Christmas Paella Recipe

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.

How To Make Paella

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.6. Five mins before the end of cooking add the mussels, prawns, squid and monkfish to the pan. Stir, and replace the lid to finish cooking.

Spanish Paella Recipe (seafood, Chicken, & Chorizo)

Gordon Ramsay is joined in the kitchen by fashion stylist Gok Wan in the Christmas special for his Cookalong show. Their aim is to prove that everyone can prepare delicious homemade dishes for a 3 course dinner within 60 minutes. If you are planning to cook along to this program (showing at 7.55pm tonight, 20 Dec 09 on

Here is a picture of some of the required ingredients. No time to make stock or pop down to the butchery to get

Is not commonly available in Singapore but is a necessary ingredient for this dish as it is near impossible to find Bomba Rice (traditional Spanish rice) for paella. Please do not substitute with

How To Cook A Wolf: Christmas Eve Paella

Unfortunately, my schedule didn't permit me the time to stop by Bunalan during their operating hours to get the rice so I found myself doing the headless chicken run covering 8 locations before I finally found some at the 24 hour Cold Storage outlet in Katong Mall. I couldn't find any Arborio Rice in Culina Dempsey (sold out), both supermarkets at Vivocity, the Cold Storage in Harbourfront, the 24 hour Cold Storage in Holland Village, the 24 hour NTUC at Esso Station along Still Road and Mustafa.

Saffron is the world's most expensive spice and is an essential ingredient for Paella as it imparts a distinctive flavour to the dish. This is another ingredient that's a little tricky to find in Singapore. Many supermarkets sell it but if you examine them closely, the saffron threads look awfully limp and as if they haven't been stored well. I've even found mould in some of the saffron boxes in the supermarkets. I bought my Saffron from Culina in Dempsey.

Flat Leaf Parsley is not available in all supermarkets but can be found in places like Culina or supermarkets at locations serving the expatriate crowd.

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As I find the saltiness to be more subtle than that of table salt and I like that it is less processed than table salt. Easily available in most supermarkets.

I like using Bombay Onions instead of White Onions or Yellow Onions in my cooking because they have a sweeter flavour and is also alot cheaper.

I couldn't find Monkfish so I substituted it with Scallops. As I didn't have the time to head down to Tekka Market to buy my seafood, I settled for what was available in the supermarket.

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I didn't bother covering the pan as traditional paella pans do not have covers. I'm glad to finally use my paella pan after keeping it in my cupboard for years! If you do not have a paella pan, a large based pan/pot should do.

Do not use a small based pot, as the tendency would be to stir often to ensure an even cooking and prevent burning. An important point to note is not to stir the paella too often as it could release too much starch from the rice thereby creating a creamy seafood risotto instead.

My paella was a little too soggy for my liking. I think I shall adopt the Spanish method, which is to gradually add stock as the rice absorbs the fluid, the next time I make this. The flavour of saffron and paprika was awesome. Difficulty rating: 2 out of 5

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