Paella Mariscos (Seafood Paella)

It has been a laborious feat getting to finally make this favorite dish of mine.  Oh Paella, how I love thee!  This is the closest I've gotten and will get to some aunthentic Paella (that's until I find myself in Spain in a few years!).  And by authentic, I mean ingridients-wise.  In the past, I've only had the Filipino-paella version that they call aroz vallencia, which has always been made with sweet sticky rice.  I'm not very fond of the sticky rice version.  Therefore, I searched high and low (locally) to find the appropriate type of rice typically used in real paellas, called calasparra/bomba rice. It's ability to absorb fluids and remarkably retain flavors without losing it's texture, makes this, indeed, the perfect paella rice.

Seafood paella calls for a long list of ingridients, but the cooking instructions are quite simple and can be done in a snap.

Ingridients:

• ½ pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast tenderloins
• 1 pound of shrimp, cleaned and deveined
• ½ pound bay scallops
• 12 – 18 mussels, scrubbed
• ½ pound chorizo sausage

• 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1.5 cups of frozen peas
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• ½ teaspoon of black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• ¼ teaspoon of saffron

• 2 cups of rice (casparella/bomba, or risotto)
• 5 cups + chicken broth

Cooking Instructions:



- Heat olive oil in paella pan (large, flat and wide pan)

-Sautee garlic, onion, and chicken.  Add salt to season the chicken.  Stir in the chopped tomatoes and red bell peppers, and stir until chicken is seared.  Add chorizo sausage and continue to stir.

-Add calasparra rice and stir until rice is mixed in well. I added the rice in a crossed manner to eye how much rice is distributed throughout the pan and to give me an idea how much chicken broth it will take to cook the rice thoroughly.  It may take more than the amount listed above, so keep extra stock on hand.

- Add chicken broth until the rice mixture is submerged.  Add saffron and paprika.  Add seafood (scallops, shrimp and mussels).  Let the pot simmer for about 20-25 minutes, ocassionally stirring and adding broth when reduced.  Simmer until rice is cooked. Add peas and stir.  Simmer for an additional 7 minutes until all fluid is absorbed by rice.  Remove pan from heat and let rice settle for 5 mins.  Serve.