Instant Paella!

I fell in love with Paella when I first had it in Barcelona. For the next few days in Barcelona, we managed to get some of this lovely Spanish cuisine for dinner each day!

Paella is basically short grain rice cooked with meat, vegetables and or seafood. Saffron; the world’s most expensive spice (by weight) is used in cooking this delicious rice dish! When in Rome, I came across this package of instant Paella by FIRMA ITALIA for about Euro 2 (I think) and scooped out one packet to try when I got back to the US.

Hubby was (and has been) asking me when I was going to make the instant Paella I bought from Italy. It’s been more than 2 months since I got it and I finally made them last night. Since we had some yummy Sushi buffet for lunch, I decided to cook something simple at home. Instant Paella it is. It wasn’t that instant or cheap after the stuff I added to it. I guess it’s still cheaper than eating out!! =)

The package said it serves 2. But knowing our eating capabilities, I knew right off that it would not be enough for the 2 of us. On top of Saffron (Yes, I added a pinch of Saffron threads to my Paella)…hence making it expensive!! I added a few cut up squid tubes, large shrimp, frozen vegetables and cooked rice (which I added towards the end).

Instruction on the back (in 6-8 different languages) said to cook the Paella for 15 minutes. That wasn’t enough as my rice was still hard. I also had to add more liquid than instructed as the rice was absorbing the liquid away yet still giving me uncooked rice. Perhaps it’s all due to the extra ingredients I added to the Paella!

The result….it’s not bad for an instant Paella. I was expecting the Paella so be a little more fishy, more “seafoody” (if that’s a word at all!) flavor. Definitely not was flavorful coz this is just the plain Paella I guess? But if you’re craving for some quick fix Paella, this is a decent product to have in the pantry!! =) Next time you see this in the store, grab one to try!