Paella is kind of the Spanish version of our Southerner Jambalaya. When I gave my Williams-Sonoma cooking class aptly named, The Bullfighter’s Last Supper, this is the Paella recipe we used. When I was in Mexico City, Mexico working on Telenovelas, I actually attended a few bullfights and, believe it or not, even ended up dating a matador! But honey, truth be told, I’d much rather cook them bulls, than be in the ring with them!
Spanish Paella
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Spanish
Serves: 6
PREP TIME
20 mins
COOK TIME
20 mins
TOTAL TIME
40 mins
INGREDIENTS
4 Chicken breasts
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 Tablespoon dried oregano Kosher salt & ground pepper
4 Andouille sausage
1⁄3 cup Extra virgin olive oil
1 Onion (chopped)
5 cloves Garlic (crushed)
1⁄4 cup Fresh parsley (chopped)
1 Smoked ham hock
1 can Whole tomatoes (crushed by hand)
5 cups Chicken broth (I use half chicken stock & half Seafood stock)
4 cups Rice (short grain works best)
1 teaspoon Saffron threads
1 pound Shrimp (shelled and deveined)
6 Mussels
6 Clams
1 Lobster tail (optional)
1⁄2 cup Sweet peas
INSTRUCTIONS
Place chicken on a plate. Sprinkle the chicken with paprika, salt, pepper and oregano and place in the fridge.
Heat the olive oil in the skillet or paella pan.
Sauté the sausage until browned. Remove to a plate.
Remove chicken from fridge and brown it in the same pan turning ‘til browned on all sides.Remove to the plate.
In the same pan sauté the onions, garlic and parsley ‘til onions are translucent.
Add tomatoes (squish with hands) and reserve the liquid for later.
Stir in the rice and coat the grains.
Pour in chicken stock and seafood stock and stir around and cook for 10 minutes or so and the liquid is almost absorbed.
Now, add the ham hock, peas, saffron, the sausage and the chicken, clams, mussels and shrimp and tuck them into the rice. Add the liquid from the tomatoes. Cover and let cook for another 15 minutes. (Add the optional lobster tail at the end.)
When the rice has absorbed all the liquid and is fluffy and done, turn up the heat to high (uncovered) for about 30 seconds to toast the rice on the bottom. Don’t burn it! Just toast it! And serve. Ole’!