My friend, Borja is from Madrid. He is an excellent cook, and if you Google him, the first entry will likely be: Descendants of William the Conqueror. He was gracious enough to share his paella recipe (and gorgeous paella pan!) with me. We made it at an interactive dinner party last weekend and it was perfection! The nice thing about making paella when entertaining is that it’s Wow! Factor is very high, and you can do a lot of the work ahead of time, and just assemble the ingredients and let the rice cook 30 minutes or so before you’re ready to serve your guests.

My friend, Amy just asked for this recipe to serve it at a dinner party this weekend, so I thought I'd post it for all. Enjoy!

Paella

2 T olive oil
¼ c onion, chopped
2 T tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 calamari bodies, sliced into rings
16 shrimp, shelled and deveined
8 chicken thighs, boneless, with skin on, if available
1 t saffron threads, ground
6 c seafood (fish) stock
2 pinches Spanish paprika, divided use
3 c short-grain (paella) rice
16 oz frozen peas, thawed
2-3 roasted red peppers, cut into 10 strips

Warm stock in a saucepan. Prepare sofrito by sautéing olive oil, onion, tomato paste, and garlic in the very center of the paella pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper and sauté chicken thighs in skillet until done, then toss in a pinch of paprika, set aside. Steam calamari to par cook, season with salt and pepper, and set aside. This can all be prepared earlier in the day and kept until the ½ hour before you are ready to prepare and serve the paella.

To warm stock, add saffron and remaining pinch of paprika. To sofrito, add rice and warm broth, stir once to combine, then nestle chicken and calamari into rice and broth. Cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat for 17-18 minutes. Do not stir. Season shrimp with salt and pepper, and add to paella with peas, place peppers evenly around dish. Cook an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and serve immediately. (Cover with a dishcloth until your guests are seated at the table and ready to eat.)