# Paella Mista

Chicken, chorizo, prawns, clams and mussels on saffron rice — a holiday paella for eight, cooked in one big pan.

Source page: https://madebetterwithbutter.com/recipes/paella/
Originally from: The Spanish Table's Classic Paella (Steve Winston) — book: The Spanish Table Cookbook, p. 42

- Category: Holidays, Seafood, Chicken, Party
- Prep: 30 min
- Cook: About 1 hr, plus a 15-minute rest
- Serves: 8 servings

## Changes from the original
- **Scaled for eight.** The book gives amounts per person, like a multiplication table; this is our card for a crowd of eight.
- **Twice the wine.** 1 cup of white wine for the saffron instead of ½ cup.
- **Hot paprika.** ½ tsp alongside the pimentón for a little more heat.
- **Mushrooms.** 8 oz, because we put mushrooms in everything.
- **Cajun pickled green beans.** For the green-bean part of the vegetables — they add a little tang and spice.
- **Grilled asparagus, sometimes.** Charred on the BBQ and laid over the top at the end. Optional and delightful.
- **A big cast-iron pan.** A 17-inch Lodge instead of a paella pan, finished on the stove under an aluminum paella-pan cover.

## Ingredients

### Saffron wine
- 40 threads saffron
- 1 cup dry white wine _(changed; original: ½ cup)_

### In the pan
- 4 tbsp olive oil, or more — enough to cover the bottom of the pan
- 8 pieces chicken, such as thighs
- 2 cups chopped onion
- 8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 8 oz Spanish cooking chorizo, sliced
- 8 oz mushrooms, halved or sliced _(added)_

### Rice
- 4 cups Valencian paella rice (Bomba or Calasparra)
- 4 tsp pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika)
- 1/2 tsp hot paprika _(added)_
- 1 cup grated tomato (cut in half, grate, discard the skin)
- 8 cups chicken stock — homemade if you have it

### Seafood
- 16 prawns
- 16 clams, scrubbed
- 16 mussels, scrubbed and debearded

### To finish
- jarred roasted red peppers, drained and cut in strips
- Cajun pickled green beans, cut in pieces _(added)_
- jarred artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
- asparagus, charred on the grill and cut in pieces (optional) _(added)_
- lemon wedges and minced parsley

## Steps
1. Warm the saffron in a small pan until it smells fragrant. Add the wine, bring it almost to a boil, then take it off the heat.
2. Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil and heat over medium. Brown the chicken, turning, until golden and cooked through.
3. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and translucent. Add the chorizo and mushrooms and cook until the chorizo starts giving up its fat.
4. Stir in the rice with the pimentón and hot paprika for about a minute, until every grain is coated. Grate the tomato straight into the pan.
5. Pour in the saffron wine and the hot stock (keep the stock warm on the side from the start). Bring to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan, then scatter in the peppers, green beans and artichoke hearts.
6. Turn it down to a slow boil. After about 5 minutes, push the clams and mussels into the rice hinge-side down and tuck in the prawns. Stop stirring from here.
7. Cook about 15 minutes more, until the rice is done. Cover the pan, let it rest 15 minutes, then lay any grilled asparagus over the top and finish with parsley and lemon wedges.

## Notes
- Don't stir in the second half of cooking — that's how you get socarrat, the crisp, caramelized rice on the bottom. On a big pan over a home burner, move the pan around so the whole bottom gets heat.
- We finish ours on the stove under an aluminum paella-pan cover; resting it loosely covered with foil works too. The book's other option is to finish it in a 350°F oven for the last 10–15 minutes.
- Bomba rice drinks more liquid than other paella rice. Have extra stock warm and ready.
- If you're worried the clams won't open in time, steam them in a separate pan and add them at the end, using their liquid in place of some of the stock.
- Any clams or mussels that stay shut after cooking go in the trash.
- The green beans we use: [Cajun pickled green beans](https://link.amazon/B0ffz7Gbx).