Is it possible? Yes it is. Paella!

Paella! Take One.

All righty then, the reason this is take one is because there is going to be...wait for it....a take two. This dish is a winner in every respect and I've been wanting to get it out there for a while. The bummer is I don't have any pictures from the last time I made it. So what I am going to do is post the recipe and in a few weeks I'm hitting the trail again and I'm going to make this dish which means that next week I'll be doing the preparation. At that time I'll take pictures and add a few more comments on the method I used for putting this dish together. Good to Go? Good. So without further dawdling, I would like to introduce you to Paella a la Heathen.


(D) = dehydrate
Makes 6 servings

(1) 4.5 oz can of diced/chopped clams (D)
6 ounces of medium size raw medium shrimp (D) Save yourself some time and get the devained ones. And to save yourself some cash get a bag of the frozen shrimp.

(2) large cubes or packets of chicken bullion
(1) medium onion finely chopped (D)
(2) cups of rice
Lets take a moment and talk about the rice. You can use regular every day long grain rice, but you ain't everybody else so why act like it. If you want to dress to impress then here's a suggestion, Jasmine Rice....let that sink in for a minute. Or Basmati. Now we're talking. But I know what you're thinking, these rices take about 20-25 minutes to cook! Not anymore. Our local grocery store has started stocking 10 minute versions of these about a year ago. So I ask you; if you could choose between every day, every other person long grain white rice or something like Jasmine what would you do? Time to remember the Don't Be a Heathen motto if you're having trouble deciding.

Moving on...

(3) cloves of garlic, chopped (Bring fresh cloves of garlic for crying out loud, this is no time to get cheap)
(1) teaspoon of dried thyme leaves
(1/2) teaspoon saffron thread, crushed (This will separate the true believers from the wanna-bees. Saffron is thee most expensive spice in the world. A few thread of this stuff cost about $18.00 and yes you can buy it in most grocery stores' spice section. It will be wrapped in paper inside of the spice bottle. Unwrap the paper carefully and extract One thread of Saffron, put it in a small zip-lock with the other spices. BTW, I can tell just by looking at your Paella if you used saffron or not......I'm watching.)

(1) pint, cherry tomatoes, halved (D)
(1) cup of peas, petite if you can find them (D) (Just so you know petite peas are small peas as in smaller than regular peas. The can will say "petite" which takes the guess work out of it.)
(1) tablespoon of fresh chopped parsley

And that's the recipe.Well almost. I did say it was a la Heathen which means I add a little sumptin, sumptin extra. Sausage! boom...and not just any sausage either. The first few times I made this I used chorizo and the past few times I've used andouille.

The choice is personal preference but here are some of the differences between the two to help you decide. Chorizo in my opinion has more flavor with a nice spicy bite to it but it is a greasier sausage. The only problem with that is that it takes longer to dehydrate and you have to pat it with paper towels even after the dehydrating is done to get the excess grease out of it.Andouille on the other hand is not as greasy but it doesn't have the same flavor kick to it.So there you go, either one is a winner in my book and you can't go wrong regardless of which you choose. And if you don't like these go with something else there's plenty of different types of sausage to choose from.

So Paella! part one is a wrap. Next week when I'm doing the prep work I'll post the pictures along with the method. So, until then remember, just because you're in the back country that's no reason to be a Heathen.

Heathen -out...