Recipe provided by Austin Personal Chef: Carlos CruscoIngredients
4-6 tbsps. Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup – Spanish Chorizo Embutido – cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 large onion – cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 red or green pepper – cut into 1/4 inch dice
2 garlic cloves – crushed to a paste
2 tomatoes – cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 tbsp. Spanish pimentón dulce
A good pinch of saffron threads
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups short-grain Spanish Paella rice known as Bomba or Calasparra
3 cups fish or chicken stock, plus more if needed
1 filet of Red snapper, Cod or Halibut – cut into 2-3 ounce portions
12 jumbo shrimp in their shells – or peeled and deveined
12 PEI mussels – scrubbed and debearded
10 Littleneck clams – scrubbed and cleaned
1 lemon – cut into thin wedges for garnish
1 parsley – leaves for garnish
1 red pepper – fire roasted, peeled, cleaned and sliced into 1/2 threads
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions
Add 1/4 cup of white wine to a bowl with the saffron for 20 minutes so it blooms.
Add 3 tbsps. of oil to the paella pan, add the chorizo and cook on med-high heat. Cook for 4-5 minutes until crispy and the chorizo has colored the oil. Remove the chorizo and set aside.
Add another 1-2 tbsps. oil, onion and bell pepper and cook until soft, stirring often. Stir in garlic and before it begins to color, add tomatoes. Season with salt/pepper & add the pimentón. Stir well, and cook until the tomatoes are reduced to a jammy sauce. Finally add the chorizo back and the saffron-wine mixture.
Add rice & stir until all the grains are coated. (You can prepare the dish to this point up to an hour in advance).
Bring the stock and the rest of the wine to a boil in a saucepan. Pour over the rice, bring to a boil, and season to taste. Stir well and spread the rice out evenly in the pan (do not stir again). Cook the rice over low heat for 12-15 minutes, moving the pan around and rotating it so that the rice cooks evenly.
Lay the fish portions snuggled into the rice and place the shrimp throughout. Season with salt/pepper. Continue cooking on low-med heat. After 6-8 minutes, add the mussels and clams. Add a little more hot stock toward the end if the rice seems too dry and you hear crackly frying noises before it is done.
When the rice is done and/or the mussels & clams have opened, turn off the heat, cover the pan with a large piece of foil and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.
Before serving arrange the red pepper slices, lemon wedges and parsley all over the paella pan. Take the entire Paella pan to the table for display.
To serve, scoop the rice onto a plate & top with a mixture of seafood. Drizzle with Spanish EVOO on top. Enjoy!
