I've been wanting to make paella forever, but I must admit, it's a bit intimidating! I've not eaten a lot of it, so I don't know the gold standard. I feel I need a proper paella pan, so I finally get one. I feel I need paella rice, so I finally find some (it's pretty available, check online). I feel I need some great Spanish saffron, so I get some (again, online). I feel I need a special event, and we have the family over one Saturday in January for a belated holiday party, so all I need to do is to research recipes and come up with my own. So I do. Read about 19 recipes, but once I look at the options and visualize the process in my mind I am ready to make it my own. Or so I thought. More on that later.

I now have the paella rice, pan, olive oil, Spanish saffron and the other basics. Thinking about going all seafood, but end up choosing chicken thighs, chorizo sausage (necessary), littleneck clams, calamari, shrimp and split lobster tails. It's a party, after all, I am pulling out all the stops. This recipe serves a lot of people. There are 8 of us and we end up with a little left over. I will do my best to convey this recipe, since once my children show up I am sidelined. They're pretty good in the kitchen and think they know it all, so they basically take over upon arrival. I've done all the prep, they get all the glory. And FYI, you don't really need a paella pan, a large skillet will do. You don't really need paella rice, Arborio or even jasmine rice will do. The size of the skillet will determine how many delicious things you can tuck into the rice. My final advice is go big or go home.

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 - 8 chicken thighs, seasoned in smoky paprika and dried oregano (below) for one hour or more. Sprinkle with olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. Lemon juice and zest would be good too.
• 2 large links of chorizo sausage, sliced into 1" pieces, on the bias
• 12 large shrimp, peeled and de-veined (frozen is fine)
• 12 littleneck clams, meticulously cleaned (well-cleaned mussels would work here too)
• 1 lb. calamari tubes sliced into 1" pieces, plus a good handful of tentacles
• 6 lobster tails, uncooked and split in half lengthwise
• 4 cups of short-grain rice (I used a paella rice, available on Amazon and elsewhere)
• 3 cups of chicken stock (homemade stock if you have it)
• 3 cups of fish or lobster stock (homemade stock if you have it)
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 1 sweet onion, chopped into 1/4" dice
• 2 cups or so red and orange bell peppers, chopped similar to onion
• 6 fresh garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1 15 oz. can of fire-roasted tomatoes, or fresh tomatoes, rough chopped
• 1 T. or more smoky paprika
• 1 T. or more dried oregano
• a generous pinch of the best saffron you can find
• 1/4 cup diced parsley for garnish
• Lemon wedges for garnish

Preparing all your ingredients in advance is key (mise en place) so that when it is time to cook, the dish comes together surprisingly easily. First, coat the chicken thighs in the smoky paprika and dried oregano and set it aside to dry-marinade for an hour or so. Feel free to give it a drizzle of olive oil, and maybe some salt and pepper. Then slice the chorizo into 1" chunks, chop the onion and peppers, mince the garlic, prep all the seafood and have everything else at the ready. This does not take a lot of time, maybe 1/2 hour. Have your people help you.

Now, time to cook the chicken and sausage. There needs to be a good fond (browned-up layer) on the bottom of the pan for flavor. I start the chicken, skin side down in a little bit of good olive oil, brown it up, but do not cook it through as it should finish in the rice. I did maybe 10 minutes on the skin side, medium low heat, and 8 on the bottom. I remove the chicken and add the chorizo, browning that up pretty well. It is sausage, after all, it will remain juicy and flavorful even with good color on it.

Once the chorizo is done, it is time for the vegetables. The onions go in first, followed quickly by the peppers, and later by the garlic (the garlic should not burn). I add a quick swirl of olive oil before adding the rice. It needs to get a good coat of oil on and maybe a little toast, like one would with a risotto. Once you feel the rice is coated and the outer coating is a little cooked, add the white wine to deglaze the bottom, scraping up all the good stuff. Add the broth(s), the tomatoes, the saffron, maybe some salt and pepper, and maybe a little more oregano. Learn to trust your instincts!! Red pepper flakes would not be a bad choice here!

This is about the time my son Jared takes over, because he is accomplished in the kitchen and all the grunt work is done. This dish cooks uncovered, so he occasionally stirs the rice, but we are looking to get a good crust (soccerat) on the bottom. We give the rice its time, and when it looks close to done, we first bury in the chicken and sausage. Jared is getting artistic with this! Next go in the lobster tails, shell side down. He follows up with the clams and shrimp. The calamari goes last as it takes maybe 8 minutes to cook. All this happens within 15 minutes. We wait for the liquid to almost disappear from the top, clams to open and bottom to crust up. I can't give you a time table, but it sure was fun! Adam (my other son) shows up about now and takes over from Jared. Being our first paella, it takes a village. The bottom may have been browner than we hoped for, but the seafood was delicious and perfectly cooked, the chicken was super tasty, as was the chorizo. We garnish with the chopped parsley and lemon. A great effort for the first attempt and I plan to do it again! I guess the moral to the story is cook with your family and/or friends, have fun with it and try something new! It was a great day.