Artichoke Paella with Chicken and Spicy Sausage Recipe

Copyright 2010 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
1 large fresh artichoke (Big Heart or Globe variety)
4 oz. chicken thighs (2-3 pieces, deboned and cut into cubes)
3 oz. spicy sausage or chorizo (one link, casing removed)
1 cup Bomba Spanish paella rice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bellpepper, finely dice
1 ½ cups chicken broth (or 1 can of Swanson chicken broth)
1 tomato, skin removed and deseeded, diced
2 T smoked sweet paprika (pimenton)
2 T olive oil
salt and pepper

Prep your artichoke by removing stem and bottom leaves. You can keep the stem, but cut off the exterior skin to just reveal the light-colored flesh. Place in bowl of cold water with a squeeze of lemon juice. Cut the top of the artichoke off, about 1 inch from the top, and then with a spoon remove the prickly leaves in the center at the choke. When most of the prickly leaves have been removed, use your knife to cut off the rest of the leaves around the edges, retaining as much of the heart as possible. Then cut the heart into pieces and place with the stem in the bowl of water.

In 11-inch paella pan (or large skillet), warm 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat and then add chicken pieces and sausage to brown (about 3 minutes). Don’t cook through. Remove partially-cooked meat from pan and set aside.

Add another tablespoon of olive oil and saute tomatoes, green bellpepper and garlic over medium low heat. This is your sofrito, which is a vegetable paste that’s your base for your paella. (Sofrito can include carrots but never onion.) Cooked until mushy, about 10-15 minutes. Add broth and season with salt and pepper, and paprika. Then add rice evenly around the paella pan. When all the ingredients have been blended, do not stir the rice any more. Add the chicken and chorizo back to the pan by nestling them into the rice. Cook at a medium heat or rolling simmer for about 15 minutes. Cook covered with some newspaper or piece of aluminum foil (optional).

When done, the rice should look plump and the broth should be dried out around the edge of the pan. Let sit off the heat for a few minutes and then with a flat wooden spoon, scrap the rice from the bottom of the pan to mix it up before serving. (You can do this at the table for a nice presentation.)

Makes two to three servings. Garnish with lemon wedges and chopped parsley.

Serve with a glass of torrontes white wine.

TIPS: To get the saccorat, which is the crispy rice at the bottom of your pan, you want to cook until the rice is done and broth evaporated. You know you’re getting to the soccorat part when you start to hear your rice crackling. But a minute too long of this and you may have burnt rice. So be watchful. The saccorat should look like a nice golden brown, not blackened.

Watch my videos:
Making Paella in Two Parts
Prepping an Artichoke