Paella

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Once you understand the order of the steps, making Paella is not that difficult to master. You will need special equipment, like an 18.5 inch paella pan, but those are easily found and relatively inexpensive. If you're cooking outdoors, you can cook on top of your bbq grill grates. If making indoors, I use two burners (gas) and slow rotate every few minutes so it heats evenly.

The best advice I can give is never stir the rice after you add the liquid. You can poke with a spoon to check bottom, but if you stir, it will turn into a gummy mess. After a few tries, you'll be a master and it's a great special occasion meal to share with your family and friends.

Ingredients

• 4 Spanish chorizo sausages, diced
• 2 pounds chicken thighs
• 1/2 pound scallops
• 1 bag Bomba Paella Rice, 2.2lbs or 1 kilo
• 28 ounces San Marzano Crushed Tomatoes, crushed with hands
• 8 cups chicken stock, 2 cartons
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 jar roasted red peppers, can be jarred or made fresh
• 6 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
• paprika
• dried oregano
• 1 pinch saffron
• peas

Preparation

Trim fat off chicken thighs and lay flat on a plastic cutting board. Sprinkle paprika, dried oregano, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper on both sides of chicken. Place in a 1 gallon ziploc and let marinate.

Warm 8 cups of chicken broth in a sauce pan under low simmer. Add 1 pinch of saffron to the mixture. Taste the broth when it's warm to ensure it's salted enough. Even though you'll be seasoning each layer as you cook it, it's important that the broth is well seasoned as well.

Heat oil in a 18.5" paella pan over medium heat. Since you will be browning in the middle, you can use one burner in the middle of the pan to start. Saute the chorizo until browned, remove and reserve. Add chicken and brown on both side, turning with tongs. Remove from pan and reserve.

In the same pan, make a sofrito by sauteing the onions, garlic, and parsley. Cook for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Salt and Pepper as you sauté.

Next add the jarred roasted red peppers and cook for a few minutes. I tend to cook the vegetables a little longer because the kids freak out if they see a veggy (god forbid). Also, at this point the middle bottom of the pan should be dark from all the sautéing. Don't worry about that as you'll lift up that flavor when you pour the stock in (otherwise known as deglazing)

Then, add tomatoes and cook until the mixture caramelizes a bit and the flavors meld. Salt and pepper again.

Add the chicken stock and scrape off any bits stuck to the bottom. Add the rice and gently distribute it evenly. Do not stir the rice as it will release the starch and make the dish gummy.

Add back the chicken and chorizo and make sure everything is evenly distributed.

Do not stir the rice after this point. You're going to want to, but don't.

Turn on BOTH burners on your stove and set to low/simmer. Move the pan into the middle so that the heat is distributed. Now this will not be even so you'll need to rotate the pan 45 degrees every 5-10 minutes. I also recommend to put tin foil over the top to keep some of the moisture in. The rice will need to cook for about 35 minutes total.

After cooking for about 20 minutes, nestle the scallops into the rice mixture and remove the foil.

When the paella is cooked and the rice looks fluffy and moist, turn the heat up for 40 seconds until you can smell the rice toast at the bottom, then it's perfect. The ideal paella has a toasted rice bottom called socarrat.

Serve by with lemon wedges.

If you made this recipe, please let us know!

Next Recipe: Shrimp Risotto Fra Diavolo

Date Added: 11/21/2022