Passport & Plate - Paella Mixta
Spain | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 
flickr photos
Ingredients
• 4 meaty chicken thighs
• 12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 12 clams or mussels
• Fresh Spanish chorizo, removed from casing and crumbled. A smoked sausage could also work.
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 medium tomatoes, finely minced or grated (discard the skin)
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 red pepper sliced into thin strips
• 1 cup green peas
• 1 generous pinch of saffron, crushed
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 7 cups chicken broth
• 2 1/2 cups short-grain rice, preferably Valencia or Bomba. Arborio rice also works.
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 16-18 inch paella pan
How to prepare this recipePut saffron and 1/4 cup hot water in a small bowl; let sit for 15 minutes.
Season chicken and shrimp with a simple brine of two parts salt to one part sugar; let sit for at least 15 minutes.
Heat oil in a 16?–18? paella pan over medium-high heat.
Add chicken, shrimp, and chorizo and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes.
Transfer shrimp to a plate, leaving meats in pan.
Add paprika, garlic, tomatoes, and onions to pan and cook, stirring often to make a juicy sofrito, until onions soften, about 6 minutes.
Add rice to the center of the pan for a few seconds, and spread evenly to cover the pan and mingle with the juices of the sofrito and meats, until rice starts to look transparent.
Add reserved saffron mixture and broth, season with salt, and bring to a boil over high heat.
Cook, without stirring, until rice has absorbed most of the liquid, 12-15 minutes. (If your pan is larger than the burner, rotate it every two minutes so different parts are over the heat and the rice cooks evenly.)
Reduce heat to low, add reserved shrimp, peas, and nestle in clams or mussels, hinge side down; cook, without stirring, until clams have opened and rice has absorbed the liquid and is al dente, 5–10 minutes more.
Turn heat to high for 1-2 minutes to create the socarrat (essential crunchy rice that forms on the bottom of the pan).
Remove pan from heat, cover with aluminum foil, and let sit for 5 minutes before enjoying.
Served with a simple green salad and a glass of a spicy Spanish red wine , this recipe guarantees a feast for all the senses. ¡Buen provecho! Bon profit!
The story behind this recipeA Wednesday morning in September 2013, the sun has just woken up, and the colors of the city start to shine. After a few hours on a plane from New York, my Mom and I wake up in Barcelona, the birthplace of Antoni Gaudí, Salvador Dalí, and my Grandparents. We arrive at Las Ramblas, and the enigmatic aromas of the city and La Boquería, one of the most beautiful food markets I’ve ever visited, together with the sweet sounds of the Catalan language embrace me. It is my first trip to Spain; I suddenly whisper: I’m home!
Go back 20 years. A Sunday afternoon in Caracas, Venezuela, the family gathers at my Grandparents’ home, like we do every week, to share a meal and our love. From the kitchen emanate aromas of saffron and smoked sweet pepper; the sizzling sound of shrimp and chorizo frying on a pan opens our appetites. Tata, as we used to call my grandfather, talks about politics and literature with the grown-ups in Spanish, switching to Catalan when the discussion gets heated. Soon enough, it is lunchtime. The feast begins with a simple salad to entertain our palates. Within minutes, la piède de résistance arrives when my grandmother brings to the center of the table a colorful paella, filled with delicious seafood, chicken, vegetables, and the most tender and bright-colored rice. I’m in food heaven!
Having grown up surrounded by such aromas, it is not hard to understand why as I arrived in the Catalan region of Spain, I felt immediately at home. My Mom and I visited every market and tapas we could fit in between visits to La Sacrada Familia, Casa Ballot, and Montjuic, savoring every piece of jamón ibérico, pimientos, calçots, enfabadas, and of course some delicious paellas.
Visiting my Grandparents’ birthplace with my mother is something I will never forget. Every time I make paella I go back in time to that first trip to Spain, and most important, I go back to the years I shared with my Grandparents. This recipe is a delicious celebration of my cultural heritage.
