I was first introduced to Paella in fourth grade. We had a spanish teacher at our elementary school that I loved (probably because she brought the best chicken paella to our class). Since then, I’ve made it my mission to perfect this amazing dish. Meant for a crowd, paella is a classic Spanish dish traditionally cooked over an open fire. Using a shallow pan, the rice cooks quickly and it’s loaded with amazing seafood and cuts of meat (You can pretty much throw in whatever proteins you like. We chose chicken thighs, chicken sausage, lobster, and shrimp). It’s best when feeding a crowd and served with other tapas. (You can find some of our favorite tapas here.) Infused with saffron, it’s rich with flavor and the sticky bits of rice and the smoky flavor developed are truly the best parts.
Keep reading for the full recipe after the jump!
Quick and Easy Spanish Paella
Servings: 6-10 main servings
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 1 red onion, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 4 T extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tomatoes, deseed and roughly chopped
- 2 roasted red peppers, broiled, skin removed, and sliced into strips
- 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 lb lobster tails
- 6 links chicken sicilian sausage, chopped into pieces
- 4 chicken thighs, chopped into pieces
- 1 T saffron threads
- 4 C chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 C short grain or saffron rice
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Clean red peppers and deseed. Chop in half and coat with extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 35 minutes or until skin has a nice char. Remove from the oven. Place in brown bag and seal. Let sit for 10 minutes. Remove skin from peppers. Thinly chop into strips and place on the side.
Heat oil in a large sized non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic, onion, and red pepper together. Cook until onion is cooked through. Add chicken and saute until golden on all sides. Add chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. Pour in stock, rice, and saffron. Mix until combined. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and cover for most of the liquid to absorb, stirring every few minutes to prevent rice from sticking. Add in shrimp and lobster tails, mixing through the rice. Cover again allowing rice to cook completely.
To serve: top with fresh parsley, ground salt and pepper, and drizzle of olive oil.