Roasted Vegetable Paella with Chicken and Mussels
My adaptation from Ina Garten's book, Cooking for Jeffrey.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds bell peppers (orange and/or yellow) cut into 1/2 inch-wide strips
- 2 pounds fresh fennel bulbs cored and sliced 1/2 inch thick
- 1 pound zucchini sliced length wise, then slice 1/2 inch thick
- 1 large red onion diced 3/4 inch
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp sea salt yes...this much
- 1 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 2 cups yellow onion diced 1/2 inch
- 2 tbsp fresh garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ground Tumeric
- 1 1/2 cups rice Paella style if you can find it
- 1 12 ounce jar roasted red peppers, undrained packed in water
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika must use smoked variety
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs 1 inch cubes
- 1 pound fresh black mussels
- 6 cups chicken stock keep hot on stove
- 4 ounces Manchego cheese freshly grated
- 1 bunch scallions thinly sliced (white and green parts)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Position racks equally to hold 2 sheet pans.
- In a large bowl, toss peppers, fennel, zucchini and onion in olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Divide the vegetables between 2 sheet pans...spread the veggies out so they roast instead of steam.
- Roast for a total of 40 minutes. Open the oven half way through and toss veggies. Watch closely so that they get a little char...but don't burn. Adjust your oven and cooking time accordingly.
- Remove from oven and let cool. You will add the roasted veggies to the paella towards the end of the cooking process.
- In a separate large saucepan, heat up 6-7 cups of chicken stock...keep at a very low simmer and use the hot stock to add to the paella throughout the cooking process. Adding 1 to 1 1/2 cups at a time.
Heat 3 tablespoons good olive oil in large, deep skillet (or paella pan) over medium heat.
- Add yellow onions...saute 5-8 minutes until cooked through.
- Add garlic and tumeric, saute for one minute.
- Add rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to coat all of the rice with the onion, spice mixture.
- Add cubed chicken thighs. Stir to combine.
- In blender, place jar of roasted red peppers (including their liquid) and smoked paprika. Blend until pureed. Pour mixture into skillet. Stir to combine and bring to boil over medium heat.
- Add 1 cup of hot chicken stock and 2 teaspoons of salt. Stir to combine and then cook uncovered for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until most of the stock has absorbed.
- Continue to cook paella without a lid, adding hot chicken stock one or 2 cups at a time, whenever you see that the stock has mostly absorbed...do this for about 20 more minutes.
- Add roasted vegetables to paella and some more stock. Stir gently.
- Once the rice is tender (will vary from rice to rice) place fresh mussels, valve side down into rice mixture. Cover with lid and cook for another 5 - 8 minutes until mussels open.
- Discard any mussels that did not open.
- Sprinkle the top with sliced scallions.
- Serve in large bowls with shredded Manchego cheese on the side.
Notes
- Don't let the long list of ingredients concern you. About half of them are from the roasted vegetables.
- Plan ahead and roast your veggies way in advance. I roasted mine in the morning and put them in the refrigerator until I needed them later.
- You must stay at the stove for most of the cooking time. Just like making homemade risotto. So pour yourself a nice glass of wine and be patient.
- Watch for the chicken stock to get absorbed and add more HOT stock as needed until the rice is done to your liking.
- Taste often...to check the rice for doneness and flavor.
- My rice seemed to take forever to get tender...so I put a lid on it for part of the cooking to speed things up.
- Do not let the rice stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. Stir, stir, stir.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!