Paella

So. We now have a paella pan. A real carbon steel one. And perfectly sized for two. Or three. Or four. Depending on how much you overcrowd the pan. This much I know from experience.

I started off with a recipe from Eric Ripert (two actually) that serves 6-8. I read both recipes which were basically the same and then watched him make it on his show, Avec Eric. And I combined them together to make my recipe, halved from his so that it would serve 2-3. It sounds good, right?

True to my theories on cooking, I followed the recipe exactly on first preparation. We went out to the store and bought all the seafood we would need.

And so, I set about to cooking it. I charred a red pepper, let it steam, and then peeled it. I took some Spotted Trotter Spanish chorizo and sliced some up into thin rounds. I chopped up half an onion and some garlic. I sauteed the chorizo, garlic, onion, tumeric, and saffron. I added the rice and stirred it up to let it cook. So far, things were easy. I heated up the shrimp and chicken stocks I had made.

And I started to add stock to the rice, similar to risotto and grits. I stirred. I added more stock. I stirred some more. I prepped all my seafood and seasoned them.

Finally, it seemed the rice was about done. Following my recipe, I embedded clams into the rice. Already the pan looked full. I added the mussels hingedown so they could open. The pan was overflowing. And still, I took chunks of monkfish and tried to bury them in the rice. I took the shrimp, and tried to do it again. I strew the red pepper slices on the top. I looked at the calamari rings. I covered it all with foil and let it cook.

It dripped onto the stove. I took off the foil, flipped the fish, tried to push the seafood further into the pan. Little bits of rice fell out of the pan. I tried to push it all into one cohesive pile. Then I covered it with foil again. It seemed to take forever, but eventually, it seemed done.

Here is what my serving looked like. Overall, it was a great first try at paella. But the rice was a bit overcooked and a wee bit soggy. Some of the paella was still wet (too much stock) but in the middle, it was a bit charred, past the nice crispness that you want. The seafood was all excellent. Some of the clams didn't open so I put them back into a skillet with some of the chicken stock. They were awesome. The monkfish was good. The shrimp were good. The calamari was good. The mussels were okay.

And so I altered my recipe some more for size and timing. We toned down the seafood for next time. I'm looking forward to trying it again. We have some leftover shrimp/chicken stock in the fridge right now...