I had to look around and dig this recipe out. This version uses fresh game and fish from our local waters and woods. Ahh, the smell of toasted saffron, garlic, grilled wild birds and fresh seafood.
Ingredients:
1 ⁄2 cup olive oil
2 onions, red or yellow, sliced
1 bell or Cubanelle pepper
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large chicken or duck, chopped with skin on
2 lbs. hot, game sausage (alligator, pork, venison, turkey, etc sausage)
8-10 Roma tomatoes, canned, whole
1 large can of quartered, Marzano-type tomatoes
3 or 4 bay leaves
Three 14-oz. cans of chicken stock
3 pinches of Spanish saffron
Three 14-oz. bags of Valencia rice.
3 lbs. large locally caught shrimp, peeled (or we have used grouper or snapper chunks)
1 cup green peas, frozen
1 cup asparagus
Topped with:
Cooked and heated Stone Crab Claws
Grilled Quail or Doves
Grilled Florida lobster tails
You can cook this inside in the oven, but I usually use my outdoor fryer.
Begin by heating Paella pan to 350 degrees. Stir onions, peppers and chopped garlic into about 1⁄2 cup of good olive oil in the bottom of the pan. Then add chicken pieces, bite-sized chunks of sausage, and quartered Roma tomatoes. I usually add some freshly ground pepper and a few bay leaves, but not salt at this stage. Cook the above, stirring occasionally. The result should be a mix of roasted meat and veggies, deeply browned and aromatic. You may want to consider de-boning your poultry now, but that’s not an absolute necessity.
While the chicken, sausage and vegetable mix are cooking, toast the saffron in a small frying pan, just enough to bring out its unique smell. Saffron is rare, and pricey, and a little goes a long way. Two or three small pinches are adequate for a large paella. In a large saucepan, bring your chicken stock near boiling, and add the saffron to flavor it. Canned chicken stock is pretty good, but I’ll admit the best paellas I’ve had used homemade fish or shrimp stock.
Add the hot stock to the paella pan’s contents, then mix in your rice, and salt to taste. I use Valencia rice. It comes packaged in 12- to 14-ounce bags, and I allow one bag for every four persons served. Generally one 14-ounce can of chicken stock is enough to cook one bag of rice, as the meat and vegetables also create some broth. Keep an eye on the stock level as you cook. You may have to adjust the mix with either more rice or more plain stock. Be sure the rice is wet and slightly covered by the broth. Continue to cook, uncovered, until the rice soaks up the liquid.
I usually turn off the heat with the rice slightly crunchy and allow it to continue to cook, covered lightly with foil, after the final ingredients are stirred in. The final ingredients are shrimp (or options), green peas, asparagus, anything that doesn’t need too much cooking. Don’t overcook your shrimp!
As this last part of the process is going on, I usually prepare and cook the “dressy” toppings, such as the grilled wild birds, stone crab claws, lobster tails, etc. Those are added just as the dish is taken to the table.