Seafood Paella

This was my first batch of Paella on my new paella pan I received for Christmas.  I wanted to cook this on the big green egg, but it was rainy out and I couldn't wait.  Paella takes about 1.5 - 2 hours to cook, but it's not as complicated as you would think.  Here are the ingredients you will need and 8 steps to great seafood paella:

 

Ingredients:

• Boneless skinless chicken thighs
• Shrimp
• Littleneck clams
• Mussels
• Squid
• Chorizo sausage
• Arborio rice
• Chicken Stock
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 scallion or spanish onions
• 2 plum tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper
• Olive oil
• frozen green peas
• White wine

Step 1: Cut one red bell pepper into strips.  Cut 2 plum tomatoes into cubes.  Mince a glove of garlic and finely chop 2 scallion onions (or spanish if you prefer).  Set aside for later cooking.

 

Step 2: Place 2-3 chorizo sausages into paella pan.  Add a little olive oil and simmer until the sausages are cooked through.  You should accumulate some good grease from the sausages.  Once cooked set aside.  Next place 3-4 boneless skinless chicken thighes into the paella pan and cook them in the leftover grease.  Once chicken is cooked set aside. 

Step 3: Add the chopped garlic and onions to the paella pan.  Splash in white wine and simmer until mixture becomes translucent. 

Step 4: At this point you will begin to add the arborio rice to make your risotto.  This is the most time consuming process to be done in a couple steps.  First, heat chicken stock into a sauce pan or pot and warm it over low heat.  Once the stock is warm add 1 cup of rice (or the whole bag in my case) to your paella pan.  Add enough warm chicken stock to the rice mixture so that it just covers the top of the rice.

Step 5:  Let the rice simmer until it absorbs most of the liquid.  Once all liquid is almost absorbed add more warm chicken stock again just enough to cover the rice.  At this point you will also add your diced tomatoes and sliced bell pepper.  Let this simmer again until all liquid is almost absorbed.

Repeat this process of adding warm chicken stock until your risotto is nice, fluffy, and creamy in texture.  Overall this could take 1 - 1.5 hours.

Step 6: When the risotto is creamy add 1 cup of frozen peas to the mixture.  I also added the clams as they will take the longest to open up or cook through.

Step 7: Add mussels, raw shrimp, and sliced squid to the mixture.

Step 8: Cut your chicken and sausage into cubes or small pieces and add to the mixture.  At this point all of the seafood should be close to cooked.  Stir thoroughly until everything is cooked and mixed together well.  Enjoy your seafood paella!