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Spanish Paella

When it comes to Spanish food I will generally never deny myself, after all it is my absolute favorite cuisine of all times.  One of my favorite dishes has to be paella.  It’s a bit time consuming to make but worth every minute.  Traditionally paella is prepared in a wide shallow pan and cooked over an outdoor fire.  However, it’s easy to cook paella to perfection right in your very own kitchen.

Ingredients:
1 onion diced
1 green pepper chopped
1 red pepper chopped
4 cloves of garlic chopped
1 cup frozen green peas unthawed
1 can of stewed tomatoes
1lb shrimp peeled and deveined
1lb crab legs shelled
4 chicken legs placed in a bowl with 2 tbls olive oil, sea salt and pepper
1 pkg turkey sausage
1 pkg Spanish saffron rice I use this one Vigo yellow rice
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cup clam juice
2 tsp smoked paprika
Olive oil

Directions:

(Sofrito-a Spanish tomato and onion sauce used as a flavor base for the paella)
Using a fork, mash the stewed tomatoes in a bowl until completely shredded.
Heat 2 tbls olive oil in a large pan over medium heat and cook the onion and garlic for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the mashed tomatoes and 2 tsp paprika and cook until all the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated and the sofrito has the consistency of jam (see pic 5)

While the sofrito is cooking, place 1tbls of oil in a heated skillet and pan fry the chicken legs.  Once the chicken is cooked fully, remove from the skillet and pop in the refrigerator to cool.  Once cooled, remove the chicken from the bone and return to the skillet.  Add the turkey sausage and cook until well sauteed.  Set aside

Heat 2tbls of olive oil under med high heat and cook the green and red pepper for 6 minutes stirring occasionally.  Add the sofrito back to the pan along with 1 1/2 cups of Spanish rice.  Cook for 1 minute stirring to coat.

Add 1 1/2 cups of heated chicken broth and 1 1/2 cups of heated clam juice, sea salt and pepper.  Stir to combine and bring to a rolling simmer.  Cook for 10 minutes uncovered without stirring.  Lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes (you may need to add a bit of water) After the 20 minutes, turn the heat up to medium high for 1 minute until you can smell the rice toasting at the bottom, then remove the pan from the heat.

While the rice is cooking, add 1tbls of oil to a heated pan.  Add the shrimp and crab and saute’ until shrimp is light pink.  Set aside

Add the chicken, turkey, shrimp and crab to the rice.  Add the peas and cover the pan with foil and let paella rest for 5 minutes.

Present the paella in the pan at the table with lemon wedges on the side for drizzling.

Enjoy!
Nikki
  

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