Paella Tunnel Vision

I love Spanish food.  Whether it's a simple plate of jamon serrano with manchego cheese or pulpo gallego I just can't get enough.  I like paella but I refuse to order it in a restaurant.  I was just having this discussion with my brother 2 weeks ago.  You're basically paying for a big ass plate of rice with some shellfish thrown into it.  I like rice and I love shellfish, but with paella you just get overcharged and wait a long time for a lot of rice and a little bit of shellfish.  For the same price you can get a huge mixed grill of various shellfish.  Paella is time consuming to make and you pay for that time, not the ingredients.  I just don't get peoples' fascination of going to a Spanish restaurant and having paella tunnel vision.  When it comes to Spanish food I rank paella at the bottom end of their cuisine.  I don't think you'll find paella at el Bulli. http://www.elbulli.com/  (It was voted best restaurant in the world for the past 5 years or so.)  I will make one exception on ordering paella- if i'm in Valencia, with a local, who shows me a restaurant that is, (as this local may claim), the grandfather of paella, then bring it on.  But that's it. 

On the other hand, Paella is a great dish to cook at home.  It's relatively cheap, fills you up (all that rice), and pretty easy to make.  So i'm not anti-paella, I just won't order the stuff in a restaurant.  But for home cooking it's great, you can vary the ingredients and in doing so you can seriously vary how much you spend.  I'm going to give you my brother's recipe, it's simple and always comes out great. 

Dave's Paella - this will easily feed 4

2 1/2 cups Arborio Rice
2 tsp saffron
3 chicken thighs
20 shrimp (prawns)
1 large onion diced
4 cloves garlic halved
chili flakes
1 large red pepper diced
3 3/4 cups chicken stock
2-3 chorizo links sliced
bag of clams

Preheat oven to 475F
Fry garlic, onion and pepper in oil.  Throw in chicken and brown. Add Chorizo and brown and then add the shrimp.  Add rice and stir.  Add stock mixture(with dissolved saffron).  Season with salt and pepper and add some chili flakes (depending on how spicy you want it). Push everything into the liquid and put in oven for about 40 mins, add the clams for the last 10 mins.  After 30-40 mins check rice, when its tender, but still a bit al dente, its done.  See, easy.