I combined a couple of recipes here — one of the Paella recipes in the (awesome) New Spanish Table cookbook, a paella recipe from Tyler Florence and I also used the meat I wanted to — chicken thighs, chorizo and shrimp, rather than the exact ones in either recipe. You could throw all manner of meat and seafood in here, but I stuck to those three.
This makes a ton of paella! A. Ton. Of. Paella. It would be great to make for a dinner party or of you want to make something for dinner, have lunch the next day, and then be able to freeze a couple more lunches.
You will need a huge skillet or an actual paella pan here. Do not underestimate the amount of room you need in your cooking vessel or you will cry into your overflowing pan of Spanish tastiness.
Aside from the simmering stock, this all happens in one pan!
Lots of pictures in this post…
Paella for a Crowd
This will easily serve 8 as a main course.
1 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tsp dried oregano
1 lb chicken thighs
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 Spanish chorizo sausages, thickly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 white onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded, cored and diced
1 (15-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped, or 1.5 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
2 cups short grain Spanish rice
6 cups chicken stock
Generous pinch saffron threads
1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1.5 inch pieces
1 roasted red bell pepper, cut into strips
Optional: 1 long strip of orange zest
Paella rice
Roasted red bell pepper
Roasted red bell pepper strips
Sliced chorizo
Okay, here are the directions!
Combine the paprika and oregano and rub the spice mix all over the chicken and marinate chicken for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Heat oil in a paella pan over medium-high heat.
Saute the chorizo until browned, remove and reserve.
Salt and pepper the chicken and add chicken and brown on all sides, turning with tongs.
Remove from pan and set aside. When cool enough to handle, slice into thick strips.
In the second pot, heat up the chicken stock and add the saffron. Keep at a very low simmer.
Next, in your paella pan, saute the onions, garlic, yellow bell pepper, and parsley in all the chorizo-y/chicken-y olive oil. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes on medium heat. Then, add tomatoes and cook until the flavors meld, about 5-6 minutes.
Fold in the rice and stir to coat the grains.
Now, this is where you need to decide if your pan is big enough. There’s no going back. Ready? Okay!
Pour the hot saffron-stock into the paella and simmer for 10 minutes, gently stirring occasionally so that the rice cooks evenly and starts to absorb the liquid.
Next, add the chicken, chorizo, then the green beans and shrimp. Try to tuck the chicken and shrimp under the rice. If you are using it, add the orange zest strip in there too. Put a lid on the pan and put in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven, check the rice for doneness — you can always stick it back in for a minute or two. If it’s good, uncover and rest for 5-10 minutes. Garnish with the roasted red bell pepper strips.
Leftovers will keep the fridge a few days, then freeze as needed!
Michelle, this is really weird, but I randomly came across one of your recipes on another website. I knew it was yours because I’d made it before!! There doesn’t appear to be a credit to you, and your photo is on there also. Please e-mail me and I’ll send you the link–didn’t know if it would be right to paste it here. Ok, good-looking paella, too! I’ve been meaning to do that soon…
I have such a crush on Tyler Florence. And also on Paella.
hi there! i saw your post and showed up to have a look, your paella looks very nice, and delicious, only i would never cook it in the oven, not sure about using chorizo or the orange zest or marinating the meat either but i admire you for trying one of our spanish gastronomy signature dishes, your photos are very nice and the rest of your blog as well, so i will be coming back, i specially loved your udon noodles soup, it really look divine!
cheers from a spanish in london,
pity
We have to agree with Allison. We have a certifiable food crush on your paella. It’s just the thing to usher in fall, with its warm, comforting spices and ingredients. We’d love to be invited to any dinner party that had this on the menu!
Sarah: Thank you for the head’s up, they are supposed to be removing my image!
allison: Thanks 🙂
pity: Thanks for the comments. Like I said, I did kind of combine 2 recipes, but the one in The New Spanish Table did say to stick it in the oven (although it is the ‘new’ Spanish table and not the ‘traditional’ Spanish table!) 😉
Zupan’s: Thank you! Yes, it was a great Fall meal! I actually got the chorizo at the Belmont market…
Michelle, the paella looks delicious! That chorizo looks like the real McCoy – dark enough to be chock-a-block with deep, smoky flavors. Two months ago I cooked paella a few times, and I cobbled together three recipes, one of which was Tyler’s. I got better proportions using Guy Fieri’s recipe and my own trial and error, however – 3 cups rice to 1 cup white wine and 3 cups stock or water. This kept the rice plump and also enabled a soccarat to develop (the crisp layer of rice on the bottom of the pan). It helped that I barely stirred the rice, so not too much starch rubbed off. Did you find your dish liquidy? I admit I do like a saucy texture, but more so for jambalaya than paella.
Glad I happened across your site! =)
Can I refrigerate the pan and its contents after serving or do I have to transfer to another dish?
Katherine: Yep. The real thing. from Spain and everything! Hmmm, mine turned out not very liquidy. The rice was nicely cooked and the liquid seemed to all be absorbed. I used a short grain, white paella rice from Spain. (Mainly, I bought it because I loved the bag it came in! 🙂
Barbara: Hmmm, I don’t know why you couldn’t, I guess? I usually just throw leftovers in different containers, but if you want to keep it in the same pan, you probably could! 🙂