Instructions: Paella, the world-famous rice dish of Spain, is a chameleon.

Cook it the traditional way - over an open fire without stirring - and the rice is crusty on the bottom. Cook it in the same paellera (round shallow metal pan) over direct heat but stir the rice, and the grains become creamy like risotto. Cover the pan and bake it in the oven, and the rice retains its individuality and texture, yet is pleasingly tender.

Paella changes its guise as well by what you add to the mix. Early versions of what was considered a poor persons food consisted of rice cooked with a few chunks of chicken or rabbit and one or two vegetables. Today paella is gilded with a rainbow of meats and seafood.

When I make paella, I take the middle road. Because the dish is a celebration of rice, I dont overdo it. I add enough embellishments for flavor, but not so many that the rice is an afterthought. Because I serve paella as a company meal, I like the convenience of baking. It takes time to assemble the dish, but this can be done ahead, and once its in the oven, it needs little attention.

My recipe for paella changes from time to time, but I always start with a short, round-grain rice. When I find Valencia rice, I use it, but usually I use arborio rice, the kind used to make risotto, because its available in local markets. California short- or medium-grain rice, like Cal Rose, works well too.

Because I use less oil than that called for in traditional recipes, I brown the meats, make the sofrito (the caramelized onion-tomato mixture) and coat the uncooked rice in a non-stick frying pan, then transfer it all to a wide shallow clay casserole for baking. You can bake paella in any oven-proof dish, but the container should be large enough so the raw rice is no more than 1/2 inch in depth.

At a cooking class in Madrid, I learned two neat tricks to use when making paella. To coarsely puree tomatoes for the sofrito, cut them in half horizontally and squeeze out the seeds. Set a box grater on a plate, then rub each tomato half over the large holes of the grater, flattening the tomato with your palm as you go. Discard the skin. To intensify the flavor of saffron, wrap saffron threads in flat foil packet. Place the packet in a frying pan over medium heat and toast for 1 minute on each side. Crush the saffron in a mortar and pestle. After removing the saffron, rinse the mortar with a spoonful of broth or water to capture all the saffron flavor

Keep the accompaniments simple: A salad of crisp lettuce, tomatoes and sliced onion tossed with a vinegar and oil dressing and crusty bread.

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