Paella Valenciana

Instructions

Clean the snails, chicken and rabbit well. Cut the poultry and rabbit into small pieces and salt them generously.

Heat the olive oil in a paellera and brown the poultry and rabbit pieces in it until golden.

Add the green peppers and cook for 1 minute, then add the garlic and cook until it turns brown. Watch the garlic closely, because it burns easily.

Stir in the paprika, then add the tomatoes straight away so the paprika does not scorch. Cook until the tomatoes are dark and pulpy and the mixture has reduced a little.

Pour in the water and bring it to a rolling boil. Add the snails, fresh haricot beans, runner beans and saffron or food coloring, and boil over a high flame for 10 minutes. Sweep a rosemary branch through the broth for no more than 30 seconds, then take it out. If you are using canned haricot beans, hold them back until step 7.

Taste the broth and add salt a pinch at a time until it tastes properly seasoned.

Add the rice, stir it in, then spread it evenly over the bottom of the pan in a layer about one centimeter thick. Cook over a high flame for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and simmer for 4 minutes, then add any canned haricot beans, turn the heat to low and simmer 4 minutes more. The rice is ready when it is slightly firm to the bite.

A layer of toasted rice, the socarrat, should now be stuck to the bottom of the pan. If it has not formed, raise the flame to high until you hear the rice crackling.

Take the pan off the heat when the rice is almost dry and lay the remaining rosemary branches on top. Cover with a clean white towel, which will not transfer dye to the rice, and rest for 5 minutes before serving.