Every member of the family has their favourite dish when it comes to gathering around the table. Countries and areas near the Mediterranean Sea are cutting edge when it comes to modernity and are renowned for their home-cooked cuisine. Spain is famous for its Paella, Italy for its pastas and pizzas, and Portugal for its seafood dishes. Non-Spaniards recognise it as Spain’s national cuisine, but locals just know it as a delicious meal perfect for gathering the family around and enjoying together during festivals. This paella is great for the home cook since it has chicken and seafood.
Chicken and seafood paella suggestions
When cooking your mussels and prawns, remember that they cook very rapidly and you may boil them in some garlic and lemon butter. Since the rice will continue cooking in the water and stock, there’s no need to precook it. Only put the seafood into the paella at the end so that it doesn’t become overdone. Without being overpowering, the pimento peppers offer a wonderful flavour and subtle heat.
Make sure you have a broad cooking surface for your paella since it becomes a one-pan meal.
You probably like dining with the family since you have attended to food festivals or because you particularly like Mediterranean cuisine. This weekend, try your hand at cooking a seafood and chicken paella from scratch.
Chicken and seafood paella recipe
Course: Main
Cuisine: Spanish
Difficulty: Moderate
Servings: 10 servings
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Ingredients
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750 m cooked rice
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2 kg chicken
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225 g pork sausages
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225 g cooked mussels
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5 whole, skinned tomatoes
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3 large onions, chopped
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2 red pimento peppers
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250 g mushrooms, halved
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2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
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100 g cooked prawns
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juice of 1 lemon
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2 bay leaves
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5 ml turmeric
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3 ml paprika
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30 ml olive oil
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15 ml vegetable oil
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salt and pepper to taste
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chopped parsley to garnish
Method
- Section the chicken into it’s separate pieces or use store-bought pieces. Place into a large and flat pan.
- Brown and cook the chicken in the olive oil with the pork sausages until golden brown.
- Add chopped onions and garlic. Fry until soft and add tomatoes, rice, salt, pepper, paprika, bay leaves and turmeric.
- Cover with water or chicken stock and simmer for 30 minutes until chicken is tender.
- In a frying pan, heat the vegetable oil, fry red pimento peppers cut into shreds and add mushrooms which have been simmered in lemon juice.
- To this, add cooked shrimps and mussels.
- When the rice mixture is hot, blend with the seafood and remove bay leaves.
- Garnish with parsley and season again to taste if needed.