Valencian paella

Rice dish emblematic of the Valencia region of Spain, cooked in a wide, shallow pan (the paella) that gives it its name. The original Valencian version combines short-grain rice, chicken, rabbit, beans, saffron and rosemary, simmered until a thin caramelised crust, the socarrat, forms at the bottom. Cooked over a wood fire, it features in the Mediterranean cuisine of Spanish palace hotels.