Paella de Marisco (Seafood Paella)

In Korean, "밥(rice, sounds like /bob/)" means "meal". Some Koreans still think bread is just a snack, and are not satisfied or even feel hungry until they have a bowl of rice for a meal. Of course, the food culture has dramatically changed recently, and the younger generation does not stick to a bowl of rice. However, I have to say that rice is still the most important part of a Korean meal. I usually cook Korean meals which include rice bowls. After a few weeks of Korean dinner at home, I am a bit bored of making (and eating) Korean meals, but still want to eat rice - I want to cook something different but satisfying, a different rice dish... maybe paella?

There might be easier ways of making paella. The recipe that I am going to post here is not a quick and easy way, but a more traditional method which I learned from a cooking class at Astor Center called "The Secrets of Authentic Spanish Flavor" by chef David Seigal in early 2009 - just before I got seriously involved in cooking and working in restaurants. We cooked several dishes that night, including Gambas al Ajillo, Tortilla Español, and Paella Murciana which is a paella dish cooked with rabbit meat and land snails.

Of course, I am not going to make a traditional Murcian style paella tonight. I am not even sure where I can buy rabbit meat and land snails in Maryland. But, how about the most popular paella? seafood paella!


Paella de Marisco (Seafood Paella)
modified recipe from Chef David Seigal's Paella Murciana recipe

(Yield: 2 servings - one 10" paella pan / Cooking time: 2 hours*)
* 2 hours include the cooking time of sofrito.

Ingredients:

Sofrito
+ 2 tomatoes (or a half 14oz can of diced tomatoes - drained)
+ 1/2 small onion, small dice
+ 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
+ a few springs of thyme
+ 1 bay leaf
+ salt and pepper
+ olive oil



Seafood Paella
Seafoods
+ 1 cup of white wine
+ 1 shallot, chopped (or very small dice, brunoise)
+ 4 cleaned mussels*
+ 4 cleaned clams**
+ 4 shrimps, please devein and deshell
+ 4 cleaned calamari legs & 1 calamari body, please make rings out of a body



Rice and vegetables/garnishes
+ 2 Tbsp sofrito
+ 1 cup white short/medium-grain rice (ideally, bomba rice. I used regular white sushi rice.)
+ 1.5 cups chicken stock or water - if you use store bought chicken stock or broth, please use unsalted one.
+ reserved cooking liquid from seafood
+ 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
+ 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
+ 1 Tbsp cup english peas, blanched
+ 1/2 lemon
+ 1/4 tsp crushed saffron
+ 1/8 tsp pimentón (smoked spanish paprika)
+ some chopped parsley for garnish
+ salt and pepper
+ olive oil



* A mussel has "beard" which was a part attached to the surface of rocks. Pinch the beard with a dry cloth and pull out. (you can do this with bare hands, but the beard will be slippery and it is easier if you use dry cloth.) Because a mussel is dying after the beard is removed, please make sure to remove the beard when you ready to cook mussel.



** How to disgorge your shellfish - Soak your shellfishes in heavily salted water(salt : water = at least 1cup : 3quarts) for 30 min (at least) to a few hours in a refrigerator. Discard the water and any sands and put the shellfishes under running water for 15 min before use.


Procedures:

Sofrito
First, we need to make sofrito. Sofrito is a Spanish tomato sauce, which is little bit drier than usual tomato sauce - with consistency between regular tomato sauce and tomato paste. You can make this sofrito in advance, at most five days before you cook paella.

1. Chop 1/2 onion into small dice, chop garlic finely, and dice tomatoes - remove all the seeds and drain the juice. (*Reserve seeds and juice for your tomato juice or other recipes).

2. Sweat onions until onions have softened and begin to shrink in volume.



3. Add diced tomatoes, chopped garlic, bay leaf, thymes, and season with salt and pepper lightly. Continue to cook on low heat with occasional stirring for about 15 min until the sofrito has caramelized and have the consistency between regular tomato sauce and tomato paste.



