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Paella Mixta

Welcome back! 
Today, we have the most well-known Spanish dish: Paella! We're making a seafood variety here, but the techniques are essentially the same for any sort of paella that you might want to make. The paella is just a great way to enjoy a bunch of different ingredients all in one cohesive dish! Plus, you don't really need a traditional paella pan to make this; just a normal pan or wok will do!

Paella Mixta


Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups bomba rice
  • 2 cloves (1 teaspoon) garlic
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 bell pepper
  • 1 tomato (about 1 cup)
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 3 1/2 cups chicken broth (or seafood broth)
  • 4 ounces chorizo
  • 1 1/2 pound of various proteins: chicken, shrimp, mussels, squid, octopus
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • A little bit of saffron
  • Parsley to garnish
  • Lemon wedges to garnish

Directions:

  1. In an oiled pot, saute the chorizo for a couple of minutes until the flavor starts to come out. Remove from the pot when it's done.
  2. For any of the proteins that can be seared (not shellfish like clams, mussels, or lobster), use the same pot to parcook the meats by searing lightly on both sides. It will finish cooking during assembly. Remove each of the ingredients once you cook them.
  3. Oil the pot and place in the garlic, onion, tomato, and bell pepper. Saute for a few minutes so that all the previous flavors are absorbed by the aromatics.

  4. Add in the white wine and cook until mostly reduced.
  5. Add in the salt, paprika, and saffron and mix.
  6. Add in the broth, then add in the rice and chorizo. Cook on medium heat, but don't stir the pot anymore, otherwise the starch from the rice may be released and also the soccarat at the bottom may not form.

  7. Let this cook uncovered until the liquid is about 70% reduced. This should take about 15-20 minutes. At this point, add in the other proteins.
  8. Cook until the meat is all cooked through. This should take about 5-10 minutes.
  9. Turn the heat to high for 2 minutes to cook the crust on the bottom of the pot.
  10. Garnish with the parsley and lemon.

The sofrito (garlic, onion, tomato, and bell pepper) is the aromatic base for this dish and, with the smoky flavors of the chorizo, makes for great flavor in this dish. All of that is then infused into the rice, which can absorb such a large amount of liquid and becomes nice and fluffy once done. If you can control the temperature of the rice and the liquid amount well enough, you can even get the nice socarrat at the bottom of the pan. You can use a variety of different proteins; as shown above, you could even use lobster as a centerpiece for the dish. However, if you want to make the more traditional paella, the main proteins are chicken, rabbit, and sometimes even snail!

-Chefpo
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