This is one of those meals that is so simple yet so good, that you can’t believe you didn’t make it before or that you don’t have it for dinner a few nights per week. It’s from The New Spanish Table and I promise, the next few posts WILL NOT be from that cookbook. Really. But, it’s such a wonderful cookbook! But no. I will restrain myself.

Here, I had just scored some figs from Limbo and was needing something to do with them. This was the perfect solution!

Grilled Chicken with Fresh Fig Salsita
Pollo a la Brasa con Salsita de Higos
8 to 9 smallish ripe but firm fresh figs, trimmed and cut into thin wedges
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced (I used a sweet onion instead)
3 tsbp medium-dry sherry
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
kosher or sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, rinsed and patted dry
1/4 cup lightly toasted slivered almonds
1/4 cup finely sliced fresh mint
Salt

Place figs, onion, sherry, vinegar and olive oil in a bowl; toss to mix. Let stand for 30 minutes.

Get your grill ready or heat up a grill pan.

Mix the minced garlic, rosemary, 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper and then add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to make a paste. You can also crush all of this up in a mortar and pestle. Or use a knife and crush it into a cutting board to form the paste.

Brush the chicken with the paste. Grill the chicken until lightly charred and cooked thoroughly, 6-8 minutes per side. Brush a few times with remaining paste while cooking.

Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. You can either slice the chicken breasts on the diagonal for serving or leave whole. When ready to serve, add almonds and mint to the salsita, toss to mix, and add salt to taste.

Plate a chicken breast and top with some of the salsita. I would feel remiss here, if I didn’t say that you could add some cheese, just as a garnish if you will. I think a little goat cheese would be amazing with this!

Okay, next, my new favorite granola recipe! Also, in house news — the siding is completely done and the paint prepping has begun. Hopefully, we’re looking at the whole project being done no later than next week. We’ve also changed weather patterns just in time for the painting and now we are getting rain. So, we’ll see…

I combined a couple of recipes here — one of the Paella recipes in the (awesome) New Spanish Table cookbook, a paella recipe from Tyler Florence and I also used the meat I wanted to — chicken thighs, chorizo and shrimp, rather than the exact ones in either recipe. You could throw all manner of meat and seafood in here, but I stuck to those three.

This makes a ton of paella! A. Ton. Of. Paella. It would be great to make for a dinner party or of you want to make something for dinner, have lunch the next day, and then be able to freeze a couple more lunches.

You will need a huge skillet or an actual paella pan here. Do not underestimate the amount of room you need in your cooking vessel or you will cry into your overflowing pan of Spanish tastiness.

Aside from the simmering stock, this all happens in one pan!

Lots of pictures in this post…

Paella for a Crowd
This will easily serve 8 as a main course.
1 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tsp dried oregano
1 lb chicken thighs
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 Spanish chorizo sausages, thickly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 white onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded, cored and diced
1 (15-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped, or 1.5 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
2 cups short grain Spanish rice
6 cups chicken stock
Generous pinch saffron threads
1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1.5 inch pieces
1 roasted red bell pepper, cut into strips
Optional: 1 long strip of orange zest

Paella rice

Roasted red bell pepper

Roasted red bell pepper strips

Sliced chorizo

Okay, here are the directions!

Combine the paprika and oregano and rub the spice mix all over the chicken and marinate chicken for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Heat oil in a paella pan over medium-high heat.

Saute the chorizo until browned, remove and reserve.

Salt and pepper the chicken and add chicken and brown on all sides, turning with tongs.

Remove from pan and set aside. When cool enough to handle, slice into thick strips.

In the second pot, heat up the chicken stock and add the saffron. Keep at a very low simmer.

Next, in your paella pan, saute the onions, garlic, yellow bell pepper, and parsley in all the chorizo-y/chicken-y olive oil. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes on medium heat. Then, add tomatoes and cook until the flavors meld, about 5-6 minutes.

Fold in the rice and stir to coat the grains.

Now, this is where you need to decide if your pan is big enough. There’s no going back. Ready? Okay!

Pour the hot saffron-stock into the paella and simmer for 10 minutes, gently stirring occasionally so that the rice cooks evenly and starts to absorb the liquid.

