Barcelona, Spain (Day One: Paella) (March 30, 2025)

We arrived a couple days early for our Rick Steves 14-day “Best of Spain” tour. We had booked a paella cooking class with Teresa at the Gab Lab: Gastronomic Arts Barcelona Cooking School.

First, Teresa took us on a walking tour through her neighborhood, the Gothic Quarter, the historic center of medieval Barcelona :

Palau Guell, a mansion designed by Antonio Gaudi, 1886

Casa Bruno Cuadros, originally an umbrella shop, 1858

Gran Teatre del Liceu, opera house, 1847, was the largest in Europe for its first 100 years

Then we returned to the cooking school to make sangria and paella. Turned out to be much more involved than expected, but it was very fun, and the end product was delicious!

Sangria (Tempranillo, brandy or orange liqueur, orange juice, sugar, fresh fruit, and soda water) and tapas

I’d never seen this type of burner. The inner and outer burners can be controlled separately. Various versions can be found on Amazon.

Cleaning the squid was the longest and ickiest process.

We deveined and removed the shells from the prawns, and removed the byssal threads (the “beard”) from the mussel shells.

We chopped and sauteed red, yellow and green peppers, and tomatoes, and began cooking the squid in the middle of the pan

We moved the squid to the edge and added the wine, a light and delicate Spanish white: “flavors of white flowers, fresh peach and ripe tropical fruits.”

Video: We each added a bit of saffron from Iran, then added vegetable broth. Next we added the mussels and clams, making sure they opened as they were cooking. Otherwise, they could be dead or contaminated. Then we added the Bomba rice, a short-grain rice native to Spain.

Video: Teresa showed us how to test when the rice is done. She used a spoon to poke in the center and outer edges. A sharp tapping indicates a crust has formed on the bottom. The crispy, caramelized crust is called socarrat, which is a key characteristic of paella.