Paella For 60 Portions
Paella Recipe For A 31" Paella Pan
Submitted by: Sr. John Romano
I promised I
would follow up with the recipe for the 31" paella pan. It was
outstanding! We had well over 60 servings with this pan. I had to do
some prep work to make sure I could distribute the heat evenly across
the pan, so I bought a piece of 1/4" steel to use a "simmer plate". I
set this on my turkey fryer stand and used the burner from the turkey
fryer to heat the steel and pan. It work well, but I thought I should
kick it up a notch, so I added a weed burner torch to the heat source
and bam I was cooking!
As you know there are no recipes available for a 31" pan, so using my
skills as a pharmacist, I began to experiment with small batches in a
small pan and then factored those up using the surface area ratios of
the pan.
The recipe
for a 31" Paella pan is as follows:
Start by preparing a strong broth, you will need approximately 25 cups
I used:
4 32oz cans Chicken Broth
15- Chicken Bullion cubes
3 large Onions whole
2 pounds carrots
15 bay leaves
2 heads of garlic peeled
1 whole chicken
2 tablespoonful Thyme
I covered and simmered this on the stove for approximately 4 hours. I
then
removed everything and strained the liquid. (Keep the chicken and
vegetables
for some outstanding casserole the next day).
I then added 10 packets of saffron to the liquid along with 2
tablespoonfuls
of sweet smoked paprika. I returned this to a boil just before I was
ready
to pour it into the paella pan.
The main ingredients are as followings:
7 lbs boneless skinless chicken ( I prefer thigh meat because it stays
moist)
2 lbs Jamon serrano diced
2 lbs Chorizo sausage diced
3 large onions slivered
3 cups of Green Onions sliced
1 cups fresh garlic peeled and diced
2 tablespoonful of sweet smoked paprika
4 lbs lobster meat raw
5 lbs shrimp peeled and DE-veined raw
5 lbs mussels cleaned
9 cups Calaspara white rice
2 cups Olive oil
2 16 oz cans diced tomatoes (use fresh diced tomatoes if in season)
1 16oz can roasted red peppers sliced length wise
2 cups fresh parsley chopped
4 cups White wine
Kosher salt to taste
3 Lemons wedged
I started by adding 1 cup of garlic to the chicken with the paprika and
about
2 tablespoonfuls of salt, mixed well and put in bag to marinate
overnight in
refrigerator.
Steam the mussels in the white wine just before you are ready to add to
the
paella, steam until just open. You can add some of the wine to the
paella if
you like.
I then set up my paella pan for cooking. (It is very important to make
sure
you are on a level surface prior to starting). I heated my pan until it
was
very hot I then poured in about 1 cup of olive oil and immediately
followed
with my chicken. Cook until browned and remove to a bowl. Add more oil
if
needed and begin cooking the chorizo, jamon, and onion slivers, cook
until
the onions are translucent and remove to a bowl.
There should be a flavorful mix of oil and fat in the pan at this time,
add
the rice to this mix and cook rice for about 5-10 minutes or until it
starts
to turn golden. Add 20 cups of the preheated broth to the rice and
level the
rice out on the bottom of the pan. Do not stir the rice after this
point and
make sure you have an even heat throughout the pan. It now time to
start the
decoration of the paella. Add the chicken and jamon chorizo onion mix
on top
of the boiling rice, spread evenly. Add tomatoes parsley, peppers, 1/2
of
the green onions. Cover the pan with foil and cook until liquid has
been
adsorbed. The rice should be al dente at this point.
I then take the raw shrimp and lobster and spread it evenly over the
pan, and
arrange the mussels over the pan. Add about 5 cups of the broth to the
pan
cover again with foil and let the seafood steam with the rice. Once the
rice
has adsorbed the liquid the seafood should be ready. Remove the foil
and
continue to heat until you see a socarrat starting (rice caramelizes),
move
your pan around to make sure heat source is even. Spray the top with
the
remaining green onions, squeeze the juice of a lemon over the top and
serve.
I hope you enjoy my recipe,
John Romano
