This summer I decided to be adventurous, try new things, and hopefully eat delicious food!  I went on some amazing trips and definitely tried some new foods…head cheese.  I wanted to try to break out of my comfort zone and try making a dish that I never would have dared try.  This summer, I made Paella!!!  It was a great experience and I learned some very important things. First, when making Paella, make sure you have a big enough cooking surface that can handle such a large pan.  Second, make sure you continuously taste as you go.  Third, if you are making such a time intensive dish, make sure you have some good music playing!

My experience with Paella was fantastic.  I got to use ingredients that I haven’t been able to in the past and I got to appreciate the impressed looks from my dinner guests.  Let’s be honest…Paella is a dish that you enjoy first with the eyes and then with the mouth!

Ingredients
2 chicken thighs and 2 chicken legs
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 Spanish chorizo sausages, thickly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 Spanish onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
Bunch flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped, reserve some for garnish
1 (15-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained and hand-crushed, use San Marzano tomates
4 cups short grain Spanish rice, try to find Bomba rice, but if you cannot find it you can use Arborio rice
6 cups water, warm
Generous pinch saffron threads
1 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed
1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined
2 lobster tails
1/2 cup sweet peas, frozen and thawed
Lemon wedges, for serving
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Recipe (Adapted from Tyler Florence)
Rub the spice mix, salt and pepper all over the chicken and marinate chicken for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Heat oil in a paella pan over medium-high heat. Saute the chorizo until browned, remove and reserve. Add chicken skin-side down and brown on all sides, turning with tongs. Add salt and freshly ground pepper. Remove from pan and reserve.
In the same pan, saute the onions, garlic, and parsley. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes on a medium heat. Then, add tomatoes (hand squeezed just adds an element of fun!!) and cook until the mixture caramelizes a bit and the flavors meld. Stir in the rice and make sure that it is coated completely in all the juices in the plan.  Pour in water and simmer for 10 minutes, gently moving the pan around so the rice cooks evenly and absorbs the liquid.   When I said that you need to make sure that you have a large enough cooking surface, this is when it is really important!  If you do not have a large cooking surface, the heat will centralize in one area of the pan and this can cause the dish to burn.  I highly recommend making this dish on a grill that you can easy regulate the temperature.  Add chicken, chorizo, and saffron and cooking for 6 minutes.  Add the clams and shrimp, tucking them into the rice. The shrimp will take about 8 minutes to cook. Give the paella a good shake and let it simmer, without stirring, until the rice is al dente, for about 15 minutes. Remember that you should not stir this dish, you should only shake it; this allows the dish to have crunch bottom that makes Paella different from Risotto.  During the last 5 minutes of cooking, when the rice is filling the pan, add the lobster tails. When the paella is cooked and the rice looks fluffy and moist, turn the heat up for 40 seconds until you can smell the rice toast at the bottom, then it’s perfect.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did!