A great party dish and one of my favorite things to cook on my birthday, paella is a one-pot, flavor-packed rice dish that’s easy to customize and tailor to your preference. We ofen dress ours up, slicing king trumpet mushrooms and grilling sausage to serve on top—the mush-rooms look a lot like scallops and have a great, meaty texture and flavor. You can treat this recipe as a bit of a template in the sense that any vegetables will fly. Use whatever’s in season or easily on hand. I would recommend serving the paella outdoors if the weather permits, preferably with a crisp vinho verde or rosé—or a cold glass of beer.
2links Oaxacan Chili-Spiced Sausage or Field Roast Mexican Chipotle Sausage
3firm, on the vine tomatoes, sliced in half
1teaspoonfreshly ground black pepper
6sprigsparsley, leave removed and roughly chopped
1cupEnglish peas
1lemon, sliced into wedges
INSTRUCTIONS
In a pan over high heat, bring the stock to a boil, then lower the heat to low.
In a medium-size paella pan or large skillet over medium heat, heat the oil and add the onion, gar- lic, carrot, sa ron, and paprika. Sauté the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes. Add the bell peppers, sliced mushroom tops, wine, salt, and rice. Stir to combine, then sauté, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.
Pour the stock over the rice and increase the heat to high. Bring the rice to a boil, then lower the heat to low, while stirring. Cover the pan with foil and allow the rice to cook over low heat for 18 min- utes, then turn o the heat. Leaving the foil on the pan, allow the rice to steam with no heat for another 15 minutes.
While the rice is cooking, brush the sausage, mushroom stem rounds, and tomatoes with oil, and top with additional salt and black pepper. Grill over high heat. The tomatoes will take about 5 min- utes, and should only be grilled on the at side. The sausage and mushrooms will take about 8 min- utes, and should be turned halfway through. Remove the items from the grill, slice the sausage, and cut the tomatoes into quarters.
Remove the cover from the paella and arrange the sausage, mushrooms, and tomatoes on top. Garnish with the parsley, peas, and lemon wedges.
NOTES
No paella pan at home? A large skillet will work fine - ultimately you just need something that's large and shallow.