Recipe: Chicken and Lamb Sausage Paella

Ingredients: Serves 4

• 4 Chicken Thighs with Bone in and Skin on

• 2-3 Lamb Merguez Sausages (cut up into large pieces)

• 1/2 of Puréed Tomatoes OR 2 Fresh Tomatoes Chopped up

• 3 Cups of Water

• 1 Cup of Bomba Rice

• Snap Peas Chopped Up (no actual measurement, up to your discretion)

• 1-2 tsp of Paprika

• 3-4 thickly sliced Garlic Cloves

• Pinch of Saffron

• 1-2 tsp of Sea Salt

• Shishito Peppers (Optional)

• 1-2 tbps. of Vegetable or Olive Oil

• Couple of sprigs of Rosemary

Steps:

• Heat up Pan up to Medium-High temperature

• Once Pan is hot then drizzle in 1-2 tbsp. of either Vegetable or Olive Oil and toss in thickly sliced garlic to flavor the oil. Remove once garlic becomes fragrant and dark in color. Throw it away once taken out of pan

• Sprinkle salt all around the pan and place chicken thighs skin side down. It’s going to be hot so becareful. Cook skin till dark brown in color. (Cooking for about 20 mins)

• 10 mins into cooking once chicken has been placed in the pan, add your cut up lamb sausages and let it cook along with the chicken. Stirring often and if skin of chicken has turned dark brown then flip it over and leave it skin side up for the remainder of the cooking

• after another 5-7 mins push all the meat off to the sides of the pan and add your snap peas into the center and stir a bit. You want the snap peas to start browning up a bit

• After another 6-8 mins has passed then add tomato purée into the center of the pan and stir it around

• Sprinkle 1-2 tsp. of paprika and stir it till it’s incorporated with the tomato sauce, which should start to thicken

• Once sauce has darkened in color and thickened a bit then add in your water

• Stir it around a bit some everything gets incorporated then add in your rice around the chicken pieces. Push the rice down under the liquid so it’s submerged. Crush saffron between your fingers and sprinkle it all over the liquid area in the pan

• At this point you are no longer stirring the pan. You leave it at is still cooking at Medium to High Heat (closer to the Higher side) and rotate pan around to distribute the heat so everything cooks evenly. After 12-15 mins of cooking, turn heat down to Medium.

• Continue cooking for an additional 5-10 mins. All this while the rice should be revealing itself

• Once rice has revealed itself and almost all the liquid has been absorbed place two sprigs of rosemary on top then cover the pan with foil paper and a lid (if you can) and take it off the heat. Put it aside covered for about 10 mins to let the top layer of the rice to cook with residual heat

• For presentation, best to reveal the paella at table when serving at table. The aroma is incredible

• Enjoy!

Optional

• Sauté the Shishito Peppers in pan with a bit of oil and salt. At high heat till areas of the pepper turn dark brown

• Garnish Paella with Shishito Peppers and serve!