As the days are gradually becoming longer and
warmer, I find myself craving more seafood but I still want bold flavors. After hemming and hawing over what to make
for Sunday dinner this week, I settled on Cheater
Paella. I call it “Cheater” because
I do not use the traditional cooking method – outdoor over a gas or charcoal
grill or over a wood fire. I also do not
use a proper paella pan – I do not even own one. Instead, I cook my Cheater Paella on my stove in my 12-inch sauté pan and a standard
10-in stock pot. Last, some of my
flavors are just a smidge off traditional and I use whatever rice I have on
hand instead of searching out that medium-grain, rounded Spanish rice. Even still, my Cheater Paella retains the essence of traditional paella with the
convenience of cooking with what you have on hand in your home.
Paella is the type of dish that one looks at
and thinks it is incredibly difficult to make because it has a long list of
ingredients. This could not be farther
from the truth. In fact, it is actually
quite easy to make and alter according to your wants and needs.
The one thing that I cannot stress enough is
that it is absolutely OK to alter a recipe such as Cheater Paella. Sometimes I
do not have a specific ingredient on hand so I skip it or use an alternative
ingredient that I already have in my cupboard.
Seriously, make use of what you have on hand! If you have food allergies or picky eaters,
make substitutions for those items so the resulting dish fits your needs.
I often do not bother with exact measurements
when throwing a recipe together. In the
case of my Cheater Paella, I use the
measurements for the meats more as guidelines than as requirements. My original recipe called for 2-pounds of
chicken breast, 1-pound of shrimp and 1-pound of kielbasa. At my grocery store, the kielbasa and shrimp came
in 12-ounce packages, and I picked up a 1 ½ pound package of organic,
free-range, hormone and antibiotic-free chicken breast. Though the meat ingredients I picked up only totaled roughly two thirds of the amount called for in the recipe, the resulting
dish was not lacking in any way. Likewise,
if I had felt like it, I could have substituted regular pork sausage or chorizo
for the kielbasa, and clams for the shrimp.
Or, I could have substituted in all seafood instead of including chicken
and kielbasa. No matter what, it would
have turned out delicious.
The evening before I planned to make my Cheater Paella, I took a few minutes to
cut the chicken into 1-inch chunks and mix up the marinade. Then, I mixed them together and stored them
in a covered glass mixing bowl in the refrigerator overnight. Seriously simple. Immediately following that, I decided that I
had enough time to clean my shrimp so when the time came to use it the next
day, I could just grab it and toss it into the pan. Easy peasy.
When you are getting ready to actually cook your
Cheater Paella, I find it easiest to start
by dicing your red pepper and onion, chop one bunch of fresh parsley, zest two
lemons and mince three cloves of garlic and set them all aside so everything
will be ready to add at the appropriate time.
Once you have done that, it is easy sailing. Everything comes together in a snap and you
end up with an incredibly simple dish that will have your family begging for
more.
 |
| Allow your rice to form a nice crust on the bottom! |
Cheater Paella
Serves 8
Marinade Ingredients
·
2 tablespoons
olive oil
·
1 tablespoon
paprika
·
2 teaspoons
dried oregano
·
Salt to taste
·
Pepper to
taste
Other
Ingredients
·
2 pounds
boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
·
4 tablespoons
olive oil, divided
·
2 cloves
garlic, minced
·
1 teaspoon
crushed red pepper flakes
·
2 cups
uncooked medium-grain white rice
·
½ bunch
Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
·
1 quart
chicken stock
·
2 lemons,
zested
·
1 medium
onion, diced
·
1 red bell
pepper, diced
·
1 pound kielbasa
or other sausage
·
1 pound raw
shrimp, peeled and deveined
Directions
1.
In a medium
bowl, mix together all marinade ingredients.
2.
Chop chicken
then add to marinade and mix well, making sure to coat all pieces. Cover and rest in the refrigerator for at
least one hour, though longer is better.
3.
Heat
2-tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
4.
Add garlic,
red pepper flakes and rice and cook, stirring to coat rice with oil for 2 – 3 minutes.
5.
Add parsley,
chicken stock and lemon zest and bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to
medium-low. No need to stir. You want it to form a nice crust on the
bottom.
6.
Simmer for 20
minutes.
7.
Meanwhile,
heat 2-tablespoons of olive oil in a separate skillet or pan over medium heat.
8.
Add marinated
chicken and chopped onion and cook for 5 - 7 minutes.
9.
Add kielbasa and
chopped bell pepper and cook for 5 minutes.
10. Add shrimp and cook until they are cooked
through and no longer translucent.
11. Top cooked rice with meat, seafood and
vegetable mixture and serve hot.
Note: I did not want to waste my
lemons after completely zesting two of them so I sliced what was left and added
it to a couple of pitchers of water.
What is your go-to recipe when you crave seafood? Comment below and let me know!
