Seafood and chicken paella

There are a trillion and one ways to make paella. I won't claim that this is the authentic, traditional or right way to make it, however, it is my way and it is damn delicious.  I just went for it in whichever ingredients I saw fit, and the result is actually a risotto-y rich dish which feels warm all over.  Try it, seriously!

Now, paellas typically have seafood, but there are also mixed varieties and this is one of those. It has italian hot sausage, chicken, scallops, mussels, and shrimp. There's sweet peppers in there, garlic, onion, chicken stock, you name it. This thing is a supermarket in a pot. The consistency of my paella didn't come out quite right, and in retrospect I believe it is the pot I used. Generally you might prefer to use a wider, shallower pot, so the water can evaporate before it mushes up the rice. But if you don't have that, this is still crazy good, so enjoy!

Seafood and chicken paella
Servings: 6
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 20 min
Total time: 1 h 40 min

1 tbsp canola oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 medium white onion, chopped
3 sweet peppers (red, yellow and orange), minced
1/2 hot italian sausage
2 chicken breasts, in cubes
1 cup frozen scallops
12 frozen cooked shrimp, deveined and peeled
2 large on the vein tomatoes, in large chunks
12 fresh mussels (in their shell)
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cup white long grain rice
1/2 tsp paprika
2 paella seasoning cubes (if you can't find this, replace with a couple of saffron threads or about 1 tsp turmeric for coloring and 1 chicken stock cube for flavor)
1/2 red bell pepper, in strips
salt and pepper to taste

Begin by thawing the scallops and shrimp in a bowl with cold water for 15 minutes.

Heat the pan to medium-high heat and add the oil, garlic, onion and sweet peppers. Saute until the onion is translucent and add the sausage. Break it down while cooking with a wooden spoon. When the sausage looks almost cooked, add the cubed chicken along with some salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the chicken is done.

Remove the contents of the pan and place in a bowl. Add the tomato chunks and about 1 cup of chicken stock. Throw in the mussels, cover and cook for about 5 minutes, until the shells open.


Pull the mussels out of the pan and set aside. Now add the scallops, shrimps and cooked chicken mixture back into the pan. Add the paprika, and more salt and pepper to taste and stir well. Let this cook for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, open up 6 of the mussels and toss the meat in the pan. Reserve the other 6 in the shell for later.

Add the remaining chicken stock, water and paella seasoning cubes. Stir well and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and do not stir again until the water has been absorbed by the rice. This will take about 50-60 minutes. When about 45 minutes have elapsed, add the mussels in the shell and red pepper strips to the top of the pan as a garnish.

You serve this baby by the ladle-full, making sure each serving gets equal amounts of shrimp, chicken, mussels and red pepper :) It keeps very well and tastes even better reheated!

The Brunometer gives this hearty dish a:

8.3 / 10

And that's a score from a man that hates shrimp!!