Paella – Your Wood-fired Oven’s Spanish World Cup Delight

Spain are always one of the better-performing countries in football tournaments and paella is also a real crowd-pleaser that will soon acquire many fans when cooked in your wood-fired oven.

That’s because your wood-fired oven from Valoriani can do wondrous things to paella.  It can not only impart a phenomenal smokiness and depth of flavour but also create the crusty base to the dish that is everyone’s favourite bit. On that basis, Orchard Ovens has put together this paella advice for you.

Getting started with paella in your wood-fired oven

So, how to you start to cook your paella the wood-fired oven way?  One good tip is to be prepared and assemble all of the components of your paella, on a table, before you even start cooking.  That way, you won’t be running around, desperately trying to pull together this and that.

You also need a paella pan, or dish suitable for the cooking of paella, which will be able to withstand the temperature of a wood-fired oven. 

Make sure you also have very thick heatproof gloves, a wooden spoon and foil at hand.

Creating your paella

Traditionally, a paella is a combination of seafood and meats such as chicken and rabbit, but you can really create any type of paella that you wish.

Get your oven warm.  If you are only cooking the paella it is NOT essential to get the oven up to pizza temperature first. If your oven is, however, up to pizza temperature, allow it to drop to roasting temperature, as the different ingredients are added and layered during the cook. 

Alternatively, if you have a very hot oven, cook your paella in the mouth of the oven where it is cooler. The latter is the preferred method because the dish is easy to manage and turn and will cook the dish slower. If you cook in a hot oven, or more into the centre or rear of the oven, you will need to cover the dish with foil to protect it from burning or drying out too quickly. However covering a dish like paella with foil with have the effect of steaming it which is not the correct way to cook paella, so better avoided.

Here, we are going to talk you through a paella made with chorizo, prawns, chicken, spices and peas.

Basic advice when cooking paella in a wood-fired oven

Paella is a dish that is very easy to cook in the wood-fired oven, but you need to be ready to do a few things.  The first is to have patience, you need to cook the ingredients but also soften the rice to an al dente texture, whist not drying out the whole dish. You can achieve this by watching the dish and regularly adding liquid to keep it moist.  If the dish is too close to the flame you will need to turn more often for an even cook. 

Remember, when handling the addition of ingredients, that the pan will be hot.  As If you will be using foil to cover it, you also need to beware the steam that will be released when you lift the foil.

Finally, have your supply of wood logs at hand, as you will periodically need to add another piece of wood to the fire, during the cook.

Starting the dish’s assembly in the wood-fired oven

Start cooking your paella by adding a little olive oil to the pan and then adding in a healthy portion of chorizo, to cover the pan bottom.  Cook this in the pre-heated oven and brown off the chorizo, rendering down the fat in this traditional Spanish sausage.

Once you have achieved that, add in a sliced onion or two (depending on how much paella you want to make), along with two or three chopped carrots and one or two chopped red chillies.  Stir all together and return the pan to the wood-fired oven.

Check what is happening to the vegetables and when they appear to have softened, add enough dry white wine to cover the vegetable mixture and go a smidgen above.  Put the pan back into the oven and allow the wine to reduce down a little.

Add some parsley and a few tablespoons of tomato paste and then pour in around a pint of stock – or more, if you are cooking a very large paella.  The stock should be chicken flavoured and also contain some spices – a little bit of saffron, if you can find any, some garlic, and turmeric.  The quantity of stock is really dependent on how much you have in your pan.  Try and just cover the food with the stock and go over the top by a cm or so.  Return the pan to the oven and let everything simmer.

This is now the time to add your rice, which should be traditional paella rice, not other types like basmati or wild rice.  Getting the right type of rice is pretty fundamental to the success of your paella. 

Sprinkle the rice over the top of the food in the pan and press it into the mixture with your wooden spoon.  Cover with foil and return to the oven for 15 minutes, turning the pan once before removing completely.

At this point, add in your king prawns and chopped chicken, if using meat. Check whether a little more stock is needed or not, but do not overdo it. Do not stir the rice, as you want a lovely crust to develop beneath.  Cover with foil, if you are using the hot oven method, and put back into the oven for 10 minutes.

Take the pan out and add a couple of cans of tinned tomatoes to the dish.  Sprinkle a couple of handfuls of defrosted petit pois on the top.  Add some sprigs of rosemary.

Return the dish to the oven and cook, tasting occasionally, until the rice is your preferred texture, turning, as we said earlier, every few minutes, checking to see if more stock is needed and not forgetting to keep a roasting temperature in the oven, by adding logs when needed.

When ready to serve, make sure everyone gets some of the crust from the bottom of the pan, as you divide the paella into bowls. Sprinkle the top with chilli oil and serve with rustic crusty bread.

There you go - paella the Orchard Ovens way, courtesy of pizza oven expert, Andrew Manciocchi.

Ends

Editors notes

Orchard Ovens is the domestic and commercial pizza oven supplier in the UK of Valoriani, based in Reggello, Tuscany - the manufacturer of Italy's hugely respected Valoriani pizza ovens, known as the Maserati of pizza ovens and the kings of clay. These ovens are made from superb refractory clay - cotto clay - found in the family's quarry and unique, thanks to having just the right alumina. This allows Valoriani ovens to heat up quickly and retain heat superbly, bring huge advantages to homeowners, as well as restaurant owners, hotels, pubs, mobile caterers, pizzerias, takeaways and more.

Orchard Ovens supplies some of Britain's best-known restaurants and chefs, whilst it is also a specialist creator of outdoor kitchens and wood-fired oven builds for the rich and famous, as well as everyday homeowners wishing to add value to their home and enjoy an outdoor lifestyle to the full.