After 15 minutes


4. Remove bay leaf and thyme strings and cool down for later use.

Seafood Paella
Traditionally, you cook paella over heat not in the oven. The heat should cover the bottom of paella pan evenly (not just a part of it) to successfully form the crusty bottom called socarrat, the signature of a good paella. However, most stoves at home cannot cover the bottom of paella pan evenly. Especially because the paella pan is very thin, unlike heavy bottom pan, it does not distribute heat from stove evenly. That's why I want to cook the paella in the oven to make sure the rice is cooked properly, and finish the cooking on the bottom rack of the oven to form a crusty socarrat. It worked for me - and, hopefully for you as well!

First, we are going to pre-cook the seafood, because, if you try to cook seafood with rice, it can be either undercooked or overcooked.

1. In a small pot or a pan (which must have a lid), sweat a half of chopped shallot with olive oil. Add cleaned mussels and pour 1/2 cup of white wine. Cover with the lid and shake the pan occasionally. As soon as the mussels are opened, take them out (about 1 min). If the white wine evaporates too fast, add some water to the pan. Add cleaned clams, and pour the rest of wine. Again, cover with lid and shake the pan occasionally. As soon as the clams are opened, take them out (about 3 min). If there are any mussels or clams which have not been opened even though you cook for some time, discard them. Reserve the clams and mussels, loosely covered with cooking foil.




2.Strain the cooking liquid through a strainer and reserve for a later step.



3. Season shrimp and calamari with a little bit of salt. In a sauté pan, sweat rest of chopped shallot and add shrimps. Cook each side of shrimp until the shrimps become pink and the center start changing color to non translucent opaque. (about 1 min for each side). Take the shrimps out and add calamaris to the pan. Cook until color changes to non translucent opaque white*. Take the cooked calamaris out and reserve together with shrimps loosely covered with cooking foil. (*Calamari is cooked really fast. Please be careful not to overcook it.)




4. Pour the reserved mussel & clam cooking liquid from #2 to the sauté pan we just used, and scrap the bottom of the pan with wooden spoon. Reduce the liquid little bit. Strain the liquid through a fine strainer and reserve it.



5. Preheat your oven at 380°C. In a paella pan* over medium heat, add olive oil and sauté diced red and green bell peppers for about 2 min.
* If you don't have a paella pan, please use a ovenproof skillet (with metal handle) or sauté pan.


6. Add rice and stir so that all the rice grains can be coated with oil.


7. Pour 1.5 cups of chicken stock (or water) along with the reserved cooking liquid from #4 to the paella pan. Add 2 Tbsp of soffrito, crushed saffron and pimentón, and season with salt and pepper. Stir just enough to incorporate everything. Do not over stir the rice. Unlike risotto, the outer side of rice grains shouldn't have starch & creamy texture. Spread all the ingredients evenly throughout the pan. Allow the paella to simmer over stove for about 5min.


After 5 minutes


8. Cover the paella pan with a lid or cooking foil. Place the paella pan in the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 10 min. Move the pan to bottom rack and cook for another 5 min. Check if the rice is cooked enough - if not, cook about 3 min more covered with a lid and check again. If the rice is almost cooked but you still see liquid on top of the pan, remove the lid and let the liquid evaporate in the oven. If the rice is cooked enough and there is no liquid left, but if the paella hasn't achieved the crusty bottom, socarrat, take the pan out of oven and cook over a stove with high heat to create the toasted rice bottom for a few minutes or less. Make sure move around the paella pan over heat to insure the bottom is heated evenly.

9. Turn off the oven and take out the paella pan, arrange the pre-cooked seafood over the rice, and slide the pan into the oven, which is turned off, but still has residual heat, for about 2 min to re-heat the seafood.


10. Take the pan out and arrange blanched english peas, chopped parsley, and lemon wedges.


Enjoy~