Quick, Spicy Paella

prep time:: 1 Hour
total time:: 2 Hours

Makes 6 dinner servings

When I was in Montreal a while ago, I went to a very small Spanish restaurant near our hotel and discovered Paella. This was the most beautiful dish I had ever seen - I was about 13 or 14 at the time.. and I just fell in love with the whole dish. The crunchy rice from the bottom of the cast iron pan, the succulent seafood, juicy chicken breast, and spicy sausage. Since it takes quite a bit of time to make, I searched for an awesome recipe, that doesn’t take too long! Sorry, you can’t cut too many corners on a classic...

ingredients

You’ll Need:
3 1/2 Cups Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
Pinch of Saffron
Pinch of Salt
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Whole Spicy Roasted Chicken in Pieces (I use the Piri Piri Chickens from Longos)
7 Cloves Garlic, crushed
1 Red Bell Pepper, cored, seeded, and thickly sliced
2 Artichoke Hearts in water, quartered
1/2 Cup Green Beans, trimmed
1/2 Medium Yellow Onion, grated
1 Large, ripe tomato, peeled, halved, and Blended smooth
1 1/2 Cups Arborio or a Medium Grain Rice
1 Pound Whole Raw Fresh Prawns in shell
(Approx 12)
1 Pound Fresh Mussles in shell
(Approx 12)
1 Pound Fresh Little Neck Clams in shell
(Approx 12)
2 Dried Chorizo Sausages sliced into coins, Crisped
2 Cobs Corn Cut into 3’s, cooked
1/2 Cup Frozen Peas

directions

1
Preheat oven to 450 Degrees F.
2
Warm up 1/2 cup chicken broth in a small pot and gently stir in saffron and let soak for 15 minutes. In a separate pot, bring remaining broth to a simmer. Remove pot from heat and pour in saffron broth. Sprinkle with salt if desired.
3
Heat Oil in the large skillet until hot. Sauté 6 garlic cloves and peppers over medium heat until tender for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then move garlic and peppers to the plate and add artichokes and green beans to skillet. Cook until tender for about 10 minutes.
4
Move artichokes and green beans to plate with peppers. Add onions and tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and cook down.
5
Add last garlic clove and rice to skillet and cook, stirring continually for about 2 minutes. Spread rice out on bottom of the skillet and pour in hot broth, cut up chicken pieces and artichokes. Top with peppers and green beans. Cook mixture over medium high heat without stirring. Once rice is just about soft, reduce heat to medium low and cook, without stirring, until almost all of the liquid has been absorbed.
6
Cover the skillet and cook for another 2 minutes, moving the pan while cooking. Top with all the seafood, and the chorizo. Add pieces of corn and sprinkle with frozen peas. If the rice begins to burn, take pan off of heat. When crust has formed on bottom, take the pan off of the heat and pop into the hot oven, until all the seafood is cooked. Serve paella directly from skillet.
7
Enjoy.

notes

A must have for this dish is a large Cast Iron Skillet- to season it before you use it, wipe down with Olive Oil, and place in a 450 degree F preheated Oven.

Source: Vanessa D