Paella
When my husband and I were planning our honeymoon, we both happily agreed that Spain and Portugal were the perfect places to go! Sadly, we had to wait a year from our wedding to take this trip but all good things are worth waiting for!
Being the foodies that we are, we made it our mission to try everything. Paella being one do them. On our last night in Barcelona we decided to eat at El Nacional Barcelona. What a magical place! It’s also very busy so be patient. Since there had been so many people waiting to eat at all the spots we put our names down at a lot of them and waited for that text message “your table is now ready”. We were seated at La Llotja and I am so glad we did! We ordered the Paella and it was delicious!
In honor of having been in Spain exactly one year ago, we decided to make it ourselves. I have to admit, it was even better then the one in Spain 😁. We decided to try a Bon Appetit recipe but made a few big changes. For the original recipe, check out the Bon Appetit website or try our version instead 😊.
Ingredients for Paella:
1 serrano chile, coarsely chopped
10 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Kosher salt
8 ounces pancetta (Italian bacon), cut into ½-inch pieces
2 smoked chorizo sausages
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
½ cup dry white wine
3 cups short-grain rice
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
½ teaspoon saffron threads (optional, we didn’t have any on hand so we skipped it)
12 littleneck clams, scrubbed
8 spring onions, trimmed
12 large head-on, shell-on prawns or shrimp
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions for making the paella:
Purée chile, parsley, and 6 Tbsp. oil in a food processor until smooth; season chile-parsley oil with salt and set aside.
Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a 13" paella pan or a 12" cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Cook pancetta, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Follow the pancetta with chopped up chorizo sausages. Cook the pancetta and sausage still the pancetta is crispy, 3 minutes.
Add yellow onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 8–10 minutes. Add garlic and paprikas and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Carefully add white wine, bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring constantly, until pan is almost dry, about 3 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until rice is coated and starting to turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in broth, and saffron; season with salt. Bring broth to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until rice is nearly tender, 12–15 minutes.
Nestle clams into rice in center of pan and cook until clams begin to open, 12–15 minutes. Cover pan with foil and simmer until rice is al dente and clams open (discard any that don’t), 8–10 minutes. Remove from heat (keep covered) and let rice steam 10 minutes.
While paella cooks, heat a grill pan over medium-high. Separately, toss spring onions, and prawns with 1 Tbsp. oil each in bowls; season with salt and pepper. Grill spring onions, turning occasionally, until greens are charred and bulbs are tender, about 5 minutes. Next, grill prawns until cooked through and shells are charred, about 3 minutes per side. Finally, grill lemons until charred, about 1 minute per side.
Arrange spring onions, and prawns over paella. Drizzle dish with a squeeze some juice from grilled lemons over. Place remaining wedges on top of paella and serve.
