Paella originally comes from the Valencia region of Spain. It is actually named after the dish it is made in, so I guess if you are not actually making it in a traditional 'paellera' some would say you can't call it paella. I am not that fussy. to me it is a tasty rice casserole that is great for kids as it not only hides most of it's vegetable content well, but most kids like rice, and you can easily adapt the ingredients to the personal taste of your kids or your guests.
The very traditional Spanish version can be rather time consuming, however paella in Spain has so many different varieties and everyone makes theirs differently. A few easy short cuts can gives you a complete meal on a plate, with your protein, carbs and veggies all mixed in together.
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 1 ½ cups of rice (see tips)
- 2 small onions, chopped finely
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 pound of chicken (see tips)
- 3-4 sausages cut in chucks diagonally (see tips)
- 3 cups of chicken stock
- 1 red capsicum chopped
- 1 large tomato, grated
- 1 large tomato, chopped finely
- 1 small zucchini diced
- 1 cup frozen peas
- ½ cup of frozen chopped spinach
- 1 pinch saffron threads
- chopped parsley and lemon wedges to garnish
- coat your heated pan with olive oil and add the onion, garlic, rice, capsicum, chicken and sausage
- stir until the onion is soft and the sausage and chicken slightly browned
- add the tomato, zucchini, stock and saffron
- bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer, covered, for around 15 minutes until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid
- add the peas and spinach and stir well
- turn up the heat slightly and cook uncovered for another 2-3 minutes until your peas and spinach are hot and you have a slight 'crust' on the bottom and sides
- serve with chopped parsley and lemon wedges
- I use a either a high sided fry-pan with a lid, or a Dutch oven. It is probably better to NOT use a non-stick fry pan as one of the nice things about paella is the crunchy rice that you get on the bottom and the sides. You probably wont get this with a non-stick pan.
- The most famous variety of Spanish paella has mixed seafood with chicken. However many kids won't eat mixed seafood, or any seafood at all. My kids love shrimp, so I would normally include shrimp in this recipe, add the shrimp at the same time as the peas and spinach as it doesn't take long to cook.
- For the chicken I prefer boneless, skinless chicken thighs, just cut once or twice across. I find the thighs are more moist and absorb more of the flavour. However skinless chicken breast is fine. If your children are old enough to manage chicken on the bone you can also use chicken pieces, like chicken wings or drumettes.
- I use brown rice or wild rice. My kids are used to these however many kids won't like the additional texture. It is more traditional to use white rice or aborio rice. I suggest use what rice you have or that your children like.
- Use any sausage you like. Again, a Spanish paella may have chorizo, but feel free to use a sausage you know your kids like (of course you do have to live with the fact they will probably pick out all the sausage first and then eat the rest of the paella!).
- Saffron is one of the most expensive things, by weight, in the world. You can usually get the powdered variety much cheaper and follow the instructions. It is quite a strong flavour. You may want to replace the saffron with sweet or smoked paprika. If you are using a Mediterranean type sausage you will probably find you can leave out the saffron or paprika all together as the flavour released from the sausage will be enough.
- You can really use any vegetables in this, green beans, corn, chopped or grated carrot, sugar snap peas etc.
