Even Pictures Of This Dish Will Make Your Mouth Water!
Ingredients
1 lb ex lg (21-25 per pound), peeled and deveined
Salt & Pepper
2 T ghee/schmaltz/another animal fat
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and halved crosswise
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and cut into ½ inch wide strips
8 ounces Spanish chorizo sausage (w/o nitrates), sliced ½ inch thick on bias (not raw)
1 Onion, chopped fine
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz), minced, and drained again
2 Cups Valencia or Arborio rice
3 Cups chicken broth
1/3 C dry white wine
½ t saffron threads, crumbled
Bay leaf
12 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
½ Cup frozen peas, thawed
2t chopped fresh parsley
Lemon wedges
Serves 6
Directions
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350°. Toss shrimp ¼ t salt 7 pepper and 1 t garlic in medium bowl. Stir and cover and refrigerate until needed. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and set aside.
2. Heat 2 t fat in Dutch oven, braiser, paella pan over med/high heat until shimmering. Add bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until skin begins to blister and turn dark on the edges about 3-4 minutes. Transfer peppers to small plate and set aside.
3. Heat 1 t fat in now empty pot until shimmering. Add chicken pieces in single layer and cook, without moving until browned, about 3 minutes. Turn pieces and cook until browned on second side, about 3 minutes. Transfer chicken to med bowl. Reduce heat to medium and add chorizo to pot. Cook, stirring frequently until deeply browned and fat begins to render, 4 – 5 minutes. Transfer chorizo to bowl with chicken and set aside.
4. Add enough fat into the pot to equal 3 T and heat over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook stirring frequently, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in remaining garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and cook until mixture begins to darken and thicken slightly, about 3 minutes. Stir in rice and cook until grains are well coated with tomato mixture, 1-2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, wine, saffron, bay leaf, and ½ t salt. Return chicken and chorizo to pot, increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook until rice absorbs almost all liquid, about 15 minutes. Remove pot from oven. Uncover pot, scattering shrimp over rice, insert mussels, hinged side down, into rice (so they stand upright), arrange bell pepper strips in pinwheel pattern, and scatter peas over top. Cover return to oven and cook until shrimp are opaque, and mussels have opened, 10-12 minutes.
5. Let paella stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that have not opened and bay leaf if it can be easily removed. Sprinkle with parsley and serve, passing lemon wedges separately. Enjoy!
Adapted from The Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook