Baked Paella Recipe

This delicious Baked Paella recipe is super easy to assemble and perfect to make any day of the week. You can also double the recipe and make it when you have guests over. You will need a medley of seafood and vegetables. For this recipe, I added frozen artichoke hearts, and I loved the taste they added to the dish. I served the paella with crostinis and the easiest garlic aioli on the side. I just mixed mayonnaise with chopped garlic, pepper, and a splash of lemon juice. One of the great things about paella is that you serve it in the same pan that it was cooked in, so there's no need to dirty another dish! For another version add calamari ink to the broth!

Serves: 4 ppl

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Spanish rice

• 4 cups broth (a mix of chicken broth and clam juice)

• 1 cup chopped canned tomatoes, or fresh tomatoes

• 1 cup artichoke hearts, sliced. I used frozen

• 1 lb of shrimp (peeled and deveined)

• 1 lb of squid (cleaned and sliced into rings)

• ½ chopped onion

• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 bell pepper, diced

• ½ cup of peas (fresh or frozen)

• 1 tablespoon spanish paprika

• Olive oil

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Saffron threads

• Garnish: Lemon wedges, parsley

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).

2. Warm up the broth and add the saffron

3. In a large ovenproof paella pan or a skillet, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat

4. Add the chopped onion and bell pepper and sauté until they begin to soften, about 3-4 minutes.

5. Stir in the minced garlic, diced tomatoes and artichoke hearts

6. Cook for an additional 30 seconds until fragrant

7. Add the Spanish rice to the pan, stirring to coat the grains with the aromatic mixture. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the rice is lightly toasted

8. Sprinkle the paprika, salt and pepper over the rice, stir

9. Pour in the broth

10. Stir, and bring the mixture to a gentle boil.

11. Once boiling, cover the pan with a lid or foil and transfer to the oven

12. Bake for about 20 mins minutes

13. While the rice is cooking, prepare the seafood: pat dry the seafood with a paper towel. Make sure that all of the excess water is gone, season with salt and pepper

14. When the rice is al dente and most of the water is absorbed, take the pan out of the over, arrange the seafood evenly on top of the rice

15. Place the pan back into the oven and bake at 400F until the seafood is cooked, uncovered

16. Remove the baked paella from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh parsley, bell pepper sticks, lemon wedges, and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.