Paella

My history with Paella goes way back to 1986 when Mom, Dad and I spent some time in Spain.  I had been studying Spanish for about 3 years by this time and Dad thought it would do me some good to practice while in Spain. Fine.

So the first or second night in Spain - I can't even remember what town we were in I was too scarred - we were out having dinner. We decided to have paella and dad asked me to ask the waitress if the paella had fish in it.

Side not: looking back now that was a ridiculous question to ask. Every paella had fish in it.

Anyhow, I rambled off something to the waitress - absolutely sure I knew what I was doing - and her look was that of pure confusion.  I repeated my question again in what sounded like perfect Spanish me, "Hay pescador en el paella?"  She nodded, looked confused and walked away.

Concerned that I may have said something slightly off I grabbed the trusty Spanish dictionary to see what I had said. Turns out I had asked the waitress if the paella had fishermen in it.

I assure you this recipe does not have fishermen in it. 

The story I was told about paella is that the people of a small town in Spain heard news that her majesty the Queen would be passing their way.  They decided to fix a very special for her, but couldn't decide on the name. Time grew short and they decided to call the dish "For Her" (Para Ella). I bet her paella didn't have any fishermen either.

Paella
Serves 6

• 2 to 21/2 c diced cooked chicken
• 1 med onion, finely chopped
• 4-5 large stewed tomatoes, chopped
• 1 large green pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• dash of cayenne
• large pinch of powdered saffron
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• 2/12 to 3 cups chicken broth 2 cups pre cooked long grain rice (I didn't understand this precooked rice thing, so I used regular old every day rice and cooked it in the paella)
• 1 c peas
• 1 c cooked shrimp; shelled and deveined
• 4 oz can of green chilies chopped
• parsley
• black olives

Stew a fryer chicken until tender and firm and save the broth.  Bone chicken and cut in to bite size pieces.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven add onions and saute. Add chopped stewed tomatoes and green peppers. Add all seasonings and mix.

To the chicken broth, add the crushed garlic clove and rice, then add this mixture to dutch oven and stir thoroughly.

Cook over medium heat in dutch oven, covered, stirring occasionally for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Add peas, shrimp and green chilies last 10 minutes of cooking time.  Simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. Garnish with parsley and sliced black olives before serving.