Mi Paella Loca

Let's get one thing straight right off the bat... it's pronounced 'pie-AY-uh' and NOT 'pie-ella' as so many Britons would have you think. Don't believe me? Ask ANY SPANIARD. They'll set you straight. After all, it is essentially their national dish, or at least near the top of a list of national dishes.

This paella was special in that I was originally using a recipe out of a book called '1080 Recipes' which has been Spain's best selling cookbook for nearly 40 years. I went and bought all of the ingredients and cracked on with it. I ASSUMED that there would be rice in it because paella is a rice dish. It's like risotto is to Italian cuisine or couscous is to Moroccan cuisine. Well, after I re-read the recipe before getting started, this was some rare form of paella which had no rice in it. Well, most of the reason, in my mind, for having paella is the rice. I was up to the challenge here and determined to make this work. So I made my own and I can't say I am disappointed with the outcome. In fact, I would put it up against any paella I had ever had. It takes a little time, but does deliver in the end. Hope you like it.

Seafood and Chorizo Paella

¼ teaspoon saffron, threads
300 g shrimp, raw, peeled, deveined, shrimp heads and shells reserved
1 bay leaf
10 black peppercorns
2 sprigs parsley
½ teaspoon chili powder
3 star anise, pods, not the whole star
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt, for use throughout
1 teaspoon pepper, for use throughout
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided use
½ cup chorizo picante, halved and sliced thinly
3 garlic, cloves, finely chopped
1 cup onion, chopped small
½ cup red bell pepper, cored, stemmed and cut into julienne strips
½ teaspoon paprika
1 tomato , large, diced
½ cup white wine
2-½ cup paella rice
¾ cup frozen peas
500 g clams, soaked, scrubbed and rinsed
4 squid, small, cut into rings
½ cup parsley, fresh, chopped

Before you get going, you'll want to prepare the clams. A good idea is to put them into a big bowl filled with cold water. Put in a couple of tablespoons of polenta or cornmeal. The idea is that the clams will feed on the cornmeal, and as they do, will expel any sand or grit into the water in the process, essentially cleaning themselves. It is recommended that you do this overnight, but you could give it several hours in advance (say, starting the morning of the day you plan to eat this for dinner).

Crush the saffron threads between your fingers and put them in a small bowl with 1/2 cup of water. Set aside.

Now make the shellfish stock. Put a good drizzle of olive oil in the bottom of a medium-sized saucepan and heat under medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the shrimp shells and heads and saute on the hot oil, about 3-5 minutes. The shells will start to turn pink, then into more of a reddish color. It should also give of a great shellfish aroma, which is what you want. Next add 6 cups of cold water, along with the bay leaf, peppercorns, parsley sprigs, chili powder, star anise pods, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Give it a good stir, crank up the heat and bring to a boil. Just as it starts to boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. During this time, prep your remaining ingredients. When the stock is done, strain through a fine-mesh sieve and discard the solids, retaining the broth. Put into a clean saucepan and put it over low heat to keep it warm. Try to periodically skim off any scum that rises to the top.

In a large, wide non-stick frying pan (the Spanish use special paella pans for this purpose, but the biggest and widest non-stick pan you have should work), heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. When hot, put the chorizo in and saute for 2 minutes or so, just to cook them a bit and have some of the fat render out into the oil, flavoring it. Lift the chorizo out with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan add the garlic and cook for about 15 seconds, moving them around the pan quickly so as not to burn them. Add the onion and red pepper along with a pinch each of salt and pepper and the paprika and stir to combine. Let this cook for about 2 minutes before adding the tomato. Stir through and cook for another 4-5 minutes, to soften the onions and peppers.

Add the wine and quickly scrape the bottom of the pan (with a wooden spoon) to free up any flavorful brown bits on the bottom. When the wine is almost absorbed (this should happen rather quickly) add the rice and quickly stir through to coat with oil and wine. Cook for 30 seconds to a minute; you don't want the rice to start sticking to the bottom. Add the hot shellfish stock and the saffron with the water it has been soaking in. Stir everything through for 30 seconds or so, reduce the heat to medium and then leave it completely alone for 15 minutes.

Add the peas and reserved chorizo but DO NOT stir. Rather gently press this into the rice mixture, which should have started forming sort of a crust on top, which is what you want. Cover the pan with some foil and let it cook for another 5 minutes. Add the clams and shrimp, pressing them somewhat deep into the rice (so they get hot enough to cook, opening the clam shells) and cover back up for 3-5 minutes or until the shells start opening.

(KEVIN'S NOTE: Traditional paella is served with the crust on top still relatively intact. Well, the pan and stove combination I was using didn't get the seafood hot enough to cook through fast enough, so I had to stir everything through the rice a few times to get the job done. You want there to still be a bit of liquid, but not much, left at the end of all of the cooking. If you run out of liquid in the pan before the seafood is cooked, you risk burning the rice on the bottom)

Add the squid rings and tentacles and press down into the rice. Cover and cook for a final 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Discard any clams which did not open. Top with parsley and serve.