From Chefs Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette

Recipes Serves: 2

A Note from the Chefs:

Paella is wonderful any time of year and a robust Valenciana – with sausage, chicken and seafood – is especially welcome in the fall. This dish has been on our menu from the very start and remains one of our most popular. If you don't have a sofrito ready to go, then substitute with tomato paste. Once you master the basics of great saffron-infused paella the variations are endless.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup Calasparra or Bomba rice
• 10 threads of saffron
• 1 cup sliced Spanish chorizo
• 1/4 cup each: diced red pepper, sliced scallion bottoms, and Spanish onions sautéed in olive oil
• 1/4 cup sofrito (1 onion small diced and cooked in olive oil, add 2 cups of tomato paste, and slowly cook down for 5 min).
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 cup chicken breast/thigh meat
• 1 1/2 cup of lobster stock, 1 1/2 cup chicken stock, 1 1/2 cup vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon salt & pinch of pepper
• 5 top neck or count neck clams
• 3 shrimp
• 15 mussels
• 1/2 cup English peas
• 1/4 cup sliced scallion tops and olive oil to garnish

METHOD

1. In a paella pan or other flat-bottom skillet, combine garlic, onion, sofrito, scallion bottoms, chicken, chorizo, salt and pepper, and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes.
2. Add rice and saffron and stir, evenly coating, and toast for 4 to 5 minutes.
3. Evenly distribute and flatten out rice in pan, add all stocks and turn the heat up to high.
4. Once boiling, add the clams and cook 5 to 10 minutes until they open up and rice grains are clearly visible.
5. Add mussels and turn down to medium heat.
6. Once the mussels open, add shrimp and peas and keep on medium heat until shrimp and rice are both cooked, creating a crispy bottom called "socarrat," adding stock as necessary.
7. Garnish with olive oil and scallion tops.