Recipe of the Week - Seafood Paella Suprema

Recipe of the Week - April 5th 2008

Seafood Paella Suprema

This is a wonderful dish to make for a family gathering or dinner party. Ingredients can be added or subtracted to suit seafood seasonality. Simply follow the basic instructions and the add the seafood in the order appropriate to it’s cooking time!

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups onion, diced, divided
1 cup celery, roughly chopped
1 cup carrots, roughly chopped
3 Tbsp garlic, minced
4 Cups Seafood stock
1 Tbsp saffron
1 pound Mexican style chorizo
1 cup red, yellow and orange bell peppers, diced (4 small or 2 large peppers)
3 cups Arborio rice
2 Tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 dozen mussels (about 1lb)
2 dozen clams (about 2lbs)
2 lbs Wild Gulf Shrimp, peeled and de-veined
4 8/9oz West Australian or Florida Spiney Lobster tails, cut into large pieces
1 cup grape tomatoes, add just before seafood
1 cup green peas, frozen

Prep:
Dice Onions & Bell Peppers, removing the seeds.
Chop Celery & Carrots
Mince Garlic
De-beard Mussels & set aside
Peel & de-vein Shrimp and set aside
Remove Lobster Tails from Shell, slice lengthwise & cut into large pieces

Cooking:
Place a large stock pot or a 5qt Sauté pan over high heat, add chorizo and sauté
Remove chorizo to a plate.
Add 1 Tbsp oil to existing pan drippings.
Add to pan onions, celery, carrots, peppers and garlic and cook for 5 to 7 minutes.
Moving vegetables to sides of pan, add saffron and toast for just a minute.
Return chorizo to pan and add Arborio rice and 4 cups of stock.
Mix vegetables, chorizo and rice well & cover with lid or foil.
Cook on medium heat until nearly cooked approximately 20 minutes.
Add seafood starting with shellfish, then add the shrimp, lobster after 8-10 minutes
Add tomatoes and peas.
Cover with lid or foil

Check every 15 minutes or so to see that all the seafood has cooked. Approximate cooking time for seafood is 20 to 25 minutes.

Plating:
Serve Family Style either directly from the pan or transfer to a serving platter.
Garnish with lemon wedges.

Note: When cooking on the stovetop it’s inevitable that the very bottom of the pan starts to burn a little. From our several years of experience this burning adds a lovely smokiness to the dish.

Cleaning the pan: Add about 4 cups of water to the pan and bring it to a boil, gently scrape the bits.

If you use a Paella pan be sure to season the pan with oil after cleaning so that it resists rusting.

Enjoy!