Christmas Eve Paella....

Paella and Tapas were the dinner of choice here on Christmas Eve ...I may have gone a bit overboard with the addition of too much seafood...but it was delicious. I know it is not traditional to mix seafood with meat, not  in Spain anyway, but there is a bit of chicken and some beautiful chorizo in mine this time and lots of seafood. I treated myself to a new 15 inch Paella Pan ...we set the pan in the middle of the table and everyone just  dug in. My son had brought me a bag of Bomba Rice and some beautiful saffron from Spain, he was happy that I used it.  We had lovely Spanish wine to drink and made a lovely night of it. It was great fun...in fact by the time we had dinner it was 11:00PM...

This recipe is what I used and  loosely adapted from for my Christmas Eve Paella...it is from La Tienda.  It gives you a really nice starting point. I did add some dry diver's scallops, I used mussels and clams, I had some gorgeous Rock Lobster tails that I split in two, also shrimp and some boneless skinless chicken thighs. I had wonderful chorizo from D'artagnan...I also bought some authentic Piquillo peppers from Spain.  Mine served 8 with the amount of seafood I used...

Paella Mixta

This is by far the most popular paella recipe in Spanish restaurants in America. Mixing seafood, meat and chorizo is close to heresy in Valencia, but this 'Americano' version is very tasty and features a variety of flavors sure to please a crowd.
Servings: 4-6
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 1 hr.

Ingredients:

1 tsp thread saffron
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 medium onions, chopped
2 red bell peppers, chopped
2 pounds tomatoes, chopped
8 piquillo peppers, sliced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3 chicken thighs, skinned and cut into 2 inch pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper
12 large shrimp, peeled
12 mussels (or clams)
1 lb Spanish cooking chorizo, cut into 1 inch pieces
8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
2 cups Bomba or Calasparra rice
6 cups chicken broth
Lemon wedges

Preparation:

Add stock, paprika and saffron to a pot and heat, covered. In a separate 15" paella pan, add 2 tbsp olive oil and brown the chicken pieces and chorizo, about 5 minutes. Remove. Add the remaining olive oil and cook the onions over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the bell peppers and cook for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and garlic and simmer for another 5 minutes, until they have a sauce-like appearance. Salt and pepper to taste.
Pour in the rice and stir until the rice is covered with the tomato mixture (known as 'sofrito'). Add chicken and chorizo pieces. Slowly add all of the broth to the paella. Stir the rice mixture around until it is evenly distributed throughout the pan. Important - do not stir after this point.
Simmer for about 10 minutes, then place the shrimp and shellfish into the mixture one-by-one, evenly distributing throughout. Simmer for another 15 minutes, or until all of the broth has been absorbed, adding extra liquid if necessary. Remove from heat, gently cover with foil and let sit for another 10 minutes. Garnish with piquillo pepper slices and lemon wedges.

This would be great fun for a New Years Eve dinner as well.  Before the Paella we had Serrano Ham, assorted Spanish cheeses, Piquillo Peppers with garlic and Spanish Olive Oil, bread, olives, Marcona Almonds...and some other things as well.