What do you think about this recipe?

The rice is cooked in the rice cooker, put into a bowl, the rest of the ingredients are made into a sauce and put over the rice. Not a classic Paella, but faster and easier. It comes from The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook. The writer says it is an excellent dish and a favorite of his. I'm thinking this dish needs a can of Muir Glen fire-roasted diced tomatoes, fresh tomatoes if it were summer. What do you think?

Paella with Spanish Rice

2 cups medium-grain white rice, such as Valencia or Carnaroli, (not Japanese style)
2 - 2/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
3 ounces Spanish chorizo or other smoked sausage, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1-1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat and cut into 2-inch long strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 large green chile pepper, or 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
4 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup frozen petite peas
1 teaspoon dried oregano (not Mexican)
1/4 teaspoon saffrom threads, crumbled
1-1/2 cups bottled clam juice, or fish stock, if you have it
1/2 cup dry white wine (I use dry Vermouth)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Pinch of salt
Hot pepper sauce
Chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves, for garnish

[Robin Garr]

The rice is cooked in the rice cooker, put into a bowl, the rest of the ingredients are made into a sauce and put over the rice. Not a classic Paella, but faster and easier. It comes from The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook. The writer says it is an excellent dish and a favorite of his. I'm thinking this dish needs a can of Muir Glen fire-roasted diced tomatoes, fresh tomatoes if it were summer. What do you think?

Karen, I am always up for Good Stuff on Rice. It's obviously not a paella (and not a risotto, either), but it looks like good stick-to-your-ribs cookery for a winter night. Tomatoes would make it even more appealing to me, too.

That's what I thought Robin, I kept reading the recipe to see if I missed something. Every Spanish Rice dish I have had used tomatos. I'm going to add it not only for more bulk and taste but for the color. Thanks

'made into a sauce' worries me. how? in a processor? or just combined rather than actually made into anything. yes, to tomatoes.

'made into a sauce' worries me. how? in a processor? or just combined rather than actually made into anything. yes, to tomatoes.

A saute of the poultry, chorizo, vegies, adding liquids and thickening.

Sounds pretty darn good to me. (Sez the guy who's having leftover pot roast w/root veggies over rice for his supper tonight.)

The paprika in the Spanish choriso will add to the color. It sounds interesting but why the clam/fish stock? Is it just for umami?

The paprika in the Spanish choriso will add to the color. It sounds interesting but why the clam/fish stock? Is it just for umami?

Recipe calls for fish stock (which usually has to be home made) or clam juice if you do not have fish stock. Have you never used clam juice in a pasta or seafood type dish? I make a seafood stew which calls for 3 bottles of clam juice. It was the cover recipe on Bon Appetit several years ago. Why do you ask?
By the way, I did add a can of Muir Glen Fire-Roasted Tomatoes and the dish was excellent. I added some fresh lemon juice at the finish.
Thanks for all the comments.

The paprika in the Spanish choriso will add to the color. It sounds interesting but why the clam/fish stock? Is it just for umami?

Recipe calls for fish stock (which usually has to be home made) or clam juice if you do not have fish stock. Have you never used clam juice in a pasta or seafood type dish? I make a seafood stew which calls for 3 bottles of clam juice. It was the cover recipe on Bon Appetit several years ago. Why do you ask?
By the way, I did add a can of Muir Glen Fire-Roasted Tomatoes and the dish was excellent. I added some fresh lemon juice at the finish.
Thanks for all the comments.

Glad it worked out; I thought it would. Methinks George's question stems from the fact that there was no fish or shellfish in the dish.

The "purist" in me likes the suggestion of Carnaroli or other full-bodied rice. The Spanish version, Bomba rice, is much harder to find but very similar in texture.

Evidently the mixture of seafood with sausage and chicken is the "tourist" version of paella, probably the most often cooked here in the USA. In Spain if you live near the shore it's seafood, if you live inland it's sausage and meats (frequently rabbit and chicken).

As a "purist" though -- just like cassoulet, this is a pre-Columbian dish. Tomatoes were not eaten in Europe before Columbus. Nor potatoes, chili peppers, etc. So despite the fact that "Spanish Rice" is rice cooked with tomatoes, the venerable Paella was cooked for centuries without them. And I have a certain amount of respect for a publication that will leave them out of their Paella and Cassoulet recipes. Naturally cooks will want to put them in out of habit, but they were not there in the original.

Still -- a slow cooker kind of torpedoes any arguments from the standpoint of authenticity, so have at it. BTW this isn't really a criticism, I do similar things in my kitchen, but for those wondering "why no tomatoes" there is a reasonable answer.

I appreciate your point of view, and did not take it as a criticism. While I also appreciate authenticity, it was not important to me with this recipe, because it is not a classic paella. It ended up being just what I expected it to be, a very tasty dish, for the two of us. I actually made the rice a few hours before we needed it, the rice cooker held it perfectly, the paella part was cooked earlier and gently reheated. We both got to relax with a glass of wine while watching all the bad news on TV. I'm very relaxed about stuff like this. By the way, just out of curiosity (because curious minds want to know) is every ethnic dish you cook an authentic recipe? I don't know that I have ever made a truly authentic dish.

Glad it worked out; I thought it would. Methinks George's question stems from the fact that there was no fish or shellfish in the dish.

Exactly, I wondered the purpose. If it is umami rather than make fish stock or use store bought clam stock one could simply use a little anchovie paste and water.

Karen, as I said, I do similar things. When I was having people over I resisted having the tiniest bit of tomato in my Cassoulet, and I very much enjoyed knowing that the flavors we were tasting were just what the monks and knights and peasants would have tasted at the time of the Crusades. For the two of us I might open a can of great northern beans and slice up some Kielbasa and consider it done. Sometimes I take pleasure in being a stickler.

I gave the "precolumbian" lecture the last time I served Stoverij (Carbonnade a la flammande) -- my sister's family was visiting and once again, this was the ancient stew of Flanders and did not include anything inauthentic, such as potatoes or tomatoes. Just basically beef and onions, a wonderful simplicity.