Quick Chicken Paella

📝 Ingredients

• 4 Tbls Olive oil
• 5-6 free range Chicken drumsticks on the bone (season to taste)
• 8 deboned chicken thighs (season taste)
• 18 -24 strands of saffron
• 1 tsp salt
• 250 g green beans (flat chinese green beans are more authentic)
• 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp mild chilli flakes (nôra flakes if you can get them)
• 1/2 tin chopped tomotoes
• 200 g tinned butter beans
• 1 l chicken stock
• 1 tin of snails (optional)
• 400 g paella rice (you can use Bonnet rice from Tastic)
• 6 x 5cm sprigs fresh rosemary

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Heat a 40 - 50 cm paella and add 4 Tbls Olive oil
2. 2once heated add chicken drumsticks and cook for 10 minutes turning continuously to ensure an even golden colour.
3. 3add thighs and cook for 3 -5 minutes turning to ensure enven cooking and golden colour
4. 4While chicken is cooking boil the kettle. Place the saffron and salt in a mortar and pestle and grind to a fine pink texture. Scoop 2 tbls of fat from the paella and add that to the saffron with 1 cup of boiling water. This is the perfect way to bloom the saffron and intensify its flavour. This was the best tip I learnt in my cooking class in Valencian
5. 5Remove the chicken from the paella (pan) and remove the meat from the drumsticks. Cut into smaller bite-size pieces. Set aside until later. Keep the bones to add back to the pan to create the chicken stock. This is optional but I really like to extract as much flavour from the bones as possible. These will be removed just before I add the rice in the final stage of cooking.
6. 6In the same pan with the chicken juices add the green beans and cook until the skin blisters, turn as needed to ensure they don't burn
7. 7Add garlic and cook for 1 minute
8. 8Add the spices and cook until the green beans are coated in the spices
9. 9Now add the tomatoes ( You can use 3 grated roma tomatoes if you prefer) and cook to create a soffritto which is a thickened Spanish tomato sauce. This is the key to a successful Valencian paella
10. 10Add the butter beans and stir to coat in the soffritto.
11. 11Add the bloomed saffron stock to the pan stirring to ensure it is evenly mixed into the vegetables
12. 12Now add the stock (or water) and the bones back to the pan and cook until the pan is bubbling. Check the seasoning. I add 1 tsp of salt and a few crack of black pepper.
13. 13If you are using the snails you can add them now along with the reserved chicken pieces and rosemary.
14. 14At this stage you can switch the gas off and leave the pan to cool. I do this if I am expecting guests and I want to relax and enjoy their company. I have made paella in front of a few people, but it does take me longer because of the distractions and the chatter and I battle to concentrate. I find if I make the paella to this point, I don't stress. It can sit for an hour or two while the flavours intensify. I then remove the bones and add the rice later with a cup of water, cover the pan in foil and bake it in the oven at 180℃ for 30 minutes or until the rice is done and the stock is fully absorbed. You can also just cook it on the gas for 15 to 20 minutes if you prefer, which is the authentic Spanish way. You don't get the socarrat with this method as much as on the stove, but you need to weigh up what's more important for you and decide from there.