This recipe is for a Spanish meat paella, without the paella cost. There were a couple of restrictions. One, our stove is on the fritz so we were not going to be able to do any major baking. And two, we had a tight budget. The budget restraint helped simplify the recipe since that meant no seafood and no saffron.
I worked off a recipe from “The Cuisines of Spain: Exploring Regional Home Cooking” by Teresa Barrenechea. I modified the recipe by substituting curry powder for the saffron. The curry powder gave it a unique taste, especially when blended with the paprika and it gave the dish the saffron coloring, without the heavy saffron price tag.
- 1 clove garlic, unpeeled
- 3 1/2 cups chicken stock
- 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and cut lengthwise into narrow strips
- 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and cut lengthwise into narrow strips
- 1/4 pound beef shoulder cut, cut into small pieces
- 1/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into small pieces
- Salt
- 3 ounces of chorizo
- 1 1/2 cups white rice
- 1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges
First, I broke apart a clove of garlic and placed it into a 500 degree F toaster oven until the skin started to brown, around ten minutes.
Meanwhile, I set to boil the chicken stock, mixed in the paprika and half the curry powder then set it to simmer.
When the garlic was browned, I peeled it then added the parts to a blender and added 1/2 a cup of the simmering stock plus the rest of the curry powder and blended it. Then I set it aside.
In a large (about 15-inch) pan, I heated the olive oil then added the green and red bell peppers til tender then added the chicken, beef and chorizo, stirring for a couple of minutes, just to brown them (not fully cook).
I then added in the rice and the salt, mixing the ingredients so that the rice picked up some of the oil. I then spread the mixture across the pan and poured in the hot stock mixture, increased the heat to high so that it could boil. I then added the garlic mixture that we blended and lightly mixed it in, just to incorporate it. Allow it to boil for 7-10 minutes without stirring then turn the heat down to medium. Do not stir or the rice will break apart and the dish will become starchy. If you actually have a functioning stove, you can then put the pan in the oven for 7 minutes at 500 degrees F, or you can continue to cook on the stove top for an additional 7-10 minutes. Just like cooking rice, the liquid will be absorbed and the rice will be tender. Remove it from the oven or stove top burner and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Serve with the lemon wedges on the side.