By Lolly Gray
This recipe works well in a 13-inch pan.
Serves 4-6
6- ounces shrimp
1- small bottle clam juice or other seafood stock
Pinch of saffron threads
Kosher salt
¼- cup extra virgin olive oil
6- ounces scallops, patted dry
½- onion, grated on a box grater
6- cloves garlic cloves, peeled, 3 chopped finely, 3 left whole
1- large tomato, halved and grated on a box grater
½- teaspoon paprika
1½- cup medium grain rice, such as bomba or other medium grain Spanish rice, Goya medium grain works too. Aborio is an acceptable substitute. Avoid long grain rice.
8- small clams or mussels or both
2- lemons cut in wedges for serving
Make the seafood broth:
In a medium saucepan, bring 4 ½- cups of salted water to a bowl. Add shrimp shells and clam juice and simmer covered about 10 minutes. Strain the broth, and return it to the saucepan. Toast the saffron gently in a dry skillet, until aromatic, 1-2 minutes. Crumble the threads between your fingers, and add to the broth. Season with salt and let sit off the heat.
Sauté the seafood:
In a 13-16 inch paella pan, heat the oil just until it is hot. Sauté the shrimp and scallops until it is just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
Make the sofrito:
Reduce the heat to medium and sauté onion and garlic until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato and paprika, season with salt, and cook, stirring often, until the mixture has darkened to a deep burgundy and is thick, 15 to 20 minutes. If it starts to stick to the pan or burn, add a little water.
Add the rice and cook:
Bring the broth back to a simmer. Add the rice to the pan with the sofrito, and cook about 2 minutes. Raise the heat to medium high. Pour in 4 ½- cups of the broth (reserve the rest) and stir or shake the pan to evenly distribute the rice. Arrange the clams in the pan submerging them as much as possible. From this point on do not stir the rice.
Simmer vigorously, moving the pan over the burners to distribute the heat evenly. When the rice is the same level as the liquid, after 8-10 minutes, reduce the heat to medium low. Arrange the mussels in the pan.
Continue to simmer more gently, rotating the pan as necessary, until the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes more. Taste a grain just below the top layer of rice; it should be al dente. (If the rice is not done, but all the liquid has been absorbed, add a bit of broth and cook a few more minutes.)
Arrange shrimp, scallops and any other seafood you are using in the pan and add any juices to the rice.
Let paella rest for 5 minutes covered with foil or a clean kitchen towel.
Paella is traditionally eaten out of the pan, starting at the perimeter and working toward the center or serve from pan onto plates. Serve with lemon wedges.
TIPS for Great Paella:
The Rice: The rice should be medium grain. Spanish rice is rounded and short; it absorbs liquid very well. The rice should be dry and separate when done, not creamy like risotto.
The Pan: A true paella pan is wide, round, and shallow and has splayed sides. It has two looped handles and may dip slightly in the middle so the oil can pool for the initial sautéing. The shape, which is called paella or paellera, helps ensure the rice cooks in a thin layer. The key is to maximize the amount of rice on the bottom of the pan because that is where the flavor lives.
The Heat Source: Gas works best, a burner or burners to accommodate the whole paella pan. Move and rotate the pan to distribute the heat evenly. A large gas grill or charcoal grill works too.
The Sofrito: A sauté of aromatics provides the flavor base. The components of a sofrito vary by region. Typically the trio is onion, garlic and tomato.
The socarrat: The caramelized bottom layer of the rice that sometimes forms on the pan. To create this increase the heat to medium high, rotating the pan, cook for about two minutes. The rice will crackle, but do not let burn. This takes practice.
How to scale recipe for larger pans:
For a: Multiply recipe by:
16” pan 1 ¼
18” pan 1 ½
22” pan 2
