Spring Paella

The original recipe I tried from Bon Appetit for paella included zucchini and bell peppers. I have also made it with eggplant in the winter (much cheaper), but this recipe is best for spring produce. Most of the produce in this recipe will be the first vegetables of the year you will find in your garden or at a farmers market. It's not as traditional, but its just as delicious! If possible, use locally raised and processed chicken. If you cannot find a local source, look for the words pastured or grass fed. The label "natural" means only that artificial ingredients like coloring have not been added. The label "free range" only promises that the chickens had access to an outdoor pen, no matter how small. Even better would be to find locally processed sausage, although this can be tricky due to USDA regulations.

Spring Paella
(Adapted from Bon Appetit)


3 tbsp olive oil
6 fresh Cajun or hot Italian sausages
12 chicken parts with skin and bones excess fat trimmed (Or one whole chicken, carved into pieces. It may be easier to roast the chicken, then carve it. Do this by sticking in in the oven for about an hour at 400 degrees F. You will not need to cook it again when you cook the sausage.)
2 large vidalia onions, chopped (5 cups)
10 garlic cloves, chopped, plus 1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 c tomatoes, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 lb asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces
1/2 lb sugar snap or snow peas (with pod), cut into 1-inch-wide strips
2 cups baby spinach
1 1/2 pounds uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined (Preferably Pacific White Shrimp, farmed Fresh-water Prawn, or Wild-caught Ocean Shrimp)
1/2 tsp saffron threads
2 1/2 cups arborio rice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
2 teaspoons paprika

Saute sausages and sauté until cooked through, turning often, about 10 minutes. Transfer to large bowl. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add chicken, skin side down, to pot. Cover and cook until brown, about 7 minutes on each side. Transfer chicken to bowl with sausages.

Saute onions and 10 chopped garlic cloves to pot about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes and bay leaves; stir 2 minutes. Stir in asparagus, pea pods, and spinach.

Toss shrimp with remaining 2 tbsp oil, 1 garlic clove and generous pinch of saffron in medium bowl.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Brush one 18 x 12 x 2 1/4-inch roasting pan with olive oil. Mix rice and salt into vegetable mixture. Spread rice mixture evenly in prepared pan. Cut sausages diagonally into 1-inch slices. Push sausage and chicken pieces into rice mixture.

Bring chicken broth, paprika and remaining 1/4 teaspoon saffron to boil in medium saucepan. Pour over rice mixture. Cover roasting pan tightly with foil. Bake 40 minutes.

Arrange shrimp atop rice mixture. Cover pan with foil; bake until shrimp are opaque in center, rice is tender and most of liquid in pan is absorbed, about 20 minutes longer.