, saffron. Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice, and imparts a uniquely tangy yet earthy quality to the paella, leaving a distinct and memorable flavor on the palate. The moment of truth is the assembly of all the ingredients in the required order, and Victoria is a maestro at this, having prepared the dish on many a Sunday.

The sun is setting and the paella is ready. No heroine is ever alone in an Almodovar film: Victoria’s three children, Eugenia, Sophia and Sergio, have set a beautiful table complete with a pitcher of sangria, and now we are ready to indulge in this Spanish ritual. Nothing is quite as memorable as when a dish, its ingredients and the people you share it with are all in harmony.

Victoria’s Seafood Paella Recipe