Seafood Paella

love_curry, 9/21/00 4:28 pm

This paella is good when served with lemon wedges, but it's even better when spread with a bit of alioli, a garlic mayonnaise that is the Spanish version of the French aioli. To make alioli, add a few cloves of chopped garlic and a large pinch of salt to a mini-food processor, process (or pound with a pestle) until very fine, and then slowly drizzle in olive oil to make a thick, mayonnaise-like consistency. Add lemon juice to taste, and process again.

1/3 lb. shrimp, peeled (reserve the shells for broth)
Pinch of saffron threads
Salt to taste
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 lb. scallops (or calamari, cut in rings)
1/2 onion, grated on the largest holes of a box grater
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 ripe tomato, halved and grated on the largest holes of a box grater (discard the skin)
1 1/2 cups medium grain rice
1 lemon, cut in wedges for garnish
3-4 artichoke hearts chopped
1 bell pepper sliced
1/2 bag green peas thawed
8 mussels

In a medium saucepan, boil 3 1/2 cups of salted water. Add the shrimp shells and simmer, covered, for about 10 min. Strain the broth, and return it to the saucepan. Toast the saffron gently, crush the threads with the back of a spoon, and add to the shrimp shell broth. Taste for salt; the broth should be well-seasoned. (I added a little veggie or fish bouillon instead of salt) In a 14-inch paella pan, heat the oil on high.

When the oil is hot, sauté the shrimp and scallops until almost cooked through. Set aside. Reduce the heat to medium and sauté the onion and garlic until the onion softens, about 5 min. Add the tomato, and and season with salt, sauté until the mixture, called the sofrito, has darkened and is a thick purée, 10 to 15 min. Bring broth back to a simmer. When the tomato-onion sofrito is ready, add rice to the pan. Sauté until the rice loses its opaqueness, about 1 min. Increase the heat to medium-high. Pour in 3 cups of the simmering broth (reserving the remaining 1/2 cup) and stir or shake the pan to evenly distribute the rice in the pan.

Add mussels by submerging them in the broth to cook on top of the rice (sometimes I've had a little trouble with the mussels cooking to much--you might let the rice cook for a few minutes before adding them). Bring the liquid to a boil. From this point on, do not stir the rice. Add peas, artichoke hearts and bell peppers. Cook the paella on medium-high, rotating and moving the pan to distribute the heat. When the rice begins to appear above the liquid, after 8 to 10 min., reduce the heat to medium low. Continue to simmer, rotating the pan as necessary, until the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 min. more.

Taste a grain of rice just below the top layer; it should be al dente. (If the rice is not done add more broth to the pan and cook a few minutes more. Arrange the shrimp and scallops in the pan. Cover with aluminum foil and cook gently for another 2 min. to help ensure that the top layer of rice is evenly cooked. With the foil still in place, increase the heat to medium-high and, rotating the pan, cook for about 2 min., until the bottom layer of rice starts to caramelize, creating the socarrat.

The rice may crackle somewhat, but if it starts burning, remove the pan from the heat immediately. Let the paella rest off the heat, still covered, for 5 min. Sit everyone down at a round or square table. Remove the foil and invite people to eat directly from the pan, starting at the perimeter, working toward the center, and squeezing lemon over their section.


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