Chicken and Quinoa Paella
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 teaspoons kosher salt, or more to taste, divided
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper, divided
- 1 ½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 ½ pounds tomatoes, halved
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- ½ cup onion strips, 1/4-inch thick
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ pound green beans, stem ends trimmed, halved
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch strips
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch strips
- 3 cups white quinoa
- 25 saffron threads
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, stemmed
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Bring chicken stock and bay leaves to a boil in a large saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer while preparing the other ingredients. Taste stock; it should taste a little over-salted. Season with 1 to 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper as needed.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper.
- Squeeze out seeds from each tomato half over a sieve and into a bowl. Reserve the juice and discard the seeds. Grate the cut sides of the tomatoes over a bowl through the large holes of a box grater. Discard the skin. Combine the tomato juice and the grated pulp.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes and coat with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add chicken in batches, in a single layer with space between pieces. Saute until meat is mostly opaque, about 4 minutes; it will continue cooking in the oven. Place chicken in a 9x13-inch baking pan. Repeat with the remaining chicken, being careful not to burn the fats rendering in the skillet.
- Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the same skillet. Add the tomato juice-pulp mixture. Cook, scraping up browned bits from the bottom of skillet, until juices are mostly evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, and paprika. Mix well. Add onions and garlic; saute until is fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir the mixture, called a sofrito, into the baking pan with the chicken.
- Heat the last tablespoon of olive oil in the hot skillet. Add green beans and saute for 1 minute. Add bell peppers; saute until green beans are crisp-tender, about 2 minutes more. Transfer mixture to the baking pan and stir well; mix in quinoa and saffron.
- Remove and discard bay leaves from stock and bring to a boil. Pour 1/2 into the baking pan. Mix carefully until well combined. Add remaining stock and stir carefully. Lay rosemary sprigs on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven until quinoa is tender yet firm to the bite, 35 to 45 minutes.
Source
Original recipe: View Original