Chicken and Prawn Paella | Made in Madrid

Madrid is a really fabulous place to visit. Architecture, Lifestyle and of course, brilliant Spanish food. I was fortunate enough to spend time at the Spanish headquarters of a company I was working for in the late ’90s. Through work, there was a great opportunity to discover Madrid and particularly the cuisine.

Dial-a-Paella

In Madrid, there was an organization set up by a cooperative of housewives, called Dial-a-Paella. Brilliant idea. Every day these ladies used to drop off the Chicken and Prawn Paella of the day in a large pot for the team to share. This was a healthy and very tasty way to experience good old fashioned home cooking in the confines of the office. This was one of the variations that were particularly popular with the team. I love it and hope you do too.

Print Recipe

Chicken and Prawn Paella

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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By Marc Spendlove-Kruger – Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes – Cooking Time: 1 hour

In Madrid, there was an organization set up by a cooperative of housewives, called Dial-a-Paella. Brilliant idea. Every day these ladies used to drop off the Paella of the day in a large pot for the team to share.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 500g chicken thigh fillets, roughly chopped
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 long red chilies, 1 seeded and thinly sliced,
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 Green chili, roughly chopped
• 12 Cherry Tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 1 Good Pinch of Saffron
• 300g (1 1/2 cups) Paella Rice
• 375ml (1 1/2 cups) Chicken liquid stock
• 1 glass of Dry Sherry or Dry White wine (optional)
• 12 green prawns, peeled with tails intact, cleaned
• 120g (1 cup) frozen peas
• 1 handful of Flat Leaf Parsley
• Lemon wedges, to serve

Instructions

1

Roughly chop, onion, Red and Green Chilli and garlic and put to one side

2

Heat oil in a paella pan or large frying pan over high heat.

3

Add onion, chopped chili, garlic, Saffron paprika. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until onion softens.

4

Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a bowl.

5

Add rice and stir to combine. Pour over chicken stock and wine. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, cover with foil and cook for 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

6

Stir in the flat leaf parsley.

7

Sprinkle peas and Cherry tomatoes over paella and arrange prawns and chicken on top, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

8

Re-cover and cook for 5 minutes or until prawns and peas are just cooked. Remove from heat and set aside for 5 minutes to rest.

9

Serve with chili slices and lemon wedges.

WINE MATCHING

Chicken and Prawn Paella needs a nice light red wine with this dish. If you want a Spanish wine to try Rioja reds, many are made with Tempranillo grapes and pair well with seafood paellas. Valencia or mixed paellas, on the other hand, work particularly well with dry rosés and red Grenache. As long as the wine isn’t too fruity or contain a lot of tannins, chances are it’ll work well your paella dish. There are some great Spanish Wines at Naked Wines

Try some of our other rice based recipes: 

Tomato Seafood Risotto | Sublime, Easy and Tasty |

Black Risotto with Squid | Superb Croatian Creation |

Lemon Risotto with Prawns | Sicily on a Plate