My Version of Paella

I LOVE LOVE LOVE one pot meals...something about throwing a bunch of ingredients into 1 pot and letting it do its thing makes my heart melt. Not to mention that most one pot meals are flavour central!

Now I hope that my Spanish readers are not cringing at this recipe. I have never been to Spain...nor have I had Authentic Spanish Paella...but I watch a lot of Food Network television and make this concoction which I refer to as Paella. It tastes mighty good and I hope you enjoy it!!

 Take about 8 Chicken Breast Filet's and brown them in a heavy bottomed pot with 1 Tbsp of Olive oil and Salt and Pepper to taste. Remove from the pot and set aside.

 While your chicken is browning heat up 6 Cups of chicken broth with 2 Pinches of Saffron in it. You need Saffron to give this dish colour!

 In the same pot that you cooked the chicken in start to brown 1 chopped up Andouille Sausage. I prefer the smoky flavour of this sausage when I can find it...otherwise I use Spanish chorizo. Cook the sausage until it is nice a browned.

 Now add your veggies. I like to add 1 Chopped Onion and 1 Chopped Red Pepper. Once they also start to brown a little I add 2 Cloves of Garlic.

 Now its time to add your rice. I used a wild rice mixture..mostly because I only had about 1 1/2 Cups left of it and wanted to use it up...and it was a great move...it gave the Paella an awesome nutty flavour! Mix the rice around with the vegetables and sausage to release some of the starches by heating it up.

 Add 1 Tbsp of Tomato paste.

 Now add all of the hot saffron broth to the pot..turn the heat down to medium low and bring to a simmer.

 Place your chicken back in the pot and cover. This wild rice cooks in about 35-40 Minutes...so i let this simmer for about 30 minutes before I added the seafood. I did not stir at all!! The burnt crusty rice on the bottom is the best part!! So leave it alone to simmer!

 After 30 Minutes I added about 20 Shrimps and a half pound of washed fresh clams. Cover again for 10 minutes.

 After the 10 minutes when the clams have opened and your shrimp have cooked through I stirred the mixture around and served.

A hearty dish thats for sure!!