A favorite dish that Roland would make on the BBQ at Spooner’s Cove in Montana de Oro.

Yield

8 servings

Ingredients

• ½ tender chicken, chicken liver and giblets (optional)
• ½ lb. squid, cleaned
• ½ lb of any white fish, cleaned
• 1 medium onion
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 green pepper
• 2 dozen cleaned mussels
• ½ lb shrimp.
• 8 cups water
• ¾ cup olive oil
• ½ lb. pork spare ribs in small pieces (optional)
• 12 pork sausages (cocktail size)
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ cup peas
• a pinch of saffron
• 3 cups rice
• 6 canned artichokes
• salt to taste

Directions

You will need a large pan (about 18 inches in diameter) to hold all the ingredients for the recipe.

Cut the chicken into six or more pieces; cut the liver or giblets in half. Cut the squid in rings and white fish in small pieces. Mince the onion, peel and chop the tommoreato, chop the garlic, and slice the green pepper. Put mussels and shrimp in water to cover and cook until mussels open. Remove one shell from each mussel and set mussels and shrimp aside. Put 8 cups of water to boil.

Heat ¾ cup olive oil until it bubbles, then fry the chicken, the spare ribs, and the sausages. Remove them when browned, and in the same oil, fry the onion until golden. Add tomatoes. When the tomato liquid reduces, lower flame and add the paprika, garlic, and green pepper. When these are well mixed and fried, put the chicken, spare ribs, and sausages back into the pan. Stir in the rice. Brown it over a good fire while stirring for about five minutes. Add the rings of squid, the boiling water, the peas, the saffron dissolved in a little of the boiling water, and salt to taste. Stir for the last time. Add the cooked shrimp, mussels and canned artichokes by inserting them in the rice without stirring. Continue cooking at a high temperature until the liquid is absorbed, then let rice simmer until done. Total cooking time should be about 20 minutes.

Note

You may omit one or more of the fish, shellfish, meats and vegetables if you choose. For an even more luxurious paella, garnish it with sliced, cooked lobster, sliced hard-boiled eggs, and canned pimento cut into strips.