Paella

Paella is a traditional Spanish rice dish.  There are SO many variations out there for paella (pronounced pi-ay-ya).  The great thing I learned.....it's a very versatile dish.  I actually had to do a bit of improvising and you know what? It still turned out great!  You can change up the meat & vegetables easily.  Change out the meats to your liking, add all seafood, or make a vegetarian version adding white beans and carrots to the recipe.

I used my friend and colleague, Mara's recipe as a starting point.  I thought when I had checked the recipe a few days ago that I had most of the ingredients on hand.  Oops! I had the basic ingredients, the spices, the rice & chicken, so I started from there. 

The most traditional way to cook this is with a paella pan.  I have a medium sized paella pan that I recently bought and cooked it on 2 burners.  This could easily be cooked in a large frying pan as well or possibly even a wok.
This was the first time I had used my pan, so I did a little seasoning by boiling some water in it first.

What Tina Came Up With Paella

1 lb chicken breasts, cut up
2 cups of frozen or fresh shrimp (just make sure it's good quality!)
1 cup of chopped fresh green beans
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 small can of green peas
1 or 2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 green or red pepper (or a bit of both), sliced longways
2 cups of rice (1/2 per person)
4 cups of water (possibly more for when it cooks down)
olive oil
saffron (or a paella spice mix)
salt to taste
Lemon wedges (optional)

Cook the chicken on medium heat in olive oil.

When it is no longer pink, add the shrimp & vegetables.

 Add the water and let it cook for about 30 minutes.  Then add the rice, saffron and salt (or paella mix).

You may need to add more water before rice is added.  You don't want it to get dry.  Cook for about 20 minutes, until rice is done.  Let it "rest" for a few minutes before serving.  To make it pretty, the vegetables and meats can be arranged in a design in the pan like the picture on Mara's blog.  I didn't bother with that step since it was just Jerry & I eating it.

Squeeze some lemon over the rice if you like (I prefer not to).

This made about 4-6 servings.

Don't hesitate to ask if you have questions and let me know if you try it!!  Enjoy!