Poor Man's Paella
A weeknight version of the classic
A handful of high quality ingredients mixed in with some short cuts make this decadent meal possible any night of the week
Ingredients
1 package Right Rice brand Spanish riced lentils
1/2 lb chicken thighs, chopped into small pieces
3/4 lb bulk chorizo (not links)
1 tin Spanish sofrito-style mussels (Patagonia brand makes a good product and is what I use in the video recipe on @ChefMcShane)
1/2 cup peas
Cilantro and Lemons to garnish
Instructions
For step by step how to videos for this recipe, visit @ChefMcShane on instagram and check out my Poor Man’s Paella highlight!
Get the chorizo into a large pan over medium heat and crumble with a wooden spoon while it cooks and renders out the fat. Once mostly cooked but not totally obliterated, take out crumbles and reserve in a large bowl.
Return the pan to the heat and place the chicken in, giving it space and time to brown on all sides. The more space between pieces the more brownage you’ll get. Once almost cooked but not obliterated, remove and place chicken in the bowl with the chorizo.
Return the pan to the heat and pour in the peas, tossing to coat them in the chorizo fat and letting them brown a bit. After about 2 minutes, pour them into the bowl with chicken and chorizo.
Pour 1 1/3 cups water into the pan over the heat and scrape up the browned bits from the pan to deglaze and grab all that flavor you’ve built. Once boiling, pour in the Right Rice and cook to package instructions, stirring to coat and allowing to steam off heat for 12 minutes.
Remove the lid and pour all ingredients from the bowl back into the rice and stir to combine. Turn the heat back on low and place the mussels and their sofrito oil all around the top of the paella. Cover the pan, and let everything steam for 2-3 more minutes. Plate with hella cilantro and a big squeeze of lemon.
