Paella is a Spanish rice dish, often cooked with seafood and chicken over an open fire. It can be as plain or fancy as you like, and it’s easy to do in your kitchen with no special equipment.
This weekend was my sister-in-law Lana’s birthday, so we made a loaded celebration paella for the festive occasion.
My recipe follows. This is based on The Ultimate Paella recipe from the Food Network. This serves 6.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 frying chicken, cut into pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
About 1/2 pound Spanish chorizo sausage, sliced about 3/4 inch thick. (Any sausage you like will work; breakfast sausage, polish sausage, etc)
1 yellow onion, diced (if you have one of those huge sweet yellow onions, use half of one)
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped, reserve some for garnish
1 pint can of whole tomatoes, drained
4 cups short grain rice (Arborio works well, but really any rice will work)
6 cups chicken stock, warmed
Pinch saffron threads (sacrilege, but you can use a pinch of tumeric instead to give it that distinctive yellow color)
1 dozen mussels, scrubbed (or clams)
1 pound shrimp, peeled and de-veined (I like the 21-25 count size)
1/2 cup peas, thawed
Lemon wedges, for serving
Directions
Mix the paprika and oregano and salt and pepper and rub all over the chicken and marinate chicken for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Heat oil in a paella pan over medium-high heat.
Saute the chorizo until browned, remove and reserve.
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Add chicken skin-side down and brown on all sides.
Cook about 10-12 minutes. The chicken won’t be cooked through yet. Remove from pan and reserve.
In the same pan, make a sofrito by sauteing the onions, garlic, and parsley. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes on a medium heat. Then add tomatoes and cook until the mixture browns a bit.
Stir in the rice and stir-fry for a couple of minutes to coat the grains.
Pour in the stock, add salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for 10 minutes, gently moving the pan around so the rice cooks evenly and absorbs the liquid.
Add chicken, chorizo, and saffron. Add the mussels and shrimp, tucking them into the rice. Give the pan a shake and let it simmer, without stirring, until the rice is al dente, for about 15 minutes. If you’re using a large pan on a single burner, move it every few minutes so it cooks evenly everywhere.
When it’s getting close to done sprinkle the peas on it.
When the paella is cooked the rice will look fluffy and moist. Now it’s time to make the socarrat. Socarrat is a layer of toasted rice on the bottom of the pan that is the hallmark of good paella. Turn the heat up and move the pan around every few seconds until you can smell the rice toasting. This is a scary step, you don’t want to burn it! Just hang your head over the pan and keep smelling for toasting rice.
Remove from heat and rest for 5 minutes. Garnish with parsley and lemon wedges if desired.
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