serves 6
3 cups Bomba or Aborio rice
6 cups chicken broth
4 chorizo sausages
3 chicken thighs, with skin and bones, sprinkled with salt and pepper to taste
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into slices, sprinkled with salt and pepper to taste
1 large red onion, chopped
2 red peppers, cored and sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 cup peas (fresh or frozen peas which have been thawed)
2 tablespoons saffron
4 ounces capers
4 ounces pimentos
8 ounces artichoke hearts, (canned or frozen hearts which have been thawed)
8 ounces Spanish olives stuffed with pimentos
1 tablespoon smoked Spanish Paprika
36 littleneck clams
12 prawns
1 lemon, cut in wedges
Preparation
Place a medium sized saucepan over medium high heat, rub saffron between your hands and into the pan, use a wooden spoon to stir saffron around in the pan until you can smell its’ fragrance.
Pour chicken broth into pan and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, turn off heat and allow broth to sit.
Place a paella pan or large skillet over high heat and add chorizo sausage (casings removed). Chop up sausage with wooden spoon to bite sized pieces and brown.
When brown, remove sausage from pan using a slotted spoon, leaving in the pan the oil from the sausages. Put sausages on a large plate or platter and cover to keep warm.
Lie chicken thighs skin side down in remaining fat and allow to get crispy brown, using tongs, turn thighs over and allow to cook thoroughly (takes 10 – 15 minutes).
During the last 5 minutes add the sliced chicken breasts and stir in the fat until cooked (about 5 minutes). When cooked, remove chicken pieces from fat and place on platter, covered with sausages.
Drop sliced pepper and chopped onions and 2/3 of the chopped garlic into remaining fat and stir until just becoming translucent.
Add rice to vegetables and stir, allowing a few grains of rice to brown, about 3 minutes.
Add in chopped tomatoes, peas, capers, pimentos, olives and artichoke hearts, remaining garlic, paprika and stir to mix.
Arrange the chicken thighs, breasts, sausage, attractively on top of mixture
Imbed clams in mixture.
Top with prawns.
Ladle saffron scented broth into the pan, allow to cook, uncovered on medium heat. Continue to ladle in as much broth as possible as the rice continues to absorb it.
During this final cooking process the rice becomes tender and flavorful, the meat is reheated and the seafood cooks. It is desirable for a caramelized crust to form on the bottom of the rice mixture.
Top with lemon wedges and serve.
