Chicken paella

Recipe Categories : | Chicken | Rice | Seafood | Mussels | Squid | MAIN INDEX |

Serves : 4-6     Preparation time : 30 minutes    Cooking time : 1 hour

Ingredients :

• 2 tomatoes
• 4 chicken thighs, with skin on
• ¼ cup olive oil, for frying
• 2¼ oz chorizo sausage, cut into ¼" slices
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 2 cups short-grain rice
• 1 red capsicum, cut into thin strips
• 3 cups chicken stock
• pinch saffron threads
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 12 green mussels, scrubbed and debearded
• 8 raw prawns, peeled and deveined, tails intact
• 8 oz squid tubes, cut into ½ " rings

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

1. Score a cross in the base of the tomatoes, place in a bowl and cover with boiling water for 10 seconds. Plunge into cold water, peel, de-seed and chop.
2. Cut the chicken in half along the bone, keeping the bone attached to one side. Prick the skin. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Brown the chicken for 10 minutes, then drain on paper towels. Fry the chorizo for 2-3 minutes ; drain on paper towels.
3. Add the garlic and onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir for 1-2 minutes until coated with oil. Add the tomatoes, chicken, chorizo and capsicum, reduce the heat and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Bring the stock, 1 cup water and the saffron to the boil in a pan, then pour over the rice and simmer over very low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the peas and cook, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the mussels, prawns and squid and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed. Do not stir at this stage as it should form a thin crust on the base.