Summertime Paella on the Grill

By my thinking, paella on the grill is everything you want in a summer party dish: feeds crowds, adaptable, festive, and makes everyone feel spoiled despite being pretty simple to prepare.

You'll need a large paella pan. Mine is a basic version, and is the same pan I use for making paella on my stove.

When you get comfortable with the basic paella technique, you can experiment by changing the proteins or going all vegetarian (at Christmas, I make a version that includes butternut squash).

Ingredients

4 cups chicken broth - low sodium store bought or homemade

Generous pinch saffron threads 

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons onion powder

1/2-1 teaspoon cayenne (add more or less depending on how spicy you like)

Pinch of cloves

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper 

4 Tablespoons grapeseed oil
8oz. chorizo, sliced
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced  
1 red and 1 green bell pepper, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 cups paella or arborio rice
1 pound bay scallop
1 pound clams
1 cup frozen petite peas, thawed
Preparation

1. Light a gas grill and let it heat for 15 minutes while you prepare the ingredients.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat broth. 
3. Mixed dried spices together. 
4. Place paella pan on grill and close cover to allow to heat (roughly 3 minutes). 
5. Add oil. When shimmering, add chorizo. 
6. Let sausage brown with grill lid open. 
7. Remove browned sausage and set aside. 
8. Add onion, bell peppers and celery and saute with lid open for roughly 5 minutes. 
9. Add rice and stir. 
10. Add dried spices, salt and pepper. Give spices a minute to become fragrant. 
11. Add sausage back to pan and cover everything with the broth. 
12. Close lid on gill and allow to cook for 15 minutes. 
13. Open lid to see that rice is nearly cooked. 
14. Add bay scallops, clams and peas. 
15. Close lid and cook for five additional minutes.
16. Remove from grill and serve.