Paella

I bought two new paella books in my last cookbook batch order. The Amazon reviews looked promising. I decided to try a recipe from the one of the two I had actually read, a fisherman's paella.

Shopping the day before Christmas can be a little ingredient-challenging. We go a handful of littleneck clams, more than the recipe called for since they were completely out of mussels. And then whole squid, probably more than I really needed, but it seemed so silly to just get two. I sliced that up into rings. The recipe called for monkfish, and we like monkfish, but they were out. So I remembered reading that the recipe also suggested grouper or any firm-fleshed white fish. They had red and black grouper so we opted for the black grouper, which I cut into nearly same sized pieces. Lastly, I defrosted some Sweet Savannah Shrimp jumbo head-on shrimp from the freezer.

I simmered the clams in water for 30 minutes. I chopped green onions into rather large 1x1 inch squares. I finely chopped some garlic and peeled, seeded, and finely minced two tomatoes.

To start, you salt and pepper the fish, then lightly dredge it in flour and saute in olive oil. Then you set that aside.

I was surprised the recipe called for no onions. I sauteed the green peppers, then added the squid rings. Then added the garlic and tomatoes. Apparently, squid can be considered part of the soffrito. Interesting. You let this cook down for a while "til the tomatoes turn a shade darker and the soffrito is pasty". Well, I let it go for a pretty long while.

When the soffrito is done, you add in saffron and pimenton. I had a challenge in the market trying to get a signal to confirm that the pimenton was the same thing as "spicy paprika" that they had on the shelf. I was happy to see "pimenton de la Vera" in both places and that's what I got! It was a challenge to open the canister; thank god for oyster knives! I was amazed how smoky the pimenton was. Definitely rich smelling.

From there, you put the shrimp in the pan and saute about two minutes per side to pinken it. I put the shrimp on top of the soffrito and it was at this point that I wasn't sure if the soffrito had become deeply caramelized or burnt. But on I went.

I put the shrimp on the side with the fish and added the clam broth from the boiling (post-filtering) into the pan. Then I added a cup of bomba rice, which I think is about as much as we can eat. I distributed that in the pan, then added in the fish pieces and shrimp.

From there, you aren't supposed to touch the rice again. You let it cook slowly for the rice to absorb all the liquid. It cooked and cooked... and then you turn the heat down. But still there seemed to be more of a bite to the rice than there should have been. So I added a bit more water and let it continue to cook.

I had no idea when to tell when it was done except to take tiny spoonfuls and taste it. When it seemed done, I turned off the heat and covered it with paper towels to let it rest.

After resting, I guess you put the clams back on the pan. Or that is my guess from a couple of the other recipes in the book. I would definitely say that the recipe could have been a lot more specific about a lot of things.

Look, it's the first paella that isn't spilling over the edges! (I did have to tip the pan when I added the broth.)

Paella served. A little bit of everything for me.

I'm not really sure how socarrat is supposed to look. Is it supposed to look burnt or is it just golden? In any case, this is how mine looked. Since most paella pans are so dark on the bottom, I want to say this is about right. But don't know. Maybe I should go to Valencia for some paella. :)