a party in your mouth

This Paella recipe is adapted from Saveur's April 2010 issue:

Ingredients:

• One-half teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
• One pound of boneless chicken breasts, cut into 2" pieces
• 10-20 large (uncooked) shrimp, peeled and deveined. I splurged on the $24.99/lb stuff at Wegman’s
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1⁄2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 oz. dry-cured Spanish chorizo (but I like to use more because who doesn’t like extra sausage?) cut into 1⁄4"-thick coins
• One tablespoon smoked paprika
• Three cloves garlic, minced
• Three dried bay leaves
• Three medium tomatoes, minced
• One half cup white onion, minced
• Seven cups chicken broth
• Two and one-half cups cups short-grain rice, preferably Valencia or Bomba brand. I got mine at Williams-Somona for TWELVE DOLLARS. Jeez.
• Eight ounces of fresh or frozen peas. I actually used half a can of the Goya pigeon peas I found on an endcap at Tops. They looked more "Spanish" to me, whatever the hell that means.
• Three jarred roasted red peppers, chopped into 1⁄2"-thick strips
• Twelve Littleneck clams, cleaned and debearded. The recipe calls for Mussels but Peter likes Littlenecks, so Littlenecks is what I bought.

Put saffron and 1⁄4 cup hot water in a small bowl; let sit for 15 minutes. Season chicken and shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 16"–18" paella pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken, shrimp, and chorizo and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer shrimp to a plate, leaving meats in pan. Add paprika, garlic, bay leaves, tomatoes, and onions to pan and cook, stirring often, until onions soften, about 6 minutes. Add reserved saffron mixture and broth, season with salt, and bring to a boil over high heat.

Sprinkle in rice, distribute evenly with a spoon, and add peas, and peppers. Cook, without stirring, until rice has absorbed most of the liquid, 10–12 minutes. (If your pan is larger than the burner, rotate it every two minutes so different parts are over the heat and the rice cooks evenly.) Reduce heat to low, add reserved shrimp, and nestle in clams hinge side down; cook, without stirring, until clams have opened and rice has absorbed the liquid and is al dente, 5–10 minutes more. Remove pan from heat, cover with aluminum foil, and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

I found this paella pan that I registered for back in 2001 when we got married and never used.

 

I took a picture of the $12 Bomba rice because I am ridiculous.

 

The finished product:

 

It tasted delicious with Veuve.

Comments

[Julie Higgins]

I was seriously dreaming of this meal on my way home from work today. I could not get it out of my mind after seeing your picture on twitter. I was going to email you for the recipe...So thanks! Yum!!

[mom]

When are you going to make it for me? Skip the peas, though, please.

[sara]

You lost me at the lengthy ingredient list. You are seriously some type of top chef.