Paella-Tortilla Espanol: Invite your friends for a Spanish Fiesta!
I admit I have not been to Spain but the first dish I would definitely get would have to be paella! I’ve tried it several times in restaurants but I keep coming back to the recipe I created. After researching the dish and several trial and error attempts of making it I’ve come up with an easy to make recipe that works every time! Since this is a Spanish fiesta, I’m going to share with you 2 other dishes that go perfectly with paella. Tortilla Espanol and a simple tapas of goat cheese melted in tomato sauce. I’ve included links back to our store where you can buy an awesome paella kit that contains all the necessary tools and ingredients to make a wonderful paella.
When making the paella, you are essentially adding ingredients to season the rice. When the rice is cooked well, nothing else in the pan matters, not the chicken or even the seafood. The sole purpose of all these extra ingredients are there to provide flavor to the rice. When you’ve perfected making paella you will get a golden brown caramelized layer on the bottom of the rice. This is called socarrat. When the dish is ready, you can have all your guests assemble around the paella pan and begin the feast!
Now this is a Paella!!
“CHICKEN, CHORIZO AND SEAFOOD PAELLA”
SERVES 8 to 103 boneless chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch pieces
3/4 pound chorizo, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 1 1/4 pound lobsters
1 pound large shrimp
1 pound mussels
3 calamari
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
6-10 cloves minced fresh garlic
1 can (14.5 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons pimenton, (smoked Spanish paprika)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chicken broth
4 cups reserved broth from lobsters
4-6 tablespoons olive oil
10 threads of saffron
2 1/2 cups Spanish rice (short to medium grain) Valencia or Goya
1 10 ounce package of frozen sweet peas, thawed
1 small jar of piquillo peppers
Peel the shrimp and refrigerate until use. Clean and cut the calarmi. Refigerate until used.
Wash the mussels in a metal bowl with cold water. Throw away any that are open or cracked.
Cut up the chicken breasts, Season with black pepper, 1 tablespoon pimenton, olive oil, and kosher salt. Heat the oil in your paella pan and cook the chicken add chorizo. Remove the chicken and chorizo from the pan.
Steam the Shrimp and Calamari about 8-10 minutes until shrimp is pink. Set aside with chicken and chorizo. Cook the lobsters, in the same pot used for the shrimp and squid adding water to the pot to = about 8 quarts of boiling, salted water for 10 minutes. Remove the lobsters and reserve 4 cups of the liquid. Shell and cut the lobster meat into bite size pieces. Set aside with the shrimp, calamari, chicken, chorizo.
Saute the onions and peppers in your paella pan for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté another minute. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, cumin, thyme, pimenton, salt and pepper. Cook, uncovered on low heat for about 10 minutes. (This mixture is called the “sofrito”)
Add the rice and stir until grains are thoroughly coated. Place the chicken broth and reserved lobster broth in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir saffron in broth until dissolved.
Add the broth to your paella pan and simmer for 10-15 minutes (Do not stir rice, but instead shake around using the handles of the pan.) Add the mussels and simmer until the rice is cooked and the mussels have opened. Throw away any mussels that do not open
Arrange the chicken, sausage, shrimp, calamari and lobster in the sofrito. Scatter the peas and pimento on top and continue to cook until the liquid is absorbed. The perfect paella has a golden brown crust called socarrat.
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photo by baylina
Tortilla Esapnol
Ingredients:
3lbs baking potato, thinly sliced
1 large spanish onion, thinly sliced
1 Red pepper, thinly sliced
4 large eggs
olive oil
salt to taste
cooking spray
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Coat a rectangular cooking pan (cookie pan) with cooking spray. Add the sliced potatoes, onion and red pepper. Lightly drizzle olive oil over to coat everything. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss until all ingredients are coated. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked nice and tender. After about 20 minutes, remove the pan and stir everything around with a spatula to prevent sticking.
Combine eggs in a large bowl. Stir in the potato, onion and pepper mixture. Lighty season with salt and pepper and let it stand for about 5 minutes. Heat a 10inch nonstick skillet over medium heat, coat the pan completely with cooking spray. Pour the potato mixture into pan. Cook, covered for about 7-10 minutes or until set, gently shake the pan throughout to prevent sticking.
Remove the pan from the stove, place a plate upside down over the pan and invert the omelet onto the plate. Spray the pan again with cooking spray. Now, gently slide the omelet, cooked side up, back into the pan and cook for about 5 minutes or until set.
Carefully slide the omelet back onto the plate. You may need to use a knife or spatula to lossen it from the pan.
Cut the omelet into small wedges, season again with salt and peper, serve and enjoy!
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Baked Goat Cheese in Salsa
Ingredients:
2 four oz. logs goat cheese
2 Cups Roasted Salsa
2 Tbls chopped cilantro
Directions:
Heat oven to 350.
Place goat cheese logs in the center of a 9-inch glass baking dish. Pour the salsa in the dish around and ontop of the goat cheese.
Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until heated through. Remove from oven and garnish with cilantro.
Serve with tortilla chips or small slices of a French baguette.
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