Chicken and vegetable paella

This is my new favorite go-to to impress people with my cooking skills. You can easily make this in about 30 minutes but impress people with that deliciously salty and rich flavor with the crunch of the socarrat the rice creates.

Top tips from me:
1) Danny says the prep takes the most time here, and I agree, though make sure you set timers and pay close attention when cooking.
2) Use chicken thighs or legs so there’s enough fat to create flavor! Chicken breast will get too dry.
3) It’s definitely easier to cook each vegetable one at a time so that you don’t have to carefully pick out the peppers and cauliflower later. So cook the cauliflower first, then peppers, then put and leave in the green beans.
4) I used my food scale to measure out the rice, but feel free to convert that to cups, just don’t add too much without adding enough stock.
5) I had to pour a little more stock in later to avoid burning the paella early on, and when I did the cooking class, Danny recommended adding a little bit of water at the time just to ensure the rice has enough liquid to absorb.
6) Make sure to evenly pour the rice into the pan. You want the broth to completely cover it as it sinks to the bottom.
7) Pay close attention to the cooking times; if you don’t decrease your heat at the right time, it could burn, like mine did a little bit. That last minute is important to create a crust!

Time:
This dish requires a bit of prep with chopping everything up, but once you do that, it will only take about 30 minutes to complete. The amounts provided by Danny are meant to serve one person, though I definitely had some leftovers.

Ingredients:
6 oz of chicken thighs and/or leg, cut into 3-4 in. cubes — 2 tbsp salt — 0.5 cup green beans, cut into 1.5 in. pieces — half of a red pepper, cut into 2 in. pieces — 0.6 cup small florets of cauliflower — 1 tbsp sweet paprika — 1 clove garlic, minced — half of a tomato, pureed — 50 ml olive oil — 100 g bomba rice — 0.5 g saffron — 1.5 cups chicken stock 

Instructions: 

– Add olive oil one to a frying pan and warm over medium heat until shimmering.

– Add chicken to the pan (adding salt to taste) and brown the meat on both sides.

– Add all the vegetables to the pan with the chicken (adding salt to taste). Cook them approx. only 60%, leaving them al dente, then remove the cauliflower and peppers. Leave the green beans in the pan. 

– Add sofrito (tomato puree, garlic and sweet paprika) to pan, combine and cook for 1 to 2 minutes .

– Add chicken stock and stir to combine. Increase temperature to high to bring to a boil.

– Add saffron to broth and boil for 2 to 3 minutes.

– Add rice to pan and cook on high heat for 10 minutes, then add back the rest of the vegetables evenly throughout the pan.

– Lower to medium heat and cook your paella for another 8 minutes until the broth is gone.

– Then, increase the heat again to high and cook for 1 minute. Allow the rice on the bottom to create a socarrat. Scrape some rice back to check that it crisped properly.

– Enjoy!

Did you make this recipe and have suggestions? Leave a comment!