Chicken and Chorizo Paella

The weather has been very unstable here in Stavanger this week (oh, I forgot it is like this the whole year!). So instead of taking our usual Sunday walk with my in-laws, we invited them over for lunch. This also served as our mini-housewarming now that we are FINALLY done with painting the inside AND outside of the apartment, plus replanting new grass in our garden (Mommy, pinagpintura ako ni Vegar ng bahay!!!).

Vegar requested (insisted?) that I make paella, which is fast becoming a family favorite... I forgot to take a picture of the finished dish (in a Spanish paellera I brought all the way from Manila!). But I do have pictures of our newly painted house in my Yahoo!Photos. :D


CHICKEN AND CHORIZO PAELLA
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3 chicken breasts, deboned
500g chorizo, cut into 1/4inch slices
6 cloves garlic
4 tbsp parsley, minced
8tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 medium tomato, finely chooped
1/4 tsp saffron
2 tsp smoked spanish paprika
5 cups california or arborio rice (or any medium or short grained rice)
10 cups chicken stock, simmering hot

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 350degrees F (electric oven)
2. In mortar, mash together garlic and parsley. Set aside.
3. Heat 6 tbsp oil in paella pan.
4. Rub salt on chicken. Then, saute chicken until slightly brown but not fully cooked. Remove from pan. Leave oil in pan.
5. Cook chorizo in the same pan for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from pan. Leave oil in pan.
6. Add remaining 2 tbsp oil in pan. Saute onion and bell pepper until soft. Add tomatoes. Cook for 2 more minutes.
7. Add rice, saffron and paprika. Mix rice into oil and onion/pepper/tomato mix making sure each grain is coated with the oil and saffron.
8. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil.
9. Add the mortar mixture (garlic and parsley)
10. Continue to boil for 3 more minutes, stirring and rotating the pan occasionally.
11. Add the chorizo and chicken. Boil for 2 minutes more until the rice is no longer soupy but enough liquid remains to continue cooking the rice.
12. Transfer to oven and cook uncovered for 15 - 20 minutes.
13. Remove to a warm spot and cover with foil.


CHICKEN BROTH:
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8 cups water
1 lb chicken parts, preferably backs, neck and thighs, all skin and fat removed
1 carrot, scraped (i used a peeler for this)
3 bay leaves
2 tsp thyme leaves (I use dried thyme)
1 onion, peeled and sliced
salt to taste (around 1 tsp)
several sprigs parsley
1 leek, well washed and roughly chopped
10 peppercorns
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Skim off the surface scum and fat, cover and simmer about 1 ½ to 2 hrs. Strain pressing with the back of a wodden spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.

If you guys want, you can order the book from Amazon: Paella! by Penelope Casas. It has a lot of different Paella recipes and lots of useful tips. As Penelope Casas said, the broth is the key to having a really good paella. It has to be nice and tasty as this is absorbed by the rice.

Note: use a paellera or a casserole that you can put on top of a burner and inside an oven.