One of our favorite family summer recipes is paella, smoked on our barbecue grill. This is our adaptation of a paella recipe from America’s Test Kitchen. Although other recipes may include clams, rabbit, or snails, we prefer chicken, shrimp, scallops and chorizo sausage. We also skip the expensive saffron.

Key to this recipe’s taste and mouthfeel is the combination of smoked paprika, the smoke from the hickory briquettes, and the charred crust of the rice at the bottom on the roasting pan. We use our Thanksgiving turkey roasting pan and a vegetable grill tray for barbecuing. I recommend accompanying the paella with a young, fruity red wine.

Paella on the Grill

Print Recipe

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1 45

Course Main Course

Cuisine Spanish

Servings 6

Ingredients

3 lemons sliced into wedges
1 onion medium, chopped fine
10 cloves garlic minced
115 g roasted red peppers chopped fine
450 g Spanish chorizo chopped in 1 cm cubes
450 g jumbo shrimp peeled and deveined
450 g scallops
6 Tbsp olive oil extra virgin
4 g hot paprika
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
1 kg chicken thighs boneless
3 Tbsp tomato paste
155 ml dry sherry
235 ml clam juice
950 ml chicken broth
575 g arborio rice
165 g peas thawed

Instructions

Preparation

Slice the lemons into wedges.
Chop the onion finely.
Mince the garlic
Chop the roasted red pepper into cubes, approximately 1 cm in size.
Cut the chorizo into cubes, approximately 1 cm in size.
Arrange all the ingredients for easy access while you are cooking.

Cooking

Place the thawed shrimp and scallops in a bowl. Drizzle them in olive oil. Add a quarter of the minced garlic and a quarter of the paprika. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Set them aside.
Trim the fat and skin from the chicken thighs, cutting them crosswise. Place the chicken thighs in a bowl. Drizzle them with olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set them aside.
Drizzle olive oil in a medium sauce pan. Add the remaining garlic, stirring frequently. After about a minute, add the tomato paste and the remaining paprika. Cook it for another minute until it congeals.
Gradually add the sherry, clam juice, and chicken broth, stirring until they are thoroughly mixed. Bring the mixture to a boil. Then, set it aside.
Place moist hickory wood chunks in a metal tray on your grill. Cover. Preheat your grill to 200C (400F). Hold at that temperature until the hickory wood starts to smoke.
In a vegetable grill pan on the grill, cook the chicken thighs about 8 minutes. Turn them half way through. They should lightly browned on all sides. Then, set them aside.
Place the turkey roasting pan on the grill. Add the remaining olive oil. After the oil starts to sizzle, add the onion, roasted red peppers, and chorizo sausage. Stirring frequently, cook them for approximately 8 minutes. Add the rice. Stir the mixture until the rice is uniformly covered in the olive oil. Pat the rice down into a uniform layer.
Place the chicken thighs on top of the rice. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Place the shrimp, scallops, and chorizo on top the rice. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the lemons and peas. Cook for another 10-15 minutes until a golden-brown crust forms on the bottom of the pan.
Remove from grill and let the paella rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Resist the urge to feed the dog, who has been assisting you.