Paella Recipe (Cook On Your Stove Top)

This is my tried and true Paella Recipe (Cook On Your Stove Top). It is a rice, seafood, and chicken dish that pleases guests and family. Paella is a meal I make when I have a little extra time for to cook dinner (and my family LOVES it)…

Paella Recipe (Cook On Your Stove Top)

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 pack of chicken wings and drumsticks (about 20 or so).
• 1 bag frozen calimari (or fresh calimari if you can find it)
• 1 package frozen shrimp (uncooked)
• 1 container of live mussels
• 1 envelope of paella colourant or saffron threads**
• 2 large, cut and cored, tomatoes (better if you take the skin off — but you don’t have to)
• 1 tsp Pimenton (also known as Sweet Paprika)
• 2 cups of medium grain calrose rice*
• 4 cups of water
• 1 red pepper (clean, and cut in strips)
• 2 large lemons
• salt and pepper to taste

*expensive paella rices like bomba paella rice can be found in specialty stores and online. But really, you just need a medium grain rice and the Calrose rice is much more affordable and easy to find in grocery stores.

**I found paella colourant on Amazon.com. To be honest, this gives no flavour or taste to the paella is is exclusively for colour. Which is why…if you can’t find food collourant powder for paella you can use saffron threads to create the classic yellow colour.

Time: it will take about 1 hour to cook from start to finish.

Makes: 8-10 servings

Directions:

Heat your pan (I use a large cooker as you can tell from the picture.  I find it better to use a pan with a lid to cover the rice to cook). If you don’t have a cover, you’ll have to cover the pan with aluminum foil. Don’t worry…keep reading and I’ll tell you when to do this.

Start by heating olive oil.

Add chicken to oil. Cook until the chicken is really crispy (that crisp at the bottom of the pan helps to make the flavour of the paella).

Once the chicken is crispy and cooked remove it to a separate dish (you will put it back in later).

Now add cut tomatoes. You are going to cook these until they are liquidized (about 10 minutes or so). I salt and pepper the tomatoes at this point just to add to the flavour tones we are building. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up the crispy chicken bits left on the pan.

When the tomatoes are liquid. Add in the frozen shrimp and calamari. Cook until the shrimp are pink on both sides.

Next, add in 4 cups of water (you are making the paella broth at this point). To the water, add in 1 tsp of Pimenton and paella collourant (or saffron). Stir to combine. Add cooked chicken back in. Let simmer for about 15 minutes to combine flavours.

After 15 minutes of simmering bring the liquid up to a boil.

Then, add in 2 cups of uncooked rice. Move around so the rice is covered by the water. Next, on top of water add in slices of red pepper and mussels. Scatter these around. The rice will fluff up and take up the space in between the peppers and mussels. Reduce heat to a simmer.

Cover (with lid or aluminum foil). Simmer for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, check rice done-ness. It should absorb all the liquid (if not – cover and let cook another 5 minutes and check again).

Serve with lemon wedges on the side. Yes, you will want to squeeze lemon on to the paella!

If you are lucky, you will have fluffy rice on the top of your pan and crispy rice on the bottom (my family LOVES the crispy rice the best).

Best served warm.

NOTE: if any of the mussels DO NOT OPEN after cooking then THROW THEM OUT…you can get sick by eating mussels which don’t open.

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