- One of the most comforting, delicious dishes we used to make back at a restaurant I
worked at was paella. And the one that I'm
gonna show you how to do is jam packed with chicken
and seafood, it is amazing. I know you're gonna love this recipe. Spanish paella and
specifically paella de Valencia in its purest form is
simply chicken or rabbit, cooked in a flavorful broth
with rice and a few vegetables. Now you may oftentimes see
just seafood in a paella, which is known as paella de mariscos. Well in the United States, it's very common for you
to combine those things. You get a little bit of protein,
specifically chicken here and of course, seafood
to make a delicious, jam packed paella. Well, that's exactly what
I'm gonna show you how to do. And I love it. There is some prep to knock
out though first, sound good? Let's cook. We're gonna be begin with small dicing up some yellow onions. These are pretty small. So maybe one medium or
one large onion will do. Slice off the end slice in the half, of course, take off that outside peel. And then again, small
dice them, just like this, set them to the side. And then, you know me,
I hate chopping garlic. So I'm gonna run a few
cloves through a garlic press get all that goodness off
of there using my knife. Just gonna set that to the
side in a separate bowl. And then I've got one red bell pepper. This one's pretty big, it's
okay to use one this size. And it's also okay to use one
that's a little bit smaller. No problem, we are gonna medium dice these or even small dice if you'd
like, totally up to you. Set them to the side in
another separate bowl. And the next I've got some tomatoes I'm using Roma tomatoes, they
are great all year round. Even during those winter months, just in case you want to
make this paella recipe during those cold months. So what we're gonna do is simply medium to large dice these. Normally, I would just use the outside but because we want to stew this down, we need the inside of the tomato as well. Next, I've got some fresh
squid tubes and tentacles. You can use just tubes or just tentacles or both Like I am. What I like to do is slice
the tubes into rings. Just like this, This
is absolutely perfect. And then just sort of
simply mix them together with the tentacles, no problem. Set them to the side on a plate. Give your good cutting board a rinse because next I've cut some chicken thighs and chicken drums. I'm gonna stop really quick here. And I'm gonna do this often
because I do wanna provide some substitutes and clarity
beginning with chicken. Now you do not have to
use just thighs or drums. You can use one or the other. In fact, you could use chicken breasts. You could use split chicken breasts. You could break down a whole
chicken, use what you have or better yet, what's on sale. Here's what we do now. Season the chicken very well on both sides with sea salt and fresh,
cracked black pepper. Yes, you could absolutely use kosher salt. I always get that question. And now what we're gonna do is head right over to the cooktop. We're gonna add some olive
oil into a large paella pan. Now, you know, I'm super classical. So of course, I'm gonna use a paella pan, which is sort of like a cross
between a walk and a rando, but it's much more shallow, maybe only three inches in height. You can pick these up for
about 20 to 25 bucks online. Now, if you don't have this or you don't wanna spend the money on it, just go ahead and use an
extra large frying pan or even a Dutch oven will work. Now this is a 12 and a half
inch pan that I'm using. And in retrospect, I wish I would have got the 14 or 15 inch pan. Just wanted a little bit more room. I'll leave that part up to you. Now, add the chicken to that pan. Make sure they're spread apart, maybe an inch apart from one another. We're gonna cook it over
medium to medium high heat for about six to eight minutes per side. What we want to do is cook these
about 75 to 80% of the way. Once they are golden brown and again, cook for six to eight minutes, we're simply gonna flip them
over and cook the other side. These look fantastic, after
all of that time cooking, just go ahead and set the
chicken to the side on a plate. Now we are going back over to that pan over medium to low heat now. Add in our onions, and just like I say, whenever you're trying to pull out as much flavor as possible,
we're gonna take the time to caramelize these onions but
because they are small diced, we're maybe looking at 10 to 15 minutes. Once they are brown like
this, this is excellent. We're next going to add in our peppers, followed up with our finely minced garlic. What we wanna do also is cook this on low to medium heat for
another six to eight minutes. Want to roast up these peppers real nice, get a lot of good flavor out of them. And then finally, let's
add in our tomatoes. What we wanna do is cook this for about 10 minutes or
so on low to medium heat. We want the tomatoes to cook down. We want this mixture to be pretty moist, just like you see here. This is absolutely perfect. Definitely do not skip out
on these portions of cooking where you're taking the time
