Sunday, August 03, 2008

Chicken and Seafood Paella

Marrying someone out of your own race means you have to learn to cook some of his food. Two of the dish I learned to cook for Carlos is Paella and Empanadas. For me both dishes are very similar to our Clay pot rice and our Curry puffs.

Paella is usually cooked in a Paella pan which is large, shallow, flat pan. An important part of the flavor comes from saffron and sofrito (combination of tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic) as for meat you can use chicken, rabbit or seafood like fish, clams, shrimps and crabs.

There are so many paella recipes out there and every cook will have their own version of it. Paella is very flexible so if you don’t have the exact ingredients or if you find some of them hard to get hold of, substitute them for something similar.



Ingredients :

2 chicken breast - cut to bite size pieces
1 pound of shrimp - shelled and deveined
1 pound clams - wash and soak in cold water
1 red pepper - cut half in long strip and half in cubes
1 yellow pepper - cut half in long strip and half in cubes
3 tomatoes - cut into small cubes
1 onions - chopped
4 cloves of garlic - chopped
1 cup of green peas
2 cups of long or short grain rice
3 3/4 cups of chicken broth
1/2 tsp of saffron
2 tsp of paprika
salt and pepper to taste

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degree F. Marinate the chicken meat with paprika, salt and pepper and set aside. Heat up a bit of oil in the pan or paella pan and lightly brown the peppers that were cut in strips. Dish out and set aside.
2. With the same pan light brown the chicken on both side and once its brown take it out and set aside.
3. With the same pan put a bit more oil and add the chopped onion and garlic. Cook until fragrant and lightly brown. Add in diced tomatoes and the cubes peppers. Let continue to cook until some of the tomatoes juice evaporated.
4. Then add in the rice. Lightly toss the rice in the pan until all the rice are well coated with the rest of the ingredients. Add in chicken broth, saffron, chicken, salt and pepper to taste. Once the broth boil and the liquid started to reduce put the pan into a 350 degree F oven and let it continue to cook.
5. When the rice almost absorb most of the liquid take it out of the oven and put in the shrimps, clams, green peas and the red and yellow peppers strip. Put it back to the oven until the clams open and the rice is cook. This will take another 15 - 20 minutes.
Note : I put this dish into the oven because my paella pan don't have a cover. This will ensure the rice cook properly. If you cook in a pan with cover then you can cook this dish right on top of the stove. Just reduce the heat once the the liquid boil and continue to cook until the rice is done.

For more pictures click here

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gert ,atlast you can cook Paella with the suitable pan.Your Paella is so colorful and full of seafood!!yum yum!!I still didn't use my Paella pan yet!.Did you find any different cooking over the stove compare with in the oven?.I think cooking in oven is easier,right?

ps:I can't auto login as blogger for comment,it's keep saying my PW not valid..dunno what happen?

Lesley(beachlover)

Babe_KL said...

wow look so good! might look into making this when i'm not lazy :p

Penny said...

WOOW this look superb! Can I invite myself over for dinner soon?

Kiersten said...

Carlos is a very lucky man. I love paella too, but the place I usually go to for paellas charges an arm and a leg. :( Where can I get a paella pan? Will a frying pan do?

Your paella looks yummy, and nice colour combination too. :)

Nate @ House of Annie said...

We use the widest saute pan we have - 14 inches.

I'm looking at your recipe, but it doesn't appear to have chorizo sausage. Was that on purpose?

Yatie_T said...

Gert,
last time I saw Farina post paella recipe on her blog and hasn't get any chance to try it yet. Check at one of my local spanish & mexican restaurant but they don't have paella on their menu. :( Anyway, your paella looks beautiful and delicious.

Shreya said...

lovely colours.. wish I could dig a big spoonful!

ICook4Fun said...

Lesley, the paella pan is big. With just 2 cups of rice I am able to feed 5 people and with leftovers for Diana to take home :)I am not sure what happen to blogger.

Babe_kl, you just have to cook this one dish and feed the whole family :)

Penny, sure come on over when you are at this neck of the wood :)

Pinky, you can just cook this in a big saute pan. Its always cheaper to cook this yourself.

Annie, yes I left out the chorizo because I am not a big fan of it :)

Yatie, you can always cook this yourself. Its not that difficult :) Eating this at the restaurant is very expensive. I remember paying $18.00 for a plate.

Shreya, you can have the whole plate and not just spoonful :)

Little Corner of Mine said...

I love paella. I only made it once since I don't own the pan. Lots of "liao" ah!

Anonymous said...

Wow, this looks amazing. Super vibrant and appetizing!

Ummi365 said...

gert, your photos made me laparlah.. i tengah ganti puasa ni.. hey come to my blog and see my cheesecake.. i ikut cara you susun the strawberries..heehhe

Anonymous said...

wowza!!! that paella looks to die for. i'm practically drooling on my keyboard.

typically i stay away from it because i'm allergic to mussels, but your's looks fantastic (and mussel free!). thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

wow, this paella is a complete meal by itself..i never try this before, how does it taste like?

- Kath

Unknown said...

lol i loveee how u compare paella and empanadas with claypot rice and curry puffs! hahahaha well done! the paella looks gorgeous! colorful!

VG said...

Gert

That looks absolutely scrumptious. Now there is another gadget I have to buy!

tigerfish said...

So beautiful. When I made seafood Nasi Goreng long time ago, I actually had paella in mind. LOL!

ICook4Fun said...

LCOM, I cook this only once a while so put more 'lioa' in it. I gave some to the neighbor so can't be stingy on the ingredients :)

Selina, thank you and thanks for stopping by.

Ummi, tengah puasa jangan visit food blog nanti batal puasa :). I saw your cheesecake and its beautiful!

Katie, you can always replace the mussels with clams or other type of shell fish.

Kath, it taste really good. The key ingredient to this dish is saffron. It gave a very unique taste. You should try cooking it sometime :)

Rita, thank you :)

VG, we just can't stay away from our kitchen gadgets :)

Tigerfish, thank you :)

Dee said...

OOoooo... nice picture ;)

Anonymous said...

Boy oh boy, this looks so good and colorful.

Jescel said...

You can say that again about marrying someone out of your own race ;oD .. Oh, this dish looks so yummy.. it's one of my fave food! hmmn... and hey, check out my latest post. it would be a good idea for all those tomatoes you harvested :o)

Big Boys Oven said...

now I am so hunger for paella!

ICook4Fun said...

Dee, the pictures all turn out very nice. Will show you when you come home :)

Kay, thank you.

Jescel, i will go and check out your blog.

BBO, come over and have some.

Anonymous said...

YUMMY

Anonymous said...

Hm, I don't know. Long rice? Coat the rice with the oil? Put it in the oven? No mention to the socarrat? That sounds more like a rice pilaf using paella ingredients. And to those who have only tried paellas in the U.S. WE DON'T PUT CHORIZO IN OUR PAELLA!!!

ICook4Fun said...

Anon, did you read what I wrote?? I said you can replace similar ingredients and there are so many versions out there. Did I claim this to be the original Paella??