Paella

Paella is both a pan and the name of a spanish rice dish. To make paella you need a pan that is wide but very shallow, only 1-2 inches high. I found my pan at my Grandma's house and decided to make this dish. Once you have the method of a paella down, you can add lots of different flavors, meats, and seafoods to it. I tried to keep mine as traditional as possible but made a few tweaks. A normal paella uses bell peppers but since I don't like the flavor of bell peppers, I used a pasilla pepper instead. This dish really needs even heat when cooking. I suggest doing it on a large grill. I made mine on the stove top and was constantly turning it to make the heat even as possible so the rice would cook evenly. I think this turned out really well and I'm excited to make this in the future. If you're making it for a dinner party you can do through step 3 and then store the items. 30-45 minutes before you want to eat, turn the heat back up on the pan and continue with the rice at step 4.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Thighs, cut in half
1/2 Polish Kilbasa, cut into half moons
1/2 large Onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves Garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 pobalno or pasilla pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
2 Tbs. Tomato Paste
1 tbs. paprika
1/2 tsp. Saffron threads
1 cup Arborio Rice
4 cups Chicken stock
1/2 cup White wine
4 Shrimps
2 Scallops


Directions:

1. Prep all ingredients. Clean seafood and chicken. Chop onion, garlic and peppers. Bloom saffron in 1/2 cup of stock. Etc.

2. Place 1 tbs. olive oil into your paella pan and set over medium heat. Add the kilbasa and brown sausage in pan. Set aside. Without removing any fat, brown chicken pieces (seasoned with salt and pepepr)in the pan. Set aside.

3. Saute peppers in the pan. Add onions and turn heat to low. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until onions are carmelized. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Add tomato paste and cook 1 minute. Make sure to scrap up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan while you're cooking the veggies.

4. Add rice to pan and lightly toast for 1-2 minutes.

5. Add white wine, 1 cup of stock and saffron mixture. Make sure to scrap up brown bits. Add enough stock that the rice is totally submerged but just barely. The liquid ratio will be about 2 1/2 parts liquid to 1 part rice by the end. Stir sausague back into rice.

6. Place chicken on top of rice. Make sure everything is spread evenly. From this point on, don't stir the rice! trust me! Cook uncovered over the stove on low heat for 8 minutes. The liquid should be gently bubbling up through the rice while cooking.

7. Add a second dose of the stock but only to where the rice looks dry. Add the seafood at this time. Make sure it is spread evenly around the pan. Cook another 8 minutes. No stirring!

8. Taste the rice once it's been cooking for 16 minutes. If it is not finished, add more liquid and cook another 2-5 minutes, lowering the heat. Continue slowly adding stock and cooking until rice is done.

9. Rest paella for 5 mintues with a towel covering the dish.

8. Finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon and chopped herbs like green onion. I suggest serving straight from the pan, it's a very impressive presentation.