Paella Valencia
Traditional Spanish rice dish with grilled chicken and mussels
This is the eighth recipe from Cooking Space.
Paella is hands down one of Spain’s true culinary gifts to the world, and back when I was a young chef cooking there, I was fortunate to be able to taste a version of it almost every day for staff meal in the restaurants where I worked.
Because paella is such a globally recognized dish, many people believe that it is traditional to all of Spain. While you may be able to find great paella all throughout the country today, it’s most truly a regional dish of Valencia, on the eastern coast along the Mediterranean. And thus, mussels and chicken will be co-stars of the recipe I’ve developed.
We’ll also be adding chorizo to create a perfect trifecta of meats and seafood, blended with crispy rice and beautiful aromatics like saffron and sofrito. Best of all, a great paella isn’t difficult to make, and is easier yet if you purchase La Tienda’s paella kit ahead of time. That will give you a high quality paella pan, and some of the more obscure ingredients needed to pull of the recipe.
Let’s get to it!
Ingredients
For the chicken
2 whole chickens, brined and broken down into pieces
4 chicken wings, brined
For the marinade (wet adobo)
2 chipotles
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 cup roasted red bell pepper
2 tsp. paprika
For the sofrito
1 pinch saffron
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
3 tbsp. salt
2 tbsp. dijon mustard
1 cup wet adobo
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup wet adobo
For the saffron aioli
1 cup mayonnaise
1 pinch saffron
Small splash of water
2 tsp. salt
For the paella Valencia
2 cups Calaspara rice
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 1/3 cup chorizo
2/3 cup Kalamata olives
4 cups saffron broth
4 marinated chicken pieces
1 1/2 cups red watercress
11 pieces sliced baguette, toasted
1 cup sofrito
12 mussels
1/2 cup piquillo peppers, chopped
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
4 lemon petals (sliced lemon wedges)
1/2 cup aioli
Preparation
Note: Some of the ingredients in this dish can be difficult to procure on their own, but they are readily available in La Tienda’s “traditional paella kit,” which you can purchase online at this link. The kit also includes a paella pan, perfect for executing this dish.
I strongly recommend using this kit to prepare your paella!
Prepare the chicken & wet adobo
Brine your chicken a day in advance.
Use a 4-to-1 ratio of water to salt (1 tbsp. salt per quart of water) to create a brine. Let the chicken brine for 24 hours.
To make your wet adobo, combine all respective ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.
Generously rub the marinade on the chicken, and allow it to sit for between one hour and one day. Set a portion of the marinade aside, and reserve for later when grilling the chicken.
The longer you marinate, the better, but if you’re pressed for time, one hour will work.
Prepare the Paella
Add a pinch of smoked paprika and black pepper to the marinated chicken, mix together, and place chicken on the grill. Brush reserved marinade on chicken occasionally as it continues to cook. Grill the chicken until it’s almost completely cooked through, but not quite. It will finish cooking in the oven later.
Heat up your paella pan on the stove with extra virgin olive oil. Add the sofrito ingredients and begin to fry. After a minute or so, add chorizo, and stir to mix with the sofrito. Don’t hesitate to add more olive oil if you feel it needs it.
Next, add your rice, and stir to combine with the other ingredients, then add the mussels.
Pour in the saffron broth. The quantity should be about a 2-to-1 ratio of broth to rice.
Add piquillo peppers, fresh peas, and olives, and let the broth come up to a simmer on the stove. Once it’s simmering, add in the grilled chicken.
Cover the paella pan with aluminum foil, and place in the oven at 375 F for 25-30 minutes, or until the rice is nice and tender.
While the paella is baking, prepare your baguette and aioli.
Coat the baguette slices in extra virgin olive oil, and toast on a flat-top range or in the oven until they’re crispy on both sides.
Mix all the ingredients for the saffron aioli together, and spread on top of the toasted baguette slices.
Pull the paella out of the oven, remove foil, and place back on the lit stovetop, allowing the rice along the edges of the pan to develop a crispy textured layer. This layer is called socarrat.
While the socarrat develops, add the pieces of bread on top of the dish in a nice circular pattern. Add lemon petals around the dish as well, and squeeze a little fresh lemon juice over everything.
You should hear a sizzling sound coming from the pan. That’s the socarrat developing its crispy layer. Once that’s done, garnish the dish with watercress leaves, a little more olive oil, and a sprinkle of smoked paprika.
Serve immediately.
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