Practitioner's Paella

Ingredients

  • 1 package (10 oz.) yellow rice mix
  • 1/2 lb. jumbo or large shrimp, peeled and rinsed
  • 3/4 lb. red snapper or amberjack fillet (or any favorite firm fish fillet)
  • 1 lb. chicken (skinless, boneless chicken breasts) cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 -1/2 lbs. fresh mussels in shell, cleaned and scrubbed 
  • 1 stalk green onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 -1/2 cups white wine (not cooking wine)
  • 3 - 4 plum tomatoes, diced
  • 1/4 cup frozen peas (partially microwaved cooked prior to adding to pan)
  • 3 - 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup non-fat, low sodium chicken broth
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

  • Prepare rice according to package directions and set aside.
  • In a large non-stick frying pan (or paella pan), sauté green onions, garlic and yellow onion until soft in heated olive oil; remove from pan, add chicken pieces and cook through until well browned on each side.  
  • Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
  • Return sautéed onions and garlic to pan and add fish fillet. Sauté on medium heat, brown fish, turning occasionally, add 1/2 cup white wine and cover. Cook for approximately 5 minutes until tender. Do not overlook.
  • Add cooked rice mixture and all other cooked ingredients plus chicken broth, and stir thoroughly. Reduce heat to low.
  • Add additional 1 cup white wine and add mussels, cover and cook on low - medium heat for 10 minutes or until mussels open and mixture is thoroughly heated.
  • Add chopped tomatoes and heat another 2 - 3 minutes; stir all ingredients completely.
  • Add shrimp to mixture, mix well and cook for 3 - 4 minutes until shrimp turn pink and cooked.
  • Add cilantro (or parsley) and cooked peas at the end and mix well with other ingredients.
  • Add ground black pepper, to taste and serve immediately.

 

Comments:  For a more traditional paella (or if you just prefer a spicy dish), add a link of cooked chopped spicy chorizo sausage if desired, at the end (but before adding shrimp), heat well and mix well with other ingredients. Many thanks to my husband who prepares this dish for us (without the chorizo since I don't eat spicy sausage), using my late Mom's big yellow paella pan. He allows the rice mixture to heat well at the end of cooking in the paella pan until it forms a crunchy crust on the bottom. The crusty rice on the bottom of the pan is a delicious part of traditional paella.