The Ultimate Wood Fired Paella

We’d originally planned to publish this blog for after England beat Spain in the Euro 2024 final. However, as that dream didn’t quite work out the way we planned, we thought it better to leave it until the dust had settled. Although the Paella might not quite taste as sweet as if we’d beat the Spanish that day, it’s still well worth trying.

Something we’ve covered before in quite a lot of detail here at Igneus is how your pizza oven is for more than just pizza. We’re often asked by people looking to buy an Igneus Pizza oven what kind of food they can be used for. The answer to that question is quite substantial, however one dish that always makes our list is a traditional Paella. It’s not something that many people immediately think of when it comes to pizza ovens, but boy it’s a game changer, and will keep you and your guests coming back for more! So, without further ado, let get into it…

Brief History of the Humble Paella

Paella is most certainly on the list of the world’s most famous dishes. In terms of the most popular culinary dishes by country it’s as synonymous with Spain as Pizza is to Italy, Boeuf Bourguignon is to France and Ramen is to Japan.

Valencia is well known as being the birthplace of the Paella. It’s one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean and has forever been one of the most important rice-producing areas in Spain. Much like Italian Risotto, Paella was originally a humble farmers’ or labourers’ food, owing to it consisting of predominantly rice which is and was a cheap commodity ingredient. Unlike Paella recipes of today which can often lavishly include seafood like mussels and prawns, the original Paella recipes included much more humble ingredients, basically anything that was to hand around the rice fields. For example, tomatoes, onions, beans and snails. It was often a lunchtime meal cooked over a wood fire and designed to keep the farmers satisfied and filled up for the rest of their working day.

It will come as no surprise that the reason seafood found its way into Paella recipes in the first place is because of the rich abundance of seafood in the waters off the coast of Valencia. It may be interesting to know that to this day, proper “authentic” Paella Valenciana doesn’t include seafood, and instead has a mixture of chicken, rabbit and snails, along with tomatoes, onions and green or white beans.

Although we like to be authentic in most ways here at Igneus, for our Pealla recipe we’ve gone for a more modern and indulgent approach, including seafood and chicken, rather than sticking to tradition! Sorry to any Valencians reading…

Ingredients (to serve around 6 people)

• 170g chorizo, cut into 3mm slices
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 red pepper
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 125ml of dry white wine
• 4tbsp softened unsalted butter
• 4tbsp tomato puree
• 12 raw jumbo king prawns peeled & deveined
• 12 fresh mussels, cleaned
• 12 fresh clams, cleaned
• 6 chicken thighs, chopped in half, browned
• 50ml extra virgin olive oil
• 4 large vine ripened tomatoes, chopped
• 55g fresh or frozen peas (defrosted)
• 1/2 tsp sweet smoked Spanish paprika
• 1L fish or chicken stock
• 1/4 tsp saffron threads or powder
• 300g uncooked Paella rice
• 2 lemon wedges
• handful finely chopped parsley

Method

1. Preheat your Igneus Pizza Oven to ‘pizza temperature’ of approximately 400°C. This will come down to around 280°C as the paella cooks. Be sure to add wood to the oven as needed throughout the cooking process to maintain the approximate temperature of 280°C.

2. Add the chorizo to a paella pan or cast-iron pan, along with the olive oil. Place in the oven and cook until the oils start to release from the chorizo, and it starts to colour.

3. Once coloured, remove the chorizo from the pan, leaving just the oil. Then colour off the chicken thighs. Don’t worry about cooking the chicken all the way through, just add colour, remove and set aside.

4. Add the onion, red pepper and garlic to the pan, putting the chorizo back in too. Stir in with the chorizo and add back to the oven until softened. You may need to stir occasionally to stop the ingredients from catching.

5. Add in the white wine and stir. Add back to the oven until the liquid has reduced by around half. This deglazes the pan, taking all the flavour that’s stuck to the bottom of the pan and adding it to the liquid.

6. Once the wine has reduced, add in the softened butter and tomato puree and stir in until melted and combined into a velvety sauce. Next, add the fish/chicken stock, along with the saffron threads and smoked paprika. It doesn’t really matter which stock you use, either fish or chicken is fine, it’s your personal preference. Add back to the oven and bring it up to a simmer.

7. Now it’s time to add the rice. Pull the pan out of the oven and add the rice as evenly as you can. Rather than stirring in the rice, press it down into the liquid to submerge it. This ensures the bottom layer of rice gets a head start in cooking and allows the top later to crispen up slightly as per a traditional paella. Cover the pan with aluminium foil or a tight-fitting lid. Add back to the oven for 15 minutes, turning once at around halfway through.

8. Remove the pan form the oven once more, and now it’s time to add the browned chicken thighs back to the pan, placing them evenly on top of the rice. Next, add the mussels and clams. Make sure you place them hinge side down so they open up from the top and all the liquid that’s in the shell is released into the rice. Cover back over and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the mussels and clams have opened up.

9. Next, add in the king prawns, chopped tomatoes and peas and cook for a further 10 minutes, covered.

10. Finally, remove the paella from the pizza oven and set down. Scatter the chopped fresh parsley over the top and place the lemon wedges in between the other ingredients. Serve immediately.

Final Thoughts

We really hope you give this one a try, trust us, it’s more than worth the effort. Of course, an Igneus Wood Fired Oven can be used to cook a whole host of dishes. They really are more versatile than you might think. Even the smaller Minimo and Bambino ovens are capable of cooking more than just pizza. Of course, if you require any information about purchasing an Igneus Pizza Oven, you can contact us on 01423 575885 or browse our full collection of pizza ovens online here.