Paella

Paella

This is my favorite paella recipe that I got from my favorite teacher in high school. His name was Charles Stern and he taught Spanish at Springfield High School in 1974. He had our Spanish class get together one evening with our parents and he gave us all several recipes and assigned each of us to bring different ingredients to the after school gathering and when we all showed up with our parents he had us learn how to cook several Spanish recipes that his mother had made for him He wanted us to experience some of the food culture that went with the language we were learning to speak. It was a lot of fun and the recipe for Paella is still one of my favorites. It is easy and very good. I have visited Mexico 6 times and Spain once so I got to practice my Spanish and eat authentic Paella!

1 chicken - (3 lbs), cut in pieces, and skin removed
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1 onion chopped
3 cloves  garlic minced
1 red or green bell pepper seeded and chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1/4 pound ham, smoked (1/2" cubes)
2 cups rice
3 cups  water
1/2 pound chorizo sausage, sliced
1/2 pound raw shrimp
1 cup peas
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon saffron
1/2 cup  artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
3 tablespoons pimientos chopped

1. In a large cast iron skillet heat the olive oil. Add the chicken, season it with salt and cook for about 10 minutes and ten add the onions, garlic and peppers, red or green. Cook another 5 minutes. Then add the tomatoes, bay leaves and ham. Continue cooking over low heat for a another 10 minutes. When the ingredients become reddish slowly add the rice stir until the rice becomes pinkish, about 10 minutes. Add the water and stir well and continue to simmer over low heat another 15 minutes. Then as the rice starts to swell up stir in all of the remaining ingredients except for the artichoke hearts and pimentos. Turn the heat up to medium and cover the pan and continue to cook the dish until the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Strategically place the artichoke hearts and pimentos on top of the dish, cover for about 5 minutes and serve.

Servings: 8

Calories 450