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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Spanish Paella

I finally got around to making Paella without performing sacrilegeous acts such as adding white wine or using basmati rice. The photo looks liquidy.. I should have waited 10 minutes or so before taking the picture. The end result was fabulously delicious and I'm very happy to be making it a little bit more authentic (although I did use an ingredient that would not be approved of).
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients:
500g (2 cups) BOMB Spanish rice from l'Epicier
This rice is thick and round and a little sticky at the end. It reminds me of arborio rice (blasphemy)
3 tbsp EVOO
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, grated
2 bell peppers, sliced (1 red, 1 yellow)
3 lbs live fresh mussels
4 chopped merguez sausages (sub pepperoni)
juice from 1 lemon
1 chicken bouillon cube
water (no idea how much.. go for 6 cups)
some salt + fresh ground pepper
2 packets of paellero spices with saffron
optional: jumbo shrimp, chicken, octopus or other seafood. I'm saving for a trip to the US right now, so I made a poor man's Paella.
forgotten: handful frozen peas (I just got too caught up and forgot them)
Directions:
1. In a large thick bottomed skillet, brown the sausages (and chicken if using) in 1 tbsp EVOO. remove and reserve.
2. Add the remaining EVOO and sautée the onions until translucent.
3. Add the Bomb rice and lemon juice and stir around, cooking for 5 minutes. You do not want anything to burn.
4. Add the garlic, bell peppers, and spice packets along with 1 cup broth. Cook until bubbly and turn down the heat. Now you will follow a risotto ish process, adding liquid and stirring around until absorbed, always stirring. If you start getting a stickiness at the bottom of the pan, do not worry. It is the normal paella making process.
5. After the 1st cup of liquid, put the sausage and chicken and/or frozen seafood back in and continue the process until the rice is almost al dente.. about 30 minutes. Do not take my word for it on the timing. I always drink and chat while I cook and never really pay attention to the clock. Use your taste.
6. At this point, you will want to add your fresh mussels or clams and peas (if you haven't forgotten). I also added some red pepper flakes because after tasting, I decided it needed more spicyness.
7. Stir and let cook until the mussels or clams have opened. Adjust the seasoning.

Serve and be satisfied!

I also made this without seafood once, but it's better with: