Paella, it's about time

For years, my daughter has asked me about posting my paella recipe and for years, I've managed to skirt around the issue and ended up posting nothing. It's been a while since my last post but here it finally is. We've been cooking and eating paella for many years. There are about as many variations as there are cooks in the world. My belief is that paella is a technique rather than a dish. They would put all manner of meat from rabbit to probably squirrel. For us, we've learned to appreciate the flavor of meat and seafood in one dish. If you ask me, it's the ultimate surf and turf dish. You can cook this in almost any flat dish. The paellera in fact is nothing more than a flat frying pan anyway. So any frying pan with a tight fitting cover should do. I use a 10 inch pan for this one.

1 medium white onion chopped fine
3 cloves garlic crushed and chopped
2 medium or 1 large ripe red tomato diced

2-3 tbsp olive oil (Pomace will do)

1/2 chicken cut into 6 pcs. - Wing, Breast (2 parts), thigh, leg. back (hind): Season generously with paprika, salt and pepper
then rub with olive oil
4-5 shrimp/prawns
1 squid dressed and cut into rings (save the tentacles)
5-6 mussel
10-12 Manila clams
1 pc Spanish Chorizo. Commercially available but must be a dried red mildly spicy one sliced 1/4 inch circles.

2 cups short grain (arborio, shojihikari, bomba, milagrosa)
4 1/2 cups chicken broth
8 strands saffron steeped in 1/2 cup warm water OR 1 small packet Carmencita paella valencia

bell peppers julienne sliced for garnish
2 hard boiled eggs
1 lemon for garnish

1. Prepare the sofrito

Put the pan on the stove until wisps of smoke appear
Add your onions, garlic and tomatoes
Lower the flame to allow them to simmer
As they become translucent, take a potato riser and mash the mixture. What you're after is a smooth paste.
Set aside

2. Brown the meats


In the same pan, brown the chicken pcs. skin side down first. When browned set aside
return the sofrito onto a medium heat pan
Add the rice
Add the chorizo and mix constantly until the rice grains are all colored by the sofrito and paprika.
Add the saffron including the liquid, OR sprinkle the contents of the Carmencita packet and stir until you get an even orange/yellow color


3. Cook the rice

Now add the rest of the broth slowy, stirring slightly after each cup until the third cup.
Stir once, and never stir again. Turn the flame down to its lowest possible
Submerge the chicken pcs into the rice and then Cover
After 10 minutes, add the prawns ensuring they are sunk into the rice, decorate with the bell pepper slices
AFter 5 minutes more add the squid, and the shellfish, inserting into the rice with the hinges pointing upwards coveragain
Turn up the flame and count out 1 minute
Turn the flame down to its lowest and cook another 5 minutes. If you hear a crackling sound as if frying, add 1/4 cup of broth and cover
After 20 minutes, shut the flame and allow the paella to sit for 5 minutes.

Open and garnish with eggs and lemon wedges and serve