Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Make Chicken Paella

Chicken paella.


Paella is a Spanish dish using rice, stock, and whatever vegetables or meats are available in the kitchen. It is flavored with a tomato base, saffron, onion, and garlic. While a regular skillet is perfectly capable of making paella, it is traditionally made in a paellera, which is a large, round pan specifically used for making paella.


Instructions








1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice the tomatoes into one inch thick pieces. Put them in a bowl, season with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil, and set aside.


2. Heat your largest skillet with a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil. Mince the onion and the garlic. Saute the onion and garlic in the skillet for about five minutes, or until it softens. Season with salt and pepper to taste.


3. Add one tablespoon of tomato paste, a pinch of saffron threads and two bay leaves. Add two cups of Spanish rice or another short-grained rice to the skillet. Stir and coat the rice with the mixture.


4. Gradually add four cups of chicken or vegetable stock to the skillet, allowing the rice to absorb the stock gradually. Stir.


5. Add the roasted chicken pieces to the skillet when the stock is starting to simmer. Put the sliced tomato on top of the rice and chicken mixture, and put the skillet into the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, and check that the rice hasn't absorbed all the stock. If it has, add another half a cup of water or stock as needed, and bake for an additional five minutes. Leave the paella in the oven for 15 minutes total.


6. Take the skillet out of the oven and cook on the stovetop on high heat for five minutes to produce the socarat, or crispy rice that traditionally forms at the bottom of the skillet. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Tags: five minutes, onion garlic, making paella, salt pepper, with salt, with salt pepper