Jaleo inspired Paella

I didn't fully understand or appreciate paella until I had a very simple paella at chef Jose Andres restaurant Jaleo. Inspired by the beautiful colors and balanced flavors of this humble paella I decided to make my own simple version to allow family and friends to experience this dish as I had. One of the things I learned was that the key to paella is to use a good carbon steel pan, to get your chicken stock hot so it cooks evenly like a risotto and use ingredients that add a ton of flavor like sausages, shell on prawns and a good quality sofrito. I hope you and your family enjoy this dish as much as we did!

Ingredients

2 servings 

Paella

1/2 cup of short grain paella rice

1 1/2 cups of organic chicken stock

1/2 yellow onion diced 

3-4 cloves of garlic minced

1/3 Cup Cubed Spanish chorizo (I used to links of Quijote Spanish Chorizo)

1/3 Cup Cubed Chicken Sausage (I used 2-3 tomato and basil sausage links)

Wild caught EZ Peel Argentinian red shrimp 

2-3tbsp of red sofrito (I used Sky Valley Sofrito)

Pinch of saffron

Salt 

Pepper

1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp Onion Powder

1/4 tsp Paprika

Avocado oil

1/2 cup of Dry Sherry wine

1/2 cup of frozen peas thawed out.

Chopped cilantro or parsley to garnish 

Aioli

1/4 cup avocado mayo

Trader Joes Roasted Garlic Salt and Pepper to taste

2 dots of truffle oil or 1 clove of roasted garlic

Preparation

Step 1

Bring your chicken stock to a simmer in a sauce pan. Now add you saffron to it and reduce your heat to let it bloom while you get everything else going.

Step 2

Add about 1 1/2tbsp of avocado oil to a hot paella pan, brasser or skillet and add onions, garlic and sausages and season with the Sky Valley Sofrito, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika.sauté and give it a good stir.

Step 3

Add your rice and shrimp with the shell on allow it to get fully coated and sautéed for a couple of minutes (this is called blasting your rice, it will give it a nuttiness and help it absorb flavors a little better). Now add your sherry wine to deglaze the pan and let it reduce and the alcohol cook out.

Step 4

Add your stock to cover the rice and bring that to a simmer and give it a good stir to work the starch like you would a risotto. Allow it to cook for about 5 minutes once the stock gets absorbed, add more until it is covered again and cover your pan with aluminum foil, lower your heat and allow the steam to get trapped in the pan and cook your rice. Let it cook like this for about 8 minutes and give it a stir and check your rice for doneness. It should be creamy not dry and just tender. At this point you want to add the peas and if its dry or needs more time add stock and re-season if necessary, (If you would like to create a socarrat, raise your heat to build this crust while it finishes cooking) cover and let go until its slightly tender.  The reason you want to add your peas at the last minute is so they don’t overcook and become mush. At this point your paella should be done, by keeping the shell on the shrimp it keeps it from overcooking and getting rubbery as well as adding flavory to our dish.

Step 5

To make the aioli simply mix your mayo, salt, pepper and either the truffle oil or the creamy roasted garlic and smear just a touch on your plate and serve your paella behind it but slightly overlapping so it serves as a sauce for your dish and Enjoy!