This is a great way to entertain and feed a great number of people on a party.
You can hire this kind of pan, no need to buy it if you’re not going to use it that often.
Have all your ingredients ready before you start:
chicken stock or fish stock, or better still, a mixture of both.
Chicken legs.
The rice. (We used 2 kilo for this size pan. )
Diced red and green bell peppers.
4 shallots finely chopped, some garlic
scampi, shelled and deveined
squid, cut in rings. We used half a kilo.
2 kilo’s of mussels (we cooked them separately)
Big Tiger Prawns, we removed the middle part of the shell, but left the head and the tail intact.
Salt pepper, paella herb mixture. ( I like to use saffron)
lemons cut in wedges.
Half a kilo of frozen peas.
Diced or sliced chorizo.
Use quite a bit of olive oil, and color the chicken legs until golden brown. Remove from the pan, then add the rice. We used long grain rice, because it has a better texture and it does not stick like risotto rice or Arborio rice would do.
Stir well, and allow the rice to bake for a little while before you add the stock.
Put the chicken legs in, and let it simmer for a while.
Then add the diced peppers, the garlic and the shallots.
Season with salt, pepper and the Paella mixture ( or saffron, if you use saffron threads, you could put them in the stock.)
Add stock when needed. Near the end, add the scampi, the squid rings and the frozen peas. If you add the peas too soon, they loose their color too much, and that would be a shame.
By now the rice will have swollen, time for one last stir. Then add the Tiger prawns and cover with tin foil. Leave on a gentle heat until they turn pink.
Finish by decorating with the mussels. They only need to warm up a little, if you add them too soon, they become rubbery. We used a few to garnish the pan, removed the rest of the shells and stirred them in when a couple of the guests had been served.
Sprinkle with the chorizo and decorate with the lemon wedges.
Bon appétit!
16 comments:
OMG my Belgian Bombshell...that looks just wonderful. I loved the pictures..Now I'm hungry :)
Your slide show had me mesmerized Jientje...your slice of life is grand...I will make this on a smaller scale for sure! Thank you!
This blog should be off limits to American readers, as we should be happy with our McDonald's and Wendy's "food". If Americans find out that such good and healthy food can be prepared at home, our fast "food" industry might just fall apart. And, just think what that might do to our economy. The American economy runs on people driving gas guzzling SUVs and eating crapy food at fast food joints. No wonder we don't want universal health care, we enjoy thinking we are great just the way we are. Make mine 2 double stacks with no mustard, please.
From the last paëlla I have eaten I have a bad souvenir. It was prepared by the spanish spouse of a collegue and all the seefood you mentionned was alive and crawled over the kitchen table. Except the mussels of course but she had also a living lobster hopping around. Then she throw all these poor animals in cooking water and then I ran away ! From that time on I make a big circle around paëllas ! There was no stockfish used though. Unfortunately I can't see the slide show the pictures are too big for my little screen. I sit in the garden with my baby computer. Big pictures I have to scroll up and down to see them as one photo. That's the inconvenience I have with 800 pixel pictures.
This is a great site that you have here. I have a humor blog myself and I would like to exchange links with you. You can contact me through either email or by simply a comment on my site. Let me know if this is possible. Jason
Lovely presentation Jientje! Did you ever have a desire to be a caterer - you'd be great. :)
@ Thom: Well, I got so hungry from looking at my own pictures, I decided to make this for supper tonight! Go figure!
@ Wanda: I always enjoy making this.
@ moneythoughts: So I am a threat to American economy now eh? ROFL!
@ Gattina: I'm sorry!
@ jason: Sure!
@ Carletta: I was a caterer. But that was a long time ago.
That looks so delicious - I was ready to goble even when I saw those fryed chicken legs! It is so exotic - never tryed annything like that! I'm not into rice - give me salads that grow on bones - it looks like plenty of quality protein and pleasury flavors /I can live with the rice in this combination!/
Oh crap - I just drooled on my keyboard!
my husband lived in Spain for a while, he constantly raves about the paella. I've tried over and over again to make it, but just can't seem to make it like a spainard. I'll try your recipe and see what he thinks. wonderful post
Oh my word! That is a meal all by itself! And where would one go to hire such a pan? I have never heard of such a thing.
mmmmm. Paella. It will be springtime here soon and I love to eat outside. November is the time for the best and the freshest seafood here in Tasmania. Thankyou for making it feel a little bit like springtime for me Jientje. cheers Kim xox
Mmmm, I love paella. CB makes such good paella.
Oh dear... the slide show is not working. :( How sad for me! Now I will have to go look on line ELSEWHERE to see what it is and how to make it! *sob* (or I could come back later and try again...)
I love Paella!! I've got to find one of those pans. It looks delicious and so much fun! Yum.
@ ellievellie: it is delicious, I can tell you that!
@ Libby: LOL!
@ kaye: I'm not sure it's as good as when it's made by a real Spaniard, but I like it!
@ Quilly: I'm not sure if they hire that in your part of the world, but they do here.
@ frogpondsrock: You're gonna have Spring soon, you just made me jealous!
@ Korie: Aaaah that's wonderful!
@ Melli: that is sad, yes!
@ Alida: It is fun and it's delicious and it serves a big number of people, what more would one want eh?
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