Paella & Pulpo a la Gallega

Here are recipes for two classic Spanish dishes.

Paella:

Dice half of two different bell peppers and begin to saute in olive oil. 

 Add half an onion

Introduce raw meat with a little bit of caldo. Traditional paella is made with chicken and beef, however, the seafood version is also very popular. You can also mix all of the above together. The caldo is very important. For seafood paella, you can get the caldo by boiling shrimp/ prawn shells once you have peeled them and added them to the paella. Of course, add salt to taste to the paella. For chicken paella you can just use chicken broth. There's a nice chicken broth at Trader Joe's that comes in a carton that will do the trick. Add salt to it though. 

Colorante, or coloring, is used to give paella the correct yellow color. I don't believe it adds any flavor. 

 Make sure the meat is decently cooked if you're using chicken because once you add the rice you cannot stir. Add the rice in the proportions 2:1 water to rice. IMPORTANT: Do not stir after rice is added. Turn down the heat and cover with a lid or newspaper.

 One nice touch is to slice hardboiled eggs and add to top.

Here is my attempt in San Francisco. Be sure to garnish with lemon. I made my recipe with only chicken. 

Pulpo a la Gallega:

Pulpo a la Gaella directly translates to Galician Octopus. Not sure that helps but anyway, you'll see by the end. Buying a fresh octopus is perhaps the most difficult challenge you will face in this recipe. Once you have down this, you are practically done. It took us three days to secure a fresh octopus and I had to go to the market at 8 am while Sandra slept. Anyway, here's our beautiful 1 kg fresh octopus. Be sure to wash the octopus prior to any cooking as they have little dirt particles stuck in their suckers. 

 Looks kinda nasty raw.

 It is vital to "asustar" or scare the octopus three times prior to cooking. Scaring the octopus consists in dunking the octopus three times in boiling water. It ensures that the skin will not come off while it is cooked. 

We then put our 1 kg octopus back in the water for 25 minutes. Larger octopuses require 30-40 minutes. It will quickly get a nice red color.

 Once the octopus is neither too hard nor too soft, take it out and cut it into tiny pieces. Save the water in order to boil half-potatoes which will be used to garnish the plate.

 Add kosher salt, olive oil, and paprika to the octopus and potatoes in order to garnish the meal.

 Closer look.

That's it. Super easy. Just trying finding an octopus.