Next, add the chicken, chorizo, then the green beans and shrimp. Try to tuck the chicken and shrimp under the rice. If you are using it, add the orange zest strip in there too. Put a lid on the pan and put in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, check the rice for doneness — you can always stick it back in for a minute or two. If it’s good, uncover and rest for 5-10 minutes. Garnish with the roasted red bell pepper strips.

Leftovers will keep the fridge a few days, then freeze as needed!

This was super good. The original recipe was adapted from Eating Well magazine. I added orange juice to the sauce, more garlic and instead of zucchini with the fish, I made asparagus. Oh and I decreased the almonds a bit.

The sauce is the star here. It’s kind of like a Spanish romesco sauce and I envision making this all summer long, it was so tasty. As a veggie dip, sauce for all kinds of grilled fish, chicken, just eating with a spoon, etc…

You can use jarred roasted red peppers, but please don’t. Really. They are so easy to do yourself, and (to me, at least) the jarred ones always taste way too vinegary. I can never even taste the red pepper. Just roast your own. Cheaper too and it’ll only take you 10-15 minutes time total. It’s totally worth it!

I marinaded my salmon just because I had some extra time and I thought it would be nice to have a little orange flavor there as I was adding orange to the sauce.

Grilled Salmon with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Adapted from Eating Well magazine
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted slightly in a dry pan over medium heat
1 red bell pepper
1/4 cup halved grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp sherry vinegar or red-wine vinegar
1 orange, halved
1 tsp paprika, preferably smoked
1 tsp salt, divided
freshly ground pepper
3/4 - 1 lb wild-caught salmon fillet, cut into 2 portions
Canola or olive oil cooking spray
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Optional: Quick Salmon Marinade
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
zest of 1 orange
2 cloves garlic, minced

If you want to marinate the salmon, mix all those ingredients and add the salmon. Leave in the fridge for an hour or so.

Turn the broiler on high. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and core and seed the pepper. Split the pepper in half and press down on the baking sheet to flatten. I usually roast the top too, just remove the stem. Broil until blackened.

To peel easily, place the blackened peppers in a zip lock bag, seal and let steam for about 5 minutes. Remove the peppers and you should be able to peel the blackened skin off easily. Do not rinse.

In a food processor or blender, process the almonds, roasted pepper pieces, tomatoes, garlic, oil, vinegar, paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Add the juice of 1/2 your orange. Process. Add more juice if needed to get a smooth, sauce consistency. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Heat up a grill pan over medium high heat. Remove the fish from the marinade and give it a little salt & pepper. Give the pan a quick spray with canola oil and add your fish. (If you didn’t marinate, add a little extra olive oil to the pan). Grill about 3 - 5 minutes per side, depending on the size and thickness of your fish. Be sure to crisp up the skin side.

When you think the fish is almost done, remove it from the pan, set on a plate, squeeze with a little remaining orange, and cover with foil. It’ll finish cooking on the plate with the carryover heat.

To serve, place a little sauce down on each plate and top with a piece of fish. On the side, we had oven roasted potatoes and pan-sauteed asparagus.

Easy Oven Roasted Potaoes
2 servings
3-4 small red potatoes, scrubbed and diced into 1-inch-ish wedges
2 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small sprig rosemary, leaves chopped
2-3 springs thyme, leaves chopped

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Toss the potatoes with the olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Roast in the preheated oven about 20 minutes. Remove the baking sheet and add the garlic and herbs. Toss the potatoes a bit and turn the oven up to 450 degrees F. Put the potatoes back in the oven for about 5-7 more minutes.

Remove the potatoes from the baking sheet and serve with the fish and asparagus.

So, this was an experiment of meaty, epic proportions — and it was pretty good too! I was a little concerned about the shrimp being overcooked, but it wasn’t at all. Good job, paella recipe from the cookbook I forgot I had!

I changed a few things — I added garlic, red bell pepper, fennel and oranges. I used sweet Italian sausage instead of chorizo, mainly because I had sweet Italian sausage in the freezer and I didn’t have any chorizo. If you do this, you may want to add a few red pepper flakes for a bit of spice. Also, since the sausage I used was uncooked, I had to cook it longer in the beginning. You know, because it was raw.

