Seafood Paella

Seafood Paella

Recipe by Bill C

Some weeks ago we attended an "Art of Paella" presentation by Jose Garces at Amada in Atlantic City. This recipe is a home-style adaptation of the two paellas he demonstrated.

It turns out to be an amazingly easy process and of course you can easily substitute whatever seafood you prefer. The original Jose Garces recipe includes squid broth (with ink), cockles, mussels and half a lobster.

The quantities here are for a 13 inch paella pan. As you can see, it pretty much fills the pan.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup Calaspara or other short grained rice
• 2 cups Chicken broth
• 1/2 cup Onion, diced small 
• 1/2 cup Peas
• 1/4 cup Piquillo or other spicy red pepper, diced small
• 12 Littleneck clams or cockles
• 8 Large shrimp
• 4 Diver scallops 
• 1/3 lb. Cleaned Squid
• Large Pinch Saffron threads
• Salt and Pepper
• Butter or Olive oil for sauteing

 
Cooking Directions

Fresh Seafood

1. Half an hour before cooking place the clams in a bowl of fresh water to allow them to release as much sand as possible.
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
3. Clean and de-vein the shrimp. If they have heads, leave them on. Slice the scallops in half horizontally. Cut the squid into rings. Carefully remove the clams from the bowl and brush them clean under running water.
4. Bring the broth to a simmer and add the saffron threads and piquillos. There were no spicy red peppers at the store when I shopped so I used a small jalapeno.





Saute Onions

5. In a 13 inch paella pan saute then onion in the oil or butter until it is translucent.
6. Add the rice to the pan and stir so that the rice is well coated with oil. I used Vialone Nano because that's what I had on hand.





Bring broth to a boil

7. Add the broth mixture to the pan and bring to a boil, stirring carefully to ensure an even layer of rice. 
8. Add the peas and mix well.





Add the long cooking seafood

9. Off heat add the clams and squid to the pan in a pleasing pattern. If your shrimp have heads, add them to the pan as well.
10. Cover the pan tightly with foil and place in the oven for 30 minutes.





Sear the delicate seafood

11. When the paella is done remove it from the oven and set aside, still covered. Heat a small amount of butter or oil large non-stick pan and carefully sear scallops and shrimp, if headless.
12. Remove the foil from the paella pan and arrange the shrimp and scallops on top.
13. Serve immediately.