Paella Valencia - My Personal Adaption (Spanish)

Pablo Espiniella, who worked with the Special Rapporteur on Migrants when I joined  the OHCHR in 2000, gave me a book titled “The Best Spanish Dishes” so I could include something from Spain in my cookbook. This, however, is my personal adaption of a number of different paella recipes. It serves 8-10 people. As I recently came back from Nova Scotia with lobster, I added that to a paella I cooked at a small dinner party I had on my return. The recipe takes about 2-2½ hours to prepare, but it is well worth it.

4 pounds of chicken (if you are using whole chickens, this is about 1½ fairly large birds) cut into pieces (I usually cut the legs into two pieces, a drumstick and a thigh; the breast into two or three pieces; the wings into two; and I discard the backbone)

¾ pound Spanish or Portuguese Chorizo sausage (this is a spicy, fairly hard sausage, about an inch in diameter

24 large uncooked shrimp

24 little neck clams, scrubbed (or you can use mussels if you prefer, or in addition to the clams, or

           lobster)

3 cups medium grained rice (Arborio, risotto rice)

2 medium-sized onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 sweet red peppers, sliced into thin strips (about ⅛ inch wide)

6 small artichokes (you can used frozen or canned artichokes if fresh ones are not available – then they do not need to be cooked)

1 large tin (about 1½ cups) of plum tomatoes, chopped into small pieces

½ cup dry white wine

1½ cups chicken broth (I make it from the backbones of the chicken)

1½ cups clam juice

            (Note: all together, you need about 6 cups of liquid for the 3 cups of rice – and this is made up of the combination of the liquid from the tomatoes, the wine, chicken broth and clam juice. You can increase one or the other, as long as the proportion of 2 cups liquid to one cup rice is maintained.)

1 teaspoon saffron

2 tablespoons paprika

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

approximately 4 tablespoons olive oil

For this amount of food, you need two large paella pans or heavy skillets that can go into the oven. 

 

Prepare the chicken:

• Pat the chicken dry with paper towelling. Season with salt and pepper.  
• In 2-3 tablespoons olive oil, brown the chicken in a large heavy skillet. If the chicken pieces have skin and some fat on them, you don’t need much oil. 
• Fry for about 15 minutes, stirring and turning the pieces to ensure that the chicken doesn’t burn.
• As the pieces of chicken brown, remove them from the skillet and set aside, keeping warm if possible.

Prepare the Chorizo

•  Cut the Chorizo into one inch chunks, remove the casing, and set aside.

Prepare the clams and mussels:

• In a large heavy pot with a lid, steam the clams (and/or mussels) in the ½ cup dry white wine (use a little more if you are making both clams and mussels) over moderate heat for 4 to 10 minutes. Transfer them to a bowl as they open – the mussels will open before the clams. Discard any mussels that do not open after 8 minutes and any clams that don’t open after 10 minutes. Set aside, covered, to keep warm. 
• Strain the liquid in which the clams and/or mussels was cooked in by pouring through a strainer lined with a piece of paper towelling. (This will get rid of any sand that may have been inside the shells.) 
• Set the liquid aside, topping up to 1½ cups with bottled clam juice (if this is available).

Prepare the shrimp (and/or lobster):

• Drop the shrimp into boiling water for a minute or less, just till they turn pink. Drain in a colander.
• When cool enough to handle, peel and devein, but leave the tails on.
• If using lobster, it should be pre-cooked and cut into pieces.

Prepare the artichokes:

• Take a large pot of cold water and add the juice of half a lemon. 
• Prepare the artichokes by cutting off the stems, trimming the top of the flower to get rid of the sharp points, and snapping off the tough outer leaves. Cut the artichokes into quarters with a sharp knife, and rub the exposed surfaces with a cut lemon to prevent discolouration. As each artichoke is cut, drop it into the cold lemon water. 
• Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add the quartered artichokes. Cook for 10-12 minutes, until tender. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a colander to drain. When cool enough to handle, remove any chock that may exist. (There will be no choke to remove if the vegetable is small enough.)

Prepare the paella:

• Sauté the chopped onion in 2 tablespoons olive oil until golden. 
• Add the minced garlic and the paprika and cook for another two minutes, stirring. 
• Add the rice and stir continuously for about a minute. 
• Add the chopped tomatoes. 
• Dissolve the saffron in the chicken broth. 
• Add the chicken broth and the clam juice and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat. 
• At this point, divide the mixture between two paella pans or two heavy skillets. 
• Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
• Add half the chicken to each. Add half the Chorizo sausage to each. 
• Simmer, stirring from time to time to ensure it does not burn, until the liquid is absorbed. You can cover the pans but keep the flame low.

 Final Preparation:

•  Preheat oven to 400˚ Fahrenheit. 
• Add the mussels, clams, shrimp, lobster to the paella dishes, tucking them into the rice and distributing nicely across the pans. 
• Bake uncovered in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes, so that the seafood is heated through. 
• Sauté the red pepper in 1 tablespoon olive oil for 3-4 minutes, so it remains a little crisp (not soggy). 
• Sauté the artichokes until just heated through. 
• Remove paella from the oven. 
• Garnish with the red pepper strips and artichokes and serve.