On the side: a salad of sliced mangos, sweet onion and cilantro with a dressing of olive oil (3 tbsp), honey (2 tbsp) and lemon (2 tbsp). Add a few grinds of pepper and some crumbled feta cheese too! Also, crusty bread and goat cheese on the side.

Paella, Italian Style
Adapted from a recipe from the cookbook, At Home with Michael Chiarello, this is a half recipe and will feed 4-5 people. For the original recipe, double amounts below to feed 8-10
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 2 pounds total
Finely ground sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 sweet italian sausage links, casings removed (you can also use Spanish chorizo, cut crosswise into 1/8-inch slices)
1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 3/4 tsp Spanish smoked paprika, divided
1 tbsp whole fresh oregano leaves (plus more for garnish)
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped yellow onion
1 medium carrot, finely chopped carrot
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 small fennel bulb, cored and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
3 cups chicken stock
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tsp saffron
Pepperoncini and quartered oranges, for serving

Cut all the chicken into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a large ovenproof pot over high heat. When the oil is almost smoking, add the chicken. Cook until well browned on 2 sides, turning once, 6 to 7 minutes total. If using cooked (cooked) chorizo, add it to the pan with the chicken and cook for about 30 seconds. Remove and cover with foil. If using raw sausage, remove the chicken from the pan and cover with foil.

Then, add the sausage to the pan and cook about 5-6 minutes. Add to the bowl with the chicken when done. Cover with foil. Next, season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Add the shrimp to the pan, stir once then cook for 2 to 3 minutes total. Remove from the pan and add to the bowl with the other meat. Stir in 3/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika and the oregano. You guessed it, cover it back up with foil to keep warm.

Return the pan to high heat. Add onions, carrots, bell pepper, fennel and garlic. Pour in any accumulated juices from the chicken, sausage & shrimp bowl. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the vegetables are soft, but not brown, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Raise the heat to high under the veggies. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and remaining 1 teaspoon of paprika. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the rice. Stir to evenly coat the grains with oil. Cook for 1 minute. Add the stock and bring it up to a simmer.

Add the tomatoes and stir to incorporate. Sprinkle in the saffron.

Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed. Cook until the liquid comes back to a simmer. Cover and put the pan in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven.

Return the chicken, sausage, and shrimp to the pan. Cover the pan again and put it back in the oven to cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until everything is warm.

Serve the paella surrounded with the orange wedges for squeezing. Sprinkle the top with additional oregano and a drizzle of olive oil. Also, serve with a bowl of pepperoncini on the side. I don’t really like pepperoncini, but jwa does.

I look for any excuse to use my smoked paprika. I love smoked paprika. Get yourself some and you will never be sorry. Here’s a good resource for your smoked paprika needs.

We had this chicken with a bunch of pan roasted asparagus (olive oil + heat + salt + pepper = tasty) on the side and also some orzo that I cooked in spinach-y chicken broth (add broth and handfuls of spinach to a food processor, and *whir* *whir* to combine. It’s green!), with some tomatoes and Parmesan cheese. A great weekend meal. And, since there are only two of us, we got about three meals out of this. Always a good thing.

The original recipe called for 500 degrees F at 30 minutes, however, I doubted my oven’s cleanliness to handle that high of a temperature. I decreased it to 475 and added on a few minutes. Worked fine and my kitchen remained smoke free!

Paprika Roast Chicken with Sweet Onions
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp paprika (Use smoked paprika if you have it, you won’t be sorry!)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds), cut into serving pieces
1 sweet onion, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
Garnish: Orange wedges

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F with rack in upper third.

Mix oil with spices, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl, then add chicken and onion, tossing to coat. Arrange chicken, skin side up, and onion in a 3-quart shallow baking dish.

Bake until chicken is just cooked through and skin is golden, about 40 minutes. Use a thermometer to know for sure, and start checking for doneness after 30 minutes. You may be taking different pieces out at slightly different times. White meat should be around 160 and dark meat 170 when you take them out of the oven. Skim any fat from pan juices in dish.

While the chicken was resting for about 10 minutes (covered with fol ha! foil), I added some wine and chicken broth to the pan juices to make an quick jus. Very tasty!

Arrange everything on a platter (whatever sides you are having with the chicken too) and it’ll look lovely.

Serve with the orange wedges. Nom-nom-nom-nom.