Paella

New Fun Thing to Try! Old School Paella Night

Paella--like so many other delicious foods we've become enamored of--began as mere peasant fare
Three basic steps:
1. Stock
2. Sofrito
3. Stock and rice are added

To save time, I will be using ready made chicken stock but one of these days I'll try it with the real deal, also maybe a seafood one!
Chicken and chorizo paella
4-6 servings

1 medium poblano (use two smallish-medium bells if you don't like it hot)
1 small bell pepper
1 small-medium red onion
1 stalk celery, minced plus any celery leaves attached, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic
3 med.large tomatoes

1/2 lb chicken (about 1 ish breast)
1-2 fatty chorizo link, sliced
4 cups of chicken stock (low sodium if possible)
pinch saffron
1 can peas, drained
(next time I might add a chipotle)
salt
pepper
chile powder
1 3/4 cup short grain rice (About 2 1/2 cups water for each cup of rice)
1 lime

1. Heat up the olive oil in a large soup pan/wok, add peppers, let sizzle for a minute, stirring. Add onions and garlic, stir till onions begin to brown and are translucent. Add celery and finally the tomatoes, let all this simmer until tomatoes begin to reduce to a paste almost, about 5-10 more minutes.

2. Meanwhile, brown the chorizo and chicken breast in a skillet. Heat till opaque and just a bit brown. Slice up chicken into bite sized morsels and add these to the wok. Stir at a simmer for about 5 minutes so flavors can accumulate.

3. Add the chicken stock, let it heat up a bit, about 2-3 minutes, add remaining spices and rice. Also celery leaves or parsley. The lime will be the very last thing to go in so don't go squeezing it just yet. Now you just give it a good stir and wait for a while. I like to use brown rice so this will take 45 minutes to be finished, regular arborio or basmati will take only 25-30. Now you let it simmer at a hearty level (not as low as a simmer or a high as a boil) for 15 minutes, check and stir and repeat this every 10 minutes until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed into the rice.