Paella with Chicken, Artichoke, and Red Peppers
Adapted from a recipe by Norberto Jorge

Serves 4, for 14-inch paellera.

Ingredients

  • 3 Cups chicken broth (not pictured)
  • Pinch of saffron threads, toasted and steeped in another 1/2 cup of hot stock (not pictured)
  • Extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 chicken thighs, skin on, cut into thirds across the bone
  • Six inches of Spanish chorizo, cut into 1/4-inch slices
  • 1 red pepper, cored, seeded and cut into 1-inch strips
  • 1 head of garlic with most of the paper removed and the top sliced off, as you would prepare to roast it
  • 12 large cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 1 can of artichoke hearts, drained
  • 4 oz. green beans trimmed
  • 1/2 medium onion, grated on largest holes in box grater
  • 2 small tomatoes, cut in half then grated with the largest holes on a box grater, discard the skins
  • 1 1/2 cups bomba rice
  • 1/4 cup canned garbanzo beans, drained
  • Lemon cut into wedges for serving (not pictured)

Instructions

First, make sure you read the information at the beginning of this article about building the fire and setting up the cooker.

Lightly toast the saffron threads in a small heavy skillet, then add them to the 1/2 cup of hot stock. Allow to steep for several minutes. Meanwhile heat the 3 cups of stock to a simmer, then add the saffron-infused stock to the simmering stock. Keep just hot until ready to add to the pan later.

Place your paellera in your ceramic cooker on a raised grid and allow to heat up, as described earlier. Add enough olive oil for sauteeing. Add the chicken pieces and sautee for about 10-15 minutes, until cooked through. Set aside on a platter.

Place the garlic head, cut side down, into the pan. Add the garlic cloves and red pepper strips. Sautee for about 7 minutes. Move the garlic and pepper strips to one side and add the green beans. Sautee everything for another 7 minutes. The peppers should be soft but not brown. The green beans should be soft and wrinkly. When done, remove the garlic cloves, pepper and beans to a dish and set aside. Leave the garlic head in the pan.

Paella on the Big Green Egg
Sautee the chicken. 		Paella on the Big Green Egg
Next, sautee the peppers and garlic. 		Paella on the Big Green Egg
Then add the green beans.

If there is more than one or two tablespoons of oil in the pan, remove the excess oil. Sautee the grated onion until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Add the tomato to the pan and stir with the onion, cooking until all the water is cooked out of the tomato and the resulting mixture darkens and thickens to a paste, 5-10 minutes. Also, while the sofrito is reducing, peel the skin off the red peppers and discard the skin.

Paella on the Big Green Egg
Sautee the onion. 		Paella on the Big Green Egg
Next, add the tomato and sautee until the water cooks out. 		Paella on the Big Green Egg
The sofrito reducing.

Add the rice to the sofrito and sautee 1-2 minutes until the rice is translucent. (If you want to add smoking chunks to the fire, do it now while you can remove the pan and the grid easily. You don't want to move the pan after the hot stock is added.) Then add the hot stock to the pan. Give the pan a shake, or gently stir the rice so as to distribute an even layer of rice all across the entire pan. Place the head of garlic in the center of the pan. Lay the peppers and green beans around the pan, star fashion. Place the artichoke hearts around the garlic head. Distribute the chicken pieces, garlic cloves and slices of chorizo evenly over the top of the rice. Finally, distribute the garbanzo beans evenly over everything.

Paella on the Big Green Egg
Add the rice and sautee until translucent. 		Paella on the Big Green Egg
Add the hot stock, and distribute the rice. 		Paella on the Big Green Egg
Gently place the vegetables and meat on top of the rice.

Close the lid of your cooker and bring the cooker temperature to 350 degrees, dome temperature. Allow the rice to cook and absorb the stock. Once the liquid disappears, (you can raise the lid occasionally or possibly look down through the top vent, if possible, with a flashlight) start listening for the rice to start crackling. Rotate the pan front to back occasionally if your cooker is hotter in the back than in the front. Once you hear the rice begin to crackle, occasionally test the rice for the soccarat as described earlier. You may find that you want to open the bottom vent to increase the heat of the fire in order to help form the soccarat.

When you feel the paella is done, remove the pan from the cooker and allow to rest, covered with foil, for about 5 minutes before serving.

Paella on the Big Green Egg
The finished paella on the table!