In another thread, someone opined that paella always turns out to be a gooey mess. Here's my attempt at a hopefully fool-proof paella.
The problem with most paellas is that the cook is too "generous" with ingredients. The object of great paella is the rice, with other ingredients being flavor suppliers and enhancers. Start with good bomba rice - I think that this is essential. If you can't get bomba, the major supermarkets in the US have a Goya-brand short grained rice that is also pretty good. Italian carnaroli works pretty good as well, with arborio a distant 4th. The Italian rices are too starchy. Don't use long grain Chinese, Thai or Indian rice. They do not work for paella.
My trick to making the paella is to use the Chinese trick of exactly same volume of rice to water. If you use a mug to measure the rice, use the same mug to measure the liquid/broth. You have to remember that if you add ingredients like chicken, shrimp, mussels, squid (calamari), peppers, tomatoes, etc. that they all contribute liquid too, and you'll have to reduce the amount of liquid/broth correspondingly.
Second use a genuine paella pan, or any thin, crappy skillet/frying pan. It has to be thin, flat and large. Good paella relies on the bottom of the rice burning and forming the crust or socarrat. If you use a thick, heavy frying pan, you won't get the crust easily and the paella will come out starchy. For the amount in the recipe below, you'll need at least a 16" (40cm) pan. Reduce the ingredients if you have a smaller pan.
Seafood/Chicken Paella
4 cups (250ml x 4) bomba rice (do not wash)
1/2lb (500g) large shrimp - heads and shells on
1/4lb (250g) squid
6 mussels
6 clams
1/2lb (500g) chicken
1/2lb (500g) tomato (I like to use roma which has less liquid)
1 large red onion
a pinch of saffron threads
a dash of tumeric powder
a few dashes of paprika (not the smoked variety)
another pinch of saffron threads
First thing I do is to prepare all the ingredients. Shell the shrimp and take the heads off. Keep the shells and heads. De-vein the shrimp.
I like to use chicken thighs, if so, de-bone the chicken and cut across the grain into 1/2" or 1cm strips. Mix in a couple of grinds of sea salt and a couple of grinds of pepper and set aside.
Remove the heads of the squid, clean, peel the skin off the body and cut into rings.
Roughly dice the tomato (no need to peel the skin) set aside. Make sure that you keep all the juice from the dicing. It's the juice next to the seeds that has most of the flavor.
Roughly dice the onions and set aside.
Set a pot to boil with 4 cups of water.
Pre-heat the oven to 425 F (220 C). If you have a pizza stone, put that into the oven, it makes the paella nicely crusty on the bottom.
Now, dirty the paella pan.
Heat the pan under high heat until very hot, put a couple of tbsp of oil (I like to use peanut because of high smoke point) and swirl to coat the bottom. Fry the shrimp shells and heads until fragrant and they turn bright red. Throw all the fried shrimp shells and heads into the pot of boiling water. Fry the chicken bones. Throw the bones into the boiling water.
Fry the de-shelled shrimp quickly until just less than half-cooked. Set aside.
Fry the chicken to brown both sides (but not enough to cook them thoroughly). Set aside.
You don't need to par-cook the squid as they cook very quickly.
Add more oil if necessary.
Fry the diced onion until it softens. Add the diced tomato and the first pinch of saffron, paprika and the tumeric. Turn the fire down to medium and saute the onion and tomato and spices until well integrated and the liquid boils away. This is the sofrito. I don't like garlic in my paella (even though I like garlic in almost everything else) but if you do, crush a few cloves and add together with the diced tomatos.
Add the rice to the pan, and stir to coat the rice with the sofrito. Even out all the rice over the whole pan. Next strain the broth from the boiling pot into the rice, pouring it all over the pan. If your timing is right, the broth should have reduced from 4 cups to about 3.5cups.
DO NOT STIR.
When you pour the broth in, it should boil vigorously from the hot pan. Turn down the heat to medium-low and let it simmer. You may need to move the pan around if your pan is larger than the heatsource. Try to keep the whole of the bottom evenly heated.
Once the rice has absorbed some of the liquid and "grown" the grains will begin to peek above the surface of the liquid. Once it does, sprinkle the second pinch of saffron threads over the top of the rice. Dot the surface of the rice with the par-cooked shrimp and chicken, the squid, mussels, clams, and strips of red, green and orange peppers.
You can add a sprinkle of ground paprika and ground tumeric over everything. Crush some grains of sea salt to taste over the whole pan (about 3 pinches).
Put the whole pan into the pre-heated oven for about 15mins. Resist the urge to peek for at least 15mins. If all the water has been absorbed, and the clams and mussels are open, the rice is done. Otherwise, leave it in the oven for another 5 mins.
If you had the pizza stone in the oven, you can skip this next step. Take the pan out of the oven, and put on high heat on a burner until the bottom of the rice caramelizes.
Let the paella rest for at least 5 mins covered with a large clean towel or aluminum foil for the flavors to integrate.
