Spanish Paella

I can’t stop thinking about my upcoming European cruise in October so I’m going to take you all on a culinary journey featuring local cuisine from all the countries I’m going to visit. 

First stop: Spain. I’ve always wanted to try paella because it is heavily influenced by Mediterranean flavours inspired by Arabic and Roman cuisine. For this recipe, I’ve added chicken, Spanish chorizo, and a seafood medley of octopus, clams and scallops.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds chicken thighs
• 1 bag frozen seafood (you can add frozen shrimp, scallops or octapus)
• 1 pound chorizo sausage, casing removed and crumbled
• Spanish-style rice
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 Spanish onion
• 1 teaspoon Spanish paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 lemon cut into wedges
• 1 quart chicken stock
• salt and pepper

Directions

• Marinate chicken thighs in olive oil, paprika, oregano, and salt and pepper
• Cook chicken thighs over medium heat 5 minutes per side and set aside
• Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large skillet or paella pan. Stir in garlic, onion, chorizo sausage, chicken stock, seafood and lemon.
• Add chicken thighs and rice in skillet. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Simmer 20 minutes.

I love chorizo sausage and I hope to be incorporating it more in my dishes for a spicy kick. Hope you like it!