Paella (Chicken & Seafood)

What is Paella?

Paella comes from the countryside around Valencia, where it began as a humble dish for workers in the orchards and vegetable fields. They simmered what ingredients they could find—tomatoes, beans, rabbit, snails—in a wide pan over the cuttings of orange trees before adding rice to absorb the flavors and make a filling midday meal. From there, paella drifted into villages and then cities and eventually became Spain’s national dish.

This is an impressive dish that is perfect to serve at a party paired with a good wine. It is a recipe that is endlessly versatile and a great way to repurpose leftover proteins and veggies in your refrigerator.

The crust of rice is called 'socarrat' this what makes paella special.

I bought a paella pan from amazon. You can use a big shallow pan.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

4 chicken thighs boneless and skinless cut into 1 inch pieces

1 chorizo sausages cut into 1 inch pieces (I used Italian sausages but using spanish chorizo is the best)

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

1/4 tsp pepper or to taste

1 large onion chopped

5 cloves garlic minced

2 cups arborio rice*

1 1/2 C chopped tomatoes, seeds removed (You can use 14 oz canned fire roasted tomatoes too)

1 red bell pepper

1/4 C dry white wine

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth low sodium

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp saffron

8 pcs shelled and deveined medium shrimps, keep tails on

8 pcs mussels scrubbed and soaked

8 pcs clams scrubbed and soaked

1 cup octopus pieces (I used cooked one)

fresh parsley for garnish, roughly chopped

2 lemons

1. Make the 'Sofrito' This is the flavor and goodness of the paella.

Dice tomatoes, bell pepper & onion, mince garlic.

Mix in a bowl with red pepper flakes, pinch of saffron, 1 lemon juice. S/P.

Set aside.

2. Season chicken with S/P.

3. Fry with chorizo/ sausage. Once the chicken is not pink anymore. Set aside.

4. Cook sofrito. Stir for 3-4 min.

5. Add Rice and stir for another 2 min. Add chicken & sausage. Stir.

6. Add seafood or chicken stock. I didn't have seafood stock so i used chicken bone broth. Add white wine. Mix it well now because after this you will let it all set in.

7. Add Shrimp, mussels, clams and octopus on top.

8. Cover with foil and let it simmer for 15-18 min. Remove cover.

9. Turn up heat to high. Allow the bottom of the pan to begin to caramelized. Pay attention to the sound of the rice cooking – it should crackle. Also pay attention to the smell – it should smell toasted, but definitely not burned. Allow the Socarrat to toast for about 2-3 minutes.

10. Cover again and let it rest for 5min.

11. Serve with Lemon wedges.

#Paella #Seafoodpaella #Spanishpaella #Dinnerparty #Chickenseafoodpaella