Classic Paella
2
servings10
minutes40
minutes50
minutes
Flavoured with regular and smoked paprika, this light and easy take on the classic and very popular Spanish rice dish is made with chicken and garnished with hard boiled eggs.
* For vegetarian or a meat free option simply substitute the chicken stock with vegetable stock. The chicken can be substituted with prawns or shrimp – or leave out entirely.
Ingredients
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced or quartered
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
500 g boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 cm strips*
1/2 each each salt and pepper, divided
1 onion, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cups of paella rice
1 tbsp paprika
0.5 tsp smoked paprika
Pinch saffron
3 cups (750 ml) reduced-salt chicken stock*
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
¾ cup frozen peas
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
Directions
- Heat 1 tbsp of oil in large pan on medium heat; add chicken and half of the salt and pepper and cook for 5 to 8 minutes or until the chicken is browned and cooked through. Remove from pan; set aside.
- Heat remaining oil in pan; cook onion, red capsicum and garlic for 3 to 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in rice and paprika, smoked paprika, saffron and remaining salt and pepper. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until rice is well coated.
- Stir in stock, tomatoes and bay leaves; bring to boil, then reduce to simmer. Cook for 20 minutes. Stir in peas; cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove and discard bay leaves.
- Arrange chicken strips over paella. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Garnish with hard boiled eggs and parsley.
Notes
- For a vegetarian dish, omit the chicken and add extra capsicum. Substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock.
- For a party-style paella add 250 g peeled and deveined shrimp. Cook shrimp along with the chicken in the last 2 minutes of cooking time.
- If you can’t find paella rice, substitute Arborio rice.
- Garnish with strips of store-bought roasted capsicum if desired.
- Recipe and Image Credit: © 2019 Egg Farmers of Canada. www.eggs.ca