Paella de Calabacitas

PREP TIME
15 minutes

COOK TIME
45 minutes

YIELD
6 servings

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch-thick quarter circles
1 medium yellow squash, cut into 1/2-inch-thick quarter circles
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup paella rice or other short-grain rice (See Note 1)
1/4 cup white wine
2 1/4 cup corn kernels (frozen, from a can, or cut from a freshly roasted cob…Up to you!)
2 to 3 tbsp prepared and chopped hatch green chile (See Note 2)
2 cups vegetable stock
Salt to taste
1 lb raw tail-off shrimp (see Note 3)
3/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp roughly chopped cilantro
Lime wedges and sour cream for serving

Preheat a wide, shallow paella pan (or iron skillet, or dutch oven…) on medium. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and add the diced onion, cooking until soft and just translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the quartered squashes and minced garlic. Cook another 5 minutes so that the squashes get a little color, but aren’t too soft (remember, they will continue to cook with the rice).
Add the 1 cup of rice and the spices (1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon ground cumin) to the pan and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Stir occasionally while cooking to coat the rice with spices and gently toast.
Pour in the 1/4 cup of white wine and scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
When the wine has mostly evaporated add the 2 1/4 cups of corn, 2 to 3 tablespoons chile, and 2 cups vegetable stock.
Season to taste with salt, bring to a simmer, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes. Don’t stir, and don’t cover the pan.
Add the shrimp, nestling them into the top of the rice. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes.
When most of the liquid has been absorbed taste and season as necessary without stirring too much or scraping the bottom of the pan.
Remove from the heat and add the 3/4 cup halved tomatoes and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, cover and let sit off of the heat for 10 more minutes.
Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro and serve with lime wedges and a dollop of sour cream.

Paella is traditionally made with short-grain, Spanish rice such as Bomba, Bahia, Calasparra. Good luck finding any of those on the road. I have found a generic bag labeled “paella rice” before, but I think that was a complete fluke. Someone out there will hunt me down for saying this, but I have used generic medium-grain rice, Calrose rice, and sushi rice before for paella. All work just fine, and since this recipe is far from traditional anyway, who cares.
If you’ve ever been to Santa Fe, NM, you know what hatch chiles are. They’re amazing in flavor and pack a punch, but each batch can be a bit different in intensity. In the southwest you can usually find prepared hatch chiles in the freezer section, but in other areas of the country they are much harder to come by. Every summer you’ll see a large rotating cage of flame and chile outside of a natural food store, but the next day they are gone. When you see this, buy as much as you think you can fit in your freezer. Outside of that you can substitute Anaheim or poblano peppers with tomatillo and jalapeño or Serrano to try and replicate the flavor. Or just get a can of diced green chilis to tide you over until hatch chili season arrives.
I use tail-off raw shrimp simply for convenience. You can use easy peel, tail on, or cooked if you’d like, you’ll just need to adjust the timing for putting the shrimp in the dish. You’ll also have to get a little more messy at the table.