This recipe is tried and true. I've served it at a number of dinner parties. I made it recently but since it was just for the two us I made a few adjustments.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Paella A La Valenciana
======================
From:Penelope Casas: The Foods and Wines of Spain.
Chicken and Seafood Paella

6 cups very strong chicken broth, preferably homemade
1/2 teaspoon saffron
1 small onion peeled
2 small chicken or chicken pieces
salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 pound Chorizo sauces cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 large pork chop, boned and diced
1/4 pound piece of cured ham, diced
1 medium onion chopped
4 green onions chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 pimientos, homemade or bottled, diced
1 pound small or medium shrimp shelled
2 small lobsters, divided into tail sections and claws
or 4 lobster tails, split lengthwise, or 8 king crab claws or 8 jumbo shrimp in their shells
3 cups short-grain rice
5 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 pound fresh or frozen peas
18 clams, cleaned
18 mussels, scrubbed
Lemon Wedges for garnish
Chopped Parsley for Garnish
. Heat the broth with the saffron and the whole onion. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

Remove onion from broth - you need exactly 5 1/2 cups of broth.

Cut chicken into small serving pieces - whole breasts cut into 4 parts and each thigh into 2 parts, the bony tip of the leg chopped off, the wing tip discarded and the rest of the wings separated into two parts. Dry pieces well and sprinkle with salt. In a metal paella pan, with about a 15 inch base, heat the oil. Add the chicken pieces and fry over high heat until golden. Remove to a warm platter. Add the chorizo, pork and ham to the pan and stir fry about 10 minutes. Add the chopped onion, green onions, garlic and pimientos and saute until the onion is wilted. Add the shrimp and the lobster and saute about 3 minutes more, or until the shrimp and lobster barely turn pink (the lobsters will cook more in the oven). Remove the shrimp and the lobster to the platter with the chicken. Add the rice to the pan and stir to coat it well with the oil. Sprinkle in the 5 tablespoons chopped parsley and the crumbled bay leaves. (Make in advance up to this point).

Stir in the chicken broth, boiling hot, the wine, lemon juice and peas. Salt to taste. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. Bury the shrimp and the chicken in the rice. Add the clams and the mussels, pushing them into the rice with the edge that will open facing up. Decorate the paella with the lobster pieces, then bake at 325F
uncovered for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit on top of the stove, lightly covered with foil for about 10 minutes. To serve , decorate with lemon wedges and chopped parsley.

We have a large Spanish population here with many iterations of Paella. I'll give you one from an old and famous restaurant here:

Paella Valenciana
1/2 pork, cut in chunks
1 onion, chopped
1/2 chicken, cut in 4 pieces
1 green pepper, chopped
1 lb lobster, cut in chunks
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
8 oysters, shucked
1/2 cup whole tomatoes, chopped
8 scallops
1/2 cup EVOO
8 mussels, shells on
1 1/2 cups rice, uncooked
4 clams, shells on
1 tsp salt
4 stone crabs or blue crabs, shells cracked
pinch saffron
1 lb red snapper, cut in chunks
1/4 cup white wine
3 cups fresh seafood or chicken stock
Garnish:
small green peas, cooked
pimentos or roasted red peppers, sliced
asparagus spears

Pour oil in heavy, shallow paella pan or casserole. Add oion ad green pepper, saute until limp but not brown. Add tomatoes garlic, abd bay leaf. Cook for 5 minutes. Add pork and chicken and saute until tender, stirring to prevent sticking or burning.

Add seafood and stocks. when this mixture boils, add rice, salt, and saffron. Stir. Bring to a boil, cover, and bake in oven at 350 for 20 minutes. When ready to serve, sprinkle with wind and garnish with peas, pimentos, and asparagus.

Paella is easily adjustable to your tastes.

Holy Mackeral !!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you both so much for these recipes, which look wonderful!

Ann, how many people does your recipe serve?

Also, I confess I'm not crazy about mussels or clams (shock!), nor am I comfortable cooking with them. How would your recipe taste if I substituted some sea scallops instead? Since lobster is not something we're known for in Utah, the recipe would consist of shrimp, substituting large shrimp for the lobster, and scallops for the clams/mussels.

Also, I just learned that one of the guests is allergic to shrimp (scallops are OK, however). So, I think I'll prepare the recipe in 1 pot, up to the step where the shrimp are added, then remove his portion, place in a personal casserole, and continue. The tricky thing will be to guess how much liquid to add to his casserole. Do you think this would work? He'd have the chicken, pork, ham, and scallops, as well as everything else....just not the shrimp.

THis is my favorite "go to" when I have a paella craving....

