A fantastically beautiful and flavorful Spanish paella that will ‘wow’ your friends and family. Filled with rotisserie chicken, shrimp, and mussels, this recipe will feed a crowd!
My brother and sister-in law gifted me a paella pan and some saffron for the holidays. I was super pumped about this because I absolutely love paella. There is a restaurant in Baltimore that my husband took me to (called Tio Pepe) that had the most amazing paella. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
Since I didn’t own a paella pan, my paella attempts to date have not be awesome. The rice was always too soggy, and the recipes I’ve used just weren’t good enough.
This recipe, although a bit more labor intensive, was phenomenal. I didn’t have cockles so I replaced them with more mussels (I mean, can you see the mussel love in these photos??).
I used frozen shrimp and wished that I would have splurged for fresh shrimp because they were a bit rubbery. I used a rotisserie chicken as a shortcut and loved the flavor that it brought into this dish.
Oh, and this feeds at least 4 people, so it could be a great meal to share with your guests.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Spanish seafood and chicken paella
Ingredients
- 4 ounces chorizo casings removed
- 1 small onion sliced thin
- 1 garlic clove diced
- 1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes
- 1 cup arborio rice
- Pinch of saffron dissolved in 2 Tablespoons of water
- 1 and 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth can substitute with water
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound large shrimp shelled and de-veined
- 1/4 cup white wine or chicken stock or broth
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 pound mussels de-bearded and cleaned
- 1/2 pound cockles cleaned
- 1 and 1/2 cups cooked chicken preferably dark meat (I used rotisserie)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a 10-inch paella pan, cook the sausage over medium heat. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to break up the sausage. Then add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 8 minutes.
- Add in the tomatoes, rice, saffron water, and the chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper and bring everything to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat, without stirring, for about 15 minutes or until the rice is al dente.
- In a separate non-stick skillet, sautee the shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the shrimp to the paella pan with the rice.
- In the same skillet, add the wine and lemon juice. Add in the mussels and cockles and cover. Shake the skillet a few times and cook until the mussels and cockles open, about 3 minutes. Add everything in the skillet to the paella pan.
- Finally, add the cooked chicken to the rice. Cover and bake in the oven for about 5 minutes. If desired, garnish with fresh parsley and/or a thinly sliced scallion and drizzle additional olive oil over the top.
- Serve immediately.