to caramelize the onions, roast up the peppers,
cook down the tomatoes. It is the grunt end of
this recipe, but I promise from here on out, it's
gonna move super quick. So pay close attention, here we go. Now, what we wanna do is add the squid right to the sauteed onions, garlic, peppers and tomatoes,
followed up with some paprika. This is pretty classic in a paella. Go ahead and mix all of
these ingredients together. Move them around. Some of the smells are gonna be fantastic. The flavors are gonna start to come out. It's gonna be so delicious. Now we're going to add in some Bomba rice, if you can't get Bomba, you short grain or even
Arborio would be great. Now I'm gonna add a
pinch of saffron threads, then grab your spoon again and begin to mix everything around. What I like to is toast the rice for maybe two to three minutes in the pan, just to begin that cooking process. And now I'm gonna add
in some chicken stock. If you have fish stock, all the better, shrimp stock will work as well. If you just have water,
no problem, that will do. Now what we wanna do is
season this broth very well with sea salt and fresh
cracked black pepper and then just move everything
around until combined. I have to stop and say this,
it is incredibly important. It is vital that this broth
be seasoned very well, after all, it is going to season
up the rice, the vegetables and all of the seafood that
we are gonna put in there. If you have to taste
it after you season it, make sure it's delicious
and very flavorful. Here's what we do. Go ahead and grab that cooked chicken. We're gonna put it right in here because we're gonna help
cook it the rest of the way, along with adding everything else in. And now at this point, I've
got some fresh mussels. They are scrubbed, they are rinsed. We are gonna spread them
in the pan all over, just like this. I've also got some fresh
rinsed and scrubbed clams. These look perfect. Again, spread them out all over the pan. And then last but not least,
I've got some gigantic U10 shrimp that we are gonna add in there. That means 10 shrimp for one pound. These things are massive, this is perfect. Just spread them out all over the paella pan,
wherever there's room. And very similar to Italian cuisine, it's all about availability
with these old world recipes. Perhaps sometimes when they made paella, they only had mussels and clams or maybe just shrimp and squid, or maybe a combination
or just one of them. Use what you have or what you can get. That's the beauty of these recipes. And that's why you see so
many different variations. There are plenty of paella
recipes out there that use fish. You can absolutely do that. Get creative, have fun, use what's available to
you to make this recipe. Now, this part is optional,
but I am gonna add in about a half cup of peas. It is pretty traditional, but again, optional, completely up to you. Just put it right into
the top and you can see, this is at the very top
of my paella pan as well. And what we want to do
is cook this over low to medium heat for about 20 minutes. Once you can see just a
little bit of liquid left sort of bubbling at
the top just like this, we know we're at a good point because what we're gonna
do is add a lid on. If you don't have a lid to fit your pan, just add another saute pan, flip it over, and we're gonna cook it on
low heat for 15 more minutes, make sure that rice and those shellfish are completely cooked. We're gonna come back, turn
the heat off, open it up. And oh my goodness, the smells
are to die for my friends. Let's go ahead and take
it off the cooktop. We are gonna bring it right
over to the countertop and get it ready to serve up. To all of my commies, my junior
chefs, my chefs in training, just like I tell you every week, it is all about understanding these fundamental,
basic cooking techniques and putting them into practice. Oftentimes people always ask me, what kind of pans should I buy? Well, you know what, if
you just learn how to cook, you could cook on a hot rock. I always tell people that
because it's not about the pan, it's about the person cooking
that's holding the pan and if they know how to do it or not. It's about understanding
how to properly caramelize, cook down those tomatoes, cooking two different proteins, chicken and seafood in a very
authentic paella de Valencia con Mariscos, which is
exactly what we made here. You put these little things into practice in your everyday cooking. I promise you, your homemade food from scratch will taste better. It always does my friends. This dish is incredible. Now of course, let's plate up in slow mo. It's pretty classic that
you would serve this dish up right in that cooked paella pan and finished with fresh chopped parsley. And my oh my my friends,
check out this beauty. (gentle music) It does not matter what
time of year it is, this dish is a must make, jam packed with so much deliciousness. Your friends, your family
are gonna love this. Be sure to subscribe to my channel, like and share this video and definitely check out
this video right here. I made it just for you. You'll love it, I promise
you, we'll see you on there.
