Oh my God this
is good! It's like God
himself decided that people
needed an especially delicious
rice dish and came up with this.
Paella is so
good, so exotic, and so
showy. It makes a great
meal to serve to guests because
the presentation is so
beautiful, but it's still pretty
easy to make. Those are
the good parts about this
recipe. The bad parts are
that you need a special pan,
special rice, and special
spices, but once you make this I
think you will agree it's worth
it. This recipe calls for
scallops, shrimp, and lobster
but as long as you have 2½ lbs
of shellfish it doesn't matter
how much of each you have, you
can even make this with just a
single type of shellfish.
In the picture above, you can't
see the rice as it is under so
much seafood.
First you need a paella pan. It should be carbon steel and, for this recipe, 15" in diameter. They are not hard to get. Kitchen specialty stores, Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc. carry paella pans, and the 15" size is the most common. Second you need special rice. Calasparra rice is the most popular paella rice and that's what I used for this recipe. Calasparra rice is available on the internet and at specialty grocery stores like Whole Foods or Fresh Market. I get mine from Amazon. Now you need saffron. Saffron is unbelievably expensive when you consider how much it costs per gram, but it's not so bad whey you realize you use so little in a recipe. Again, saffron is available from specialty grocery stores and the internet and again I get it from Amazon. Lastly you need a large even heat source. We are lucky enough to have a smooth top stove with a very large burner that covers almost the entire pan but some people make paella on their gas or charcoal grill and that seems to work well.
| 2 large | tomatoes |
| 2 tsp (total) | smoked paprika |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| 1 tbl | minced garlic |
| 2 6" sprigs | fresh rosemary, with the leaves stripped from the stems and finely chopped |
| 20 threads | saffron |
| 9 cups | chicken broth or stock |
| 3 tbl | olive oil |
| ½ lb | scallops |
| 1 lb | large shrimp, peeled and deveined |
| ½ lb | cooked crab meat (lump blue crab, dungeness, king, crab, it doesn't matter) |
| 1 | chopped onion (you can also add a cup of mixed red and green peppers that have been seeded and cut into slivers if you like) |
| ½ lb | frozen green beans cut into 1" to 1½" pieces (don't use french style green beans as they cook too fast) |
| 3 cups | Calasparra rice |
Add
2 tablespoons
of olive oil
to the paella
pan and turn
the heat to medium
high.
When the oil
is hot, add
the scallops
and brown
them on each
side.
As soon
as the
scallops are
browned add
the shrimp
and cook
until
shrimp
are pink, but
do not
overcook.
The
scallops
and shrimp does
not need to be
cooked all the
way through as
it will finish
cooking later
on. Take
the seafood
out of the pan,
set it on a
plate, and
cover with
foil.
After
the seafood
is aside, wipe
out the paella
pan, add
one
more
tablespoon of
olive oil, the
onions and
green beans
(the green
beans can
still be frozen
at this point)
to the
paella pan and
cook for 4
to 5 minutes
minutes,
or until the
onions are
clear,
stirring
occasionally.
Now add the
tomato juice
and pulp
mixture and
cook for 4
minutes,
stirring
occasionally.
Add the rice
and cook for 1
minute.
Turn
the heat down
to medium low
and add 4½
cups of the
chicken
stock.
Since it is
already hot it
should start
simmering
almost
immediately.
Adjust the
heat so that
the stock
stays barely
at a
simmer.
Let this cook,
uncovered, for
12
minutes.
Now add 3 cups
more stock and
let this come
to a simmer
and keep this
at a very low
simmer for
another 12
minutes.
Arrange
the seafood
over the top
of the
paella.
We find it is
easier to add
the shrimp,
then the
scallops, then
the
crab.
Now ddd the
remaining 1½
cups of stock,
sprinkle the
remaining tsp
of smoked
paprika over
the seafood,
and as before,
make sure that
the stock
barely
bubbles. Cook
until the
stock is
absorbed/evaporated.
Take the paella off the heat, cover with aluminum foil, and let it rest for 15 minutes. Serve.