spanish paella

I told myself that I would do better at posting. I lied. At any rate, I made this last week after having a craving Barcelona. Freddy and I fell in love with the city and the local cuisine while honeymooning in Spain last July. I slightly modified this recipe from recipezaar.com (I wasn't about to cook rabbit, so I used chicken and king crab instead). It was amazing - better than some of the paella we had in Spain! I think the chorizo completely made the dish.

I don't have a paella pan (yet), so I just used our large saute pan with lid and it did the trick. And as suggested in the original recipe, it's a lot easier if you prepare all of your ingredients ahead of time. It is a bit of work, but well worth the effort.

Authentic Spanish Paella
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1 cup bomba or calasparra rice (arborio works as a substitute - I used this)
2 2/3 cups chicken stock
1/3 large onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/3 large bell pepper, diced
3 1/3-5 flat green beans
1 1/3 plum tomatoes, diced
1/4 (4 ounce) can tomato paste
1 king crab leg (I used frozen, and steamed it)
2 whole chicken breasts, cut into smaller pieces (mine were bone-in, skin-on)
1 link chorizo sausage, frito sliced into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup fresh parsley
2/3-1 tablespoon fresh thyme (I used 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme)
1/4 tablespoon paprika
1/3 pinch saffron
1 lemon, quartered

Instructions
Keep your stock hot but not boiling as you cook. Coat the bottom of your pallera/pan with olive oil.

Brown your chorizo over high heat for 1-2 minutes. Do not fully cook, just get the outside well browned. Set aside. This should add a nice red color and a hell of a flavor to your oil.

Brown the chicken for 2-3 minutes. It should not be fully cooked. Set aside.

Brown garlic, onion and bell pepper until they're softened, adding plum tomatoes shortly before the mixture is finished.

Push the vegetables to one side of the pan and on the other add the half can of tomato paste. Caramelize it, flipping it and spreading it until it begins to loosen (1-2 min over hight heat).

Mix all of the vegetables and meats together with the caramelized tomato paste also adding the paprika, parsley and thyme.

Add rice, mixing together and stirring as the rice browns (1-1 1/2) minutes. As the rice browns mix in the saffron. Make sure to break it between your fingers and stir it in to release all those tasty oils.

When the rice is slightly translucent add enough chicken stock to cover the whole mixture. If it's been kept warm, it will begin to boil almost immediately. Lower to a medium heat but keep it at a steady boil.

This is where paella is made and broken. I stir a few times in the first 5-10 minutes, adding broth as necessary to keep the rice fully covered. After this you must let the paella SIT! Let it cook another 10-20 minutes (I find that this step takes longer on a stovetop), adding broth bit by bit to keep the rice submerged until the rice on the top is al dente. Don't worry about rice burning to the bottom, this part is a tasty delicacy.

When the rice on top is still quite al dente, take paella off of heat and cover. You must let it sit for 15-20 minutes. This is when I added the cooked crab.

Once you're sure it's ready uncover, garnish with lemon wedges and enjoy!