Spanish Paella- By Guest Blogger Dr. J

Dr. J and I went to Spain last year- the architecture, art and food were the biggest highlights for me.  I simply love Spanish cooking and especially learning about the different types of food made in the different regions. 
We ate paella several times and this photo below is from our last night in Barcelona where we found a cute little pub-style restaurant in the Gothic area close to our hotel.

We had our friends N and E over for dinner and Dr. J made an amazing seafood and chicken paella.  He also offered to write a blog post about it!

So please help me welcome my guest blogger Dr. J!

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The ingredients:
• 1 can diced tomatoes • about 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

• 3 cups short or medium-grain rice
• 20 threads saffron
• 2 sprigs rosemary, leaves stripped from sprigs
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon hot paprika
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds bone-in, skin-on, chicken thighs and legs
• 1 yellow onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Bunch flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped, reserve some for garnish
• Fresh Thyme and Oregano (optional)
• 12 oz of baby clams
• 12 oz scallops

Directions
Mix the rice with the 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of smoked paprika, and the chopped rosemary (stems removed). Set aside.
The rice I used was Calrose. It is a medium grain rice that was developed in the 1970’s using “irradiation”.
I was unaware of this until I did a little research but apparently they blast a number of popular crop seeds with radiation in order to incite mutations that will hopefully provide more desirable features. From what I’ve read you can use any short or medium grain rice. Traditionally, calaspara or bomba rice is used and I have come across several recipes that call for Spanish Paella rice, but have yet to encounter it in the store.

Cut and wash chicken into pieces (I used thighs that were already cut into pieces).
Wash and then generously season with salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in your pan. I used a pan that we bought for this meal, but traditionally a paellera is used. Paella is the Catalan word for pan and all pans are referred to as such in Valencia, where this dish originated, but I digress.
Fry the chicken pieces in the oil starting skin side down. Fry until they are golden brown about 4 min on each side.

Set aside the chicken pieces and retain enough grease to make the sofrito.
Making the sofrito:
Fry the chopped onions under medium heat until they are translucent then add the garlic
Cook for another minute and add tomatoes and the fresh parsley. I blended a can of diced tomatoes but you could use a can of tomato puree or ideally you would to blend a couple of fresh tomatoes. I added fresh oregano and thyme, you can throw in whatever fresh herbs you have on hand.

Cook this down and get almost all of the liquid to evaporate and it becomes caramelized.. This paste is what is called sofrito.

Add the dry rice mixture and fold it in until the rice is coated in the sofrito.

Cook for about a minute then add chicken broth until the all the rice is submerged.
Bring to a simmer then turn the heat down enough to just keep it simmering.
Keep covered until all the liquid is absorbed, about 5-7 minutes.
Add the chicken back in by settling it down into the rice. It is important not to disturb the rice anymore until the dish is served.

Add another 1-2 cups of broth. You know it is time to add the shellfish when the rice is almost ready. Again settle them gently in the rice. It took the scallops about 4 minutes to steam, you can use any seafood in this dish and most take very little time to cook. The frozen clams I had were already cooked so to avoid them getting very rubbery I added them very close to the end.

Taste the rice to see if it is ready. In the middle of the pan it should be soft and it should be crispy around the edges. If the rice is still al dente, add more broth to get it to soften. To make the bottom especially crispy crank the heat up to high for a couple of minutes. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes, then spray with lemon juice and garnish with fresh parsley and lemon slices. There are endless possibilities as to the variety of vegetable and meats that you can use in paella.

N. who just returned from spending the summer in Tokyo, hand made some Japanese dumplings which we ate as an appetizer.