Eat directly off the pan
The problem with most paellas is that the cook is too "generous" with ingredients. The object of great paella is the rice, with other ingredients being flavor suppliers and enhancers. Start with good bomba rice - I think that this is essential. If you can't get bomba, the major supermarkets in the US have a Goya-brand short grained rice that is also pretty good. Italian carnaroli works pretty good as well, with arborio a distant 4th. The Italian rices are too starchy. Don't use long grain Chinese, Thai or Indian rice. They do not work for paella.
My trick to making the paella is to use the Chinese trick of exactly same volume of rice to water. If you use a mug to measure the rice, use the same mug to measure the liquid/broth. You have to remember that if you add ingredients like chicken, shrimp, mussels, squid (calamari), peppers, tomatoes, etc. that they all contribute liquid too, and you'll have to reduce the amount of liquid/broth correspondingly.
Second use a genuine paella pan, or any thin, crappy skillet/frying pan. It has to be thin, flat and large. Good paella relies on the bottom of the rice burning and forming the crust or socarrat. If you use a thick, heavy frying pan, you won't get the crust easily and the paella will come out starchy. For the amount in the recipe below, you'll need at least a 16" (40cm) pan. Reduce the ingredients if you have a smaller pan.
Seafood/Chicken Paella
4 cups (250ml x 4) bomba rice (do not wash)
1/2lb (500g) large shrimp - heads and shells on
1/4lb (250g) squid
6 mussels
6 clams
1/2lb (500g) chicken
1/2lb (500g) tomato (I like to use roma which has less liquid)
1 large red onion
a pinch of saffron threads
a dash of tumeric powder
a few dashes of paprika (not the smoked variety)
another pinch of saffron threads
First thing I do is to prepare all the ingredients. Shell the shrimp and take the heads off. Keep the shells and heads. De-vein the shrimp.
I like to use chicken thighs, if so, de-bone the chicken and cut across the grain into 1/2" or 1cm strips. Mix in a couple of grinds of sea salt and a couple of grinds of pepper and set aside.
Remove the heads of the squid, clean, peel the skin off the body and cut into rings.
Roughly dice the tomato (no need to peel the skin) set aside. Make sure that you keep all the juice from the dicing. It's the juice next to the seeds that has most of the flavor.
Roughly dice the onions and set aside.
Set a pot to boil with 4 cups of water.
Pre-heat the oven to 425 F (220 C). If you have a pizza stone, put that into the oven, it makes the paella nicely crusty on the bottom.
Now, dirty the paella pan.
Heat the pan under high heat until very hot, put a couple of tbsp of oil (I like to use peanut because of high smoke point) and swirl to coat the bottom. Fry the shrimp shells and heads until fragrant and they turn bright red. Throw all the fried shrimp shells and heads into the pot of boiling water. Fry the chicken bones. Throw the bones into the boiling water.
Fry the de-shelled shrimp quickly until just less than half-cooked. Set aside.
Fry the chicken to brown both sides (but not enough to cook them thoroughly). Set aside.
You don't need to par-cook the squid as they cook very quickly.
Add more oil if necessary.
Fry the diced onion until it softens. Add the diced tomato and the first pinch of saffron, paprika and the tumeric. Turn the fire down to medium and saute the onion and tomato and spices until well integrated and the liquid boils away. This is the sofrito. I don't like garlic in my paella (even though I like garlic in almost everything else) but if you do, crush a few cloves and add together with the diced tomatos.
Add the rice to the pan, and stir to coat the rice with the sofrito. Even out all the rice over the whole pan. Next strain the broth from the boiling pot into the rice, pouring it all over the pan. If your timing is right, the broth should have reduced from 4 cups to about 3.5cups.
DO NOT STIR.
When you pour the broth in, it should boil vigorously from the hot pan. Turn down the heat to medium-low and let it simmer. You may need to move the pan around if your pan is larger than the heatsource. Try to keep the whole of the bottom evenly heated.
Once the rice has absorbed some of the liquid and "grown" the grains will begin to peek above the surface of the liquid. Once it does, sprinkle the second pinch of saffron threads over the top of the rice. Dot the surface of the rice with the par-cooked shrimp and chicken, the squid, mussels, clams, and strips of red, green and orange peppers.
You can add a sprinkle of ground paprika and ground tumeric over everything. Crush some grains of sea salt to taste over the whole pan (about 3 pinches).
Put the whole pan into the pre-heated oven for about 15mins. Resist the urge to peek for at least 15mins. If all the water has been absorbed, and the clams and mussels are open, the rice is done. Otherwise, leave it in the oven for another 5 mins.
If you had the pizza stone in the oven, you can skip this next step. Take the pan out of the oven, and put on high heat on a burner until the bottom of the rice caramelizes.
Let the paella rest for at least 5 mins covered with a large clean towel or aluminum foil for the flavors to integrate.
Eat directly off the pan