Do You Like Paella?

My son is working on his 3rd credit of Spanish and the other day I made the mistake of asking him what Paella was. (just joking!) He went into a 10 minute discourse on it's history and makings. Here's the brief version of what I learned.

First of all it may look like it's pronounced pay-e-la, but it's not. It's pronounced more like pie-a-ah. ([pa'eʎa]) He also told me it originated in Spain and that traditionally paella was made only by the men. (what happened to that tradition? Let's bring it back!) And it's made in a special paella pan which is round, shallow, of polished steel with two handles.

The recipes for paella abound. It was originally just rice with vegetables, beans and meat, but other regions began to make seafood paella by replacing the meat with seafood and omitting the beans and green vegetables.

It sounds delicious! If you'd like to try paella for yourself, you can find a quick and easy recipe (30-minute-meal) by Rachael Ray at FoodNetwork.com.