Easy Chicken and Shrimp Paella
Paella para iniciarse
Serves 8
Take the time to make this simple paella. The ingredients are easy to find and the result is well worth it. You don’t need a paella pan if you have a 4-quart stovetop casserole or a deep large frying pan. A cold dry Spanish Cava, “Brut” or “Brut Nature”, makes a wonderful pair for paella.
½ cup / 125 ml olive oil
1 ½ lb / 650 gr of chicken breasts – skinless and boneless
2 onions, diced
5 cloves garlic, diced
1 tbsp sweet Pimentón
2 fresh tomatoes, peeled and coarsely diced or 4 canned plum tomatoes
3 cups / 400 gr round grain rice
8 cups / 1.5 l boiling water, seasoned with 1 tbsp of salt and ½ tsp of saffron powder OR a pinch of saffron threads1 ½ lb / 650 gr medium shrimp – raw, shelled or unshelled as you prefer
Lemon wedges for garnish
In Paella pan or a 4-quart heavy bottomed casserole, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Quickly brown the chicken breasts and remove to a plate.
Sauté the onions until they begin to be translucent, add the garlic and the Pimentón. Next add the tomatoes and sauté for an additional 10 minutes until the onions are completely translucent.
Add the rice and mix well so that it is coated with the onion, garlic and tomato mixture. Add the chicken as well as any juices.
Add the boiling water, 1 cup / 250 ml at a time, stirring gently to ensure that the rice does not stick to the bottom of the casserole or paella pan.
When all but 2 cups of the water has been stirred in, test the rice. The grain should still have a small core that remains uncooked.
Add the remaining 2 cups of boiling water, stir into the rice. When the last of the water is nearly absorbed, gently stir in the shrimp, and continue to simmer for 10 minutes until the rice has absorbed the water.
Below are popular verses recorded by the poet García Lorca, sometimes sung by my father-in-law while preparing Paella.
Si quieres que de crezca, rubio el cabello, peinate con el peine, que yo peino,
Que se le lleva el río, que se le lleva el agua, la anilla y el corcho, corcho con cana.
Tú eres la reina de mis entrañas, niña ven conmigo, aunque soy cabrero, en la cumbre del monte, querer te quiero.
Verde la fresa, verde la menta. En tu boquita, sal y pimienta.
If your want your hair to grow blond, comb it with my comb.
Ah the river is taking it, the water is carrying it, the hook and the cork!
You are the queen of my soul, come with me my girl, for even if I am just a goat keeper.
At the summit of the mountain, loving you I would love.
Green strawberry, green mint, in your mouth, they are salt and pepper.
Use the numbers below to navigate to the next recipe.