When people think of Spain the next few thoughts are either beaches, flamenco dancing, bull fighting or paella. Unfortunately I’m not that great at dancing and I definitely can’t build a beach or fit a bull inside my apartment. One thing that can be done is make paella! Making paella traditionally calls for short grain spanish rice and a special pan a paellera. But seeing as neither are easily available here, we’ll use what can be found in a typical kitchen. This paella recipe is fairly simple, won’t take too long to make, delicious and can be made any day!

Alright so to make paella here’s what you’ll need:

Paella Ingredients:

• 1/2 tps saffron
• 2 tbs hot water
• 4 tbs olive oil
• 1chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 cup of shrimp and scallops
• cherry tomatoes, cut in halves or wedges
• 1/2 bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 paprika, mild or spicy if you want to give it some kick
• 1 cup white rice, I used basmati + 2 cups of water
• Chorizo sausage, chopped, add as much as you want for flavouring
• Stock cube
• 1/2 cup of peas

Once everything is all ready, let’s get cooking!

Directions:

In a small bowl add the saffron to hot water for a few mins.

Let the saffron steep in hot water for a few minutes

We’re going to start by heating up about 2 tbs of olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Next take the chicken pieces and fry them up until they appear to be nice and golden. Once the pieces are golden, place the chicken aside in a bowl.

Fry the chicken until it is nice and golden

The next step is to sautée the vegetables, add another 2 tbs of olive oil to the pan along with your chopped pepper, onions, garlic and tomatos. Do this for about 1 minute and then add the chorizo into the pan and continue for a few more minutes.

Add the chorizo to the veggies in the pan

Once the veggies and chorizo are fried up, add the rice into the pan. You’ll want to fry it up for a few minutes, its just to toast it up a bit. At the same time add the paprika, the saffron and it’s liquid.

Fry up the rice and add the paprika, saffron and it’s liquid

Next stir in the 2 cups of water and the stock cube mixing them all together, and the peas, shrimp and scallops to the mix.

Add the water and the stock cube to the pan

Keeping the stove on medium-high heat, let the mixture cook until you start to see holes coming through the rice.

Cook the rice until there is no more water left in the pan

Once all the water is gone from the pan, your rice will be ready, flatten out the rice for serving presentation.

Flatten the rice in the pan before serving

You did it! In front of you now sits a delicious chicken seafood paella without having to buy a ticket to Spain to eat one, talk about saving money on this dish! A glass of white wine pairs perfectly with the chicken and seafood, so pour yourself a glass at the dinner table and as they say in Spain, ¡Buen Provecho!

¡Buen Provecho!

How did your paella turn out? Let me know I’d love to hear from you!