PARTY PAELLA
Do-ahead tips make this rendition of the Spanish classic perfect for entertaining.
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 fresh Cajun or hot Italian sausages (about 1 3/4 pounds)
12 chicken thighs with skin and bones (about 4 1/4 pounds), excess fat trimmed
2 very large onions, chopped (about 5 cups)
10 garlic cloves, chopped, plus 1 garlic clove, minced
12 ounces tomatoes, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 bay leaves
4 medium zucchini, halved crosswise, then quartered lengthwise (about 1 1/4 pounds)
3 red bell peppers, cut into 1-inch-wide strips

1 1/2 pounds uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined
Generous pinch plus 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

2 1/2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice (about 17 1/2 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
2 teaspoons paprika

Chopped fresh parsley

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large shallow pot over medium-high heat. Add sausages and sauté until cooked through, turning often, about 10 minutes. Transfer to large bowl. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add chicken, skin side down, to pot. Cover and cook until brown, about 6 minutes. Turn chicken over, cover and cook until brown and cooked through, about 8 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to bowl with sausages. Add onions and 10 chopped garlic cloves to pot; sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes and bay leaves; stir 2 minutes. Stir in zucchini and bell peppers. Transfer to another large bowl.

Toss shrimp with remaining 2 tablespoons oil, 1 minced garlic clove and generous pinch of saffron in medium bowl. (Chicken-sausage mixture, vegetable mixture and shrimp mixture can be prepared 6 hours ahead. Cover separately and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Brush one 18 x 12 x 2 1/4-inch roasting pan with olive oil. Mix rice and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt into vegetable mixture. Spread rice mixture evenly in prepared pan. Cut sausages diagonally into 1-inch slices. Using wooden spoon, push sausage and chicken pieces into rice mixture; pour any juices from bowl over. Bring 5 cups chicken broth, paprika and remaining 1/4 teaspoon saffron to boil in medium saucepan. Pour evenly over rice mixture. Cover roasting pan tightly with foil. Bake until rice is almost tender, about 40 minutes.

Sprinkle shrimp mixture with salt and pepper. Arrange atop rice mixture. Cover pan with foil; bake until shrimp are opaque in center, rice is tender and most of liquid in pan is absorbed, about 20 minutes longer. Sprinkle with parsley. Spoon paella onto plates and serve.

Serves 10.

Bon Appétit
March 1999

A nice "accident":

CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE PAELLA-RISOTTO

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

2 Tbs olive oil
2 strips bacon, cut into thin cross slices
1 pound boneless chicken thighs,
cut into 2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
2 to 4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
2 cups paella (short grain) rice
1 cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp saffron threads
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp smoked paprika plus extra to garnish
2 whole bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup green peas
1 link Hillshire Farms Asiago and Fennel Sausage,
cut into slices on the diagonal
15 to 20 small cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
fresh chopped parsley

Directions

Heat the stock, adding the saffron to release the color.

In a small sauté pan, brown the sausage lightly.

Heat a large fry pan, wok or traditional paellera pan. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and the bacon, and fry until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, add the chicken cubes and sauté stirring frequently until they're cooked through and golden. The juices should run clear when the chicken is cooked. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the remaining oil to the pan and sauté the onion until transparent without browning.

Add the garlic and rice, and stir to coat with oil.

Add the cup of white wine, chili, paprika, bay leaves, salt and pepper and one ladle of the heated stock and saffron.

Continue ladling in the stock one ladle at a time, stirring and simmering until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender -- as you would for a risotto. This will take approximately 35 minutes. Save about ¼ cup of the stock for a bit later.

Add the peas, cooked bacon, chicken pieces, sliced sausage and cherry tomatoes and continue to heat through, stirring gently to combine.

When done, pour in the final ladle of stock and cook for 2-3 minutes on high.

Serve sprinkled with freshly chopped parsley and a little dusting of more smoked paprika, if desired.

Wish I had a photo, as did ann_t.

Joe

I have several recipes and paella pans but I have to confess since we have so many specialty restaurants with real Valencian cooks here I go out when I want a paella.

I do love it but Wolf doesn't so I have to have a single one or have it out with girlfriends.

Nice looking recipes above though!

SharonCb

Did somebody say scallops?:

CHILI AND SCALLOP PAELLA

Serves 6

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil
16 oz scallops
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups paella rice
3 1/4 cups fish stock (I have a simple recipe)
1/4 teaspoon saffron
Salt and pepper to taste
1 medium roasted sweet red bell pepper, in strips
18 small mild green canned chiles
14 oz artichoke hearts (canned but not "marinated"), drained and sprinkled with lemon juice
Lemon wedges (optional), to serve

Directions

Heat half the olive oil in a paella pan over medium to high heat. Add the scallops and sauté for 3 minutes. Set the scallops aside and discard the pan juices.

Add the remaining olive oil to the pan, and cook the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the rice and cook for a further 5 minutes. Mix in the broth, saffron, salt, and pepper and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the roasted red bell peppers (reserving a few for the garnish, if wished) and the chilies and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Add the artichoke hearts and scallops and cook for 5 minutes, or until the broth has been absorbed and the rice is tender.

Garnish with lemon wedges or additional roasted sweet red bell pepper strips, and serve.

Joe

I have a favorite Paella recipe we love; I'll post it tomorrow.

Sol