MoVida Aqui Party Paella

Ingredients

1 x 1.5kg free range chicken
150ml extra virgin olive oil
650g cleaned calamari, cut into 1 1/4 inch squares
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 kg brown onions, roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Good pinch saffron threads
6 bay leaves
800g red capsicum, seeds removed and cut into 1cm dice
750g green capsicum, seeds removed and cut into 1cm dice
8 tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed and grated
200ml fino sherry
750g broad beans, podded
13 handfuls of bomba rice
3 lemons, cut into wedges

Method

To prepare chicken, place breast side up on a chopping board and slice down the breast on each side to remove breast and wing, thigh and leg.

Remove the wings from the breasts and cut off wing tips. Discard carcass and wing tips (or save for stock). Cut the wings in two at the joint. Cut the breasts lengthways. Cut smaller pieces in two and larger in three.

Trim and discard excess skin and remove thighs from the legs. Remove drumsticks from thighs and trim boney end off. Cut drumsticks in two and thighs into three. You should have 24 pieces of chicken.

Place a 60cm paella pan over high heat and add 100 ml of olive oil. Add calamari and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook and stir continuously for a 1/2 - 2 minutes or until firm and caramelized. Remove from pan, cover and set aside.

Add chicken, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring continuously for 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned.

Push chicken to one side, reduce heat to medium low, add remaining oil, onion, garlic, saffron and bay leaves, season with a little salt and cook, stirring continuously for 5 minutes or until onion is golden. Add capsicum and cook for 10 minutes until soft, with a jammy consistency. Mix in chicken with onion and capsicum.

Drain any liquid off tomato and add to the pan. Add sherry, increase heat to a medium high, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes, scraping the base of the pan to deglaze as the paella cooks. At this stage, liquid should have reduced and the paella should look like thick, chunky jam.

Add 2.6 litres of hot water from the tap, stir and continue cooking until it comes to a simmer.

Return calamari to pan and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in broad beans and cook for 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the rice and stir evenly through. Do not stir again.

Continue to cook paella for 15 minutes before removing from heat and cover with 2 clean tea towels. Set aside for 15 minutes to steam.

Divide among plates and serve with lemon wedges.

Serves 12.


By Frank Camorra from 'MoVida Cocina'

www.murdochbooks.com.au