Paella

Paella

I like to pair this dish with our Trombetta Family Chardonnay Gap's Crown Vineyard especially when I add more seafood than meat. But interestingly it pairs very well with the 2014 Trombetta Family Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast when I add more meat than seafood. It's fun having this flexibility because I can use what I have from the garden and meats from the freezer.

Ingredients: 

3-4 pounds cut up chicken
1 pound ground pork
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 TBS olive oil or more as needed
16 prawns heads off but shells on
2 pounds squid cleaned and cut into rounds
1 large red pepper cleaned and cut into very thin strips
4-6 large cloves of minced garlic
1 large minced onion
16 live mussels scrubbed
16 clams
1 pound of chorizo
2 cups of peas
1 tsp of ground saffron
3 cups short grained rice
Large can of peeled and dice tomatoes (or use fresh)
6 cups of hot vegetable or chicken broth

Direction: 

Sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil. Sauté the ground pork and chorizo in the onions and garlic. Add the chicken pieces and prawns and sauté. Remove from the pan and put aside. Add more olive oil and lightly brown the rice. Add ½ cup hot broth at a time until the rice starts to soften. Blossom the saffron in a ¼ cup of broth- mix together until the color or the broth becomes saffron colored and the aromas build.

Steam the clams and mussels in white wine with a little parsley. Remove from the wine when the open.

In a paella pan mix the rice with the vegetables over medium heat. Add in the tomatoes. Mix in the fish, chicken and chorizo, saffron/broth mixture.

If desired take a 8 prawns, 8 clams and 8 mussels and place on the top of the paella. Turn off the heat and let it sit for about 10-12 minutes. Serve.