Friend, American, devouring the Spanish rice dish (6)
I believe the answer is:
paella
'rice dish' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'friend american devouring the spanish' is the wordplay.
'friend' becomes 'pal' (pal can mean a friend).
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'devouring' is an insertion indicator.
'the spanish' becomes 'el' ('the' in Spanish).
'pal'+'a'='pala'
'pala' enclosing 'el' is 'PAELLA'.
(Other definitions for paella that I've seen before include "Span. rice dish" , "Spanish dish of rice, chicken etc cooked in large pan" , "Spanish dish of rice, shellfish, etc" , "Al, leap into the Spanish dish" , "something to eat" .)