Paella is the perfect dish when you have a great number of guests. And that is what was served one lunch to the some 28 guests of Lafitte in Southwest France, 70 miles from Bordeaux - of course, chicken paella and, you guess, Bordeaux wine.Paella is from Valencia, in Southern Spain. To make one you need rice, saffron, and olive oil and a flat, large, paella pan. It used to be made with whatever else was available, chicken, fish, vegetables ... and there was always rice in the pantry of all Spanish houses.
We had green and yellow bell peppers, ripe tomatoes, onions, green peas, green beans, a few garlic cloves, 4 lb of rice, saffron, chicken, and used olive oil.
We cut the onions in slices and the tomatoes in dices. In the big (huge) paella pan that Fernando brought from Spain and that covers all four burners of the stove, we fried the onions a few minutes and then added the tomatoes.
We let the vegetables cook for a few minutes (about 6-7 minutes because the pan is so big) and added the peppers cut in slices and the garlic. Again, we let the vegetables fry while stirring occasionally so that they do not burn. 
Then we added the chicken that we had previously cut in small pieces. Because we had a lot of guests we had bought 1 lb of chicken breasts instead of a more traditional whole chicken cut in pieces. We stirred and let brown a little. In the meantime, we were infusing saffron in hot water. 
We added the boiling water with the saffron (add carefully) bringing the whole paella pan to a boil for a few minutes. Then we added the rice (4 lb) stirring so that the grains were coated with the flavors of the vegetables and chicken.
Once it boiled we lowered the heat to low and let cook until the rice was only beginning to be soft, adding water if necessary. Once all the water had been absorbed, we turn the heat off and let rest for 15 minutes before serving it.
We had green and yellow bell peppers, ripe tomatoes, onions, green peas, green beans, a few garlic cloves, 4 lb of rice, saffron, chicken, and used olive oil.We cut the onions in slices and the tomatoes in dices. In the big (huge) paella pan that Fernando brought from Spain and that covers all four burners of the stove, we fried the onions a few minutes and then added the tomatoes.We let the vegetables cook for a few minutes (about 6-7 minutes because the pan is so big) and added the peppers cut in slices and the garlic. Again, we let the vegetables fry while stirring occasionally so that they do not burn. Then we added the chicken that we had previously cut in small pieces. Because we had a lot of guests we had bought 1 lb of chicken breasts instead of a more traditional whole chicken cut in pieces. We stirred and let brown a little. In the meantime, we were infusing saffron in hot water. We added the boiling water with the saffron (add carefully) bringing the whole paella pan to a boil for a few minutes. Then we added the rice (4 lb) stirring so that the grains were coated with the flavors of the vegetables and chicken.Once it boiled we lowered the heat to low and let cook until the rice was only beginning to be soft, adding water if necessary. Once all the water had been absorbed, we turn the heat off and let rest for 15 minutes before serving it.
Here is one of our tables (two more were also served).
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