Paella

Adapted by David & Heidi from America’s Test Kitchen / Cooks Illustrated

This recipe is for making paella in a Dutch oven (the Dutch oven should be 11 to 12 inches in diameter with at least a 6-quart capacity).

Ingredients

• 1 lb of seafood such as shrimp (peeled & deveined) and/or squid and/or octopus

• pepper

• olive oil

• 8-9 medium cloves of garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 Tbs)

• 2 red peppers, seeded and cut into 1 inch long, thin strips, matchstick size

• 1 lb spicy sausage, such as Andouille, sliced thinly to 1/8 to 1/4 inch

• 1 medium onion, chopped fine

• 1 can (14.5 oz) “No Added Salt” diced tomatoes, drained, minced, then   drained again

• 2 cups Arborio rice (risotto rice)

• 3 1/3 cups reduced sodium chicken broth

• ½ teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 dozen mussels and/or clams (scrub and debeard mussels, if needed)

• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

• 1 lemon, cut into wedges for serving

Procedure

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Toss the 1 lb of seafood with black pepper and 1 tsp of the garlic.  Set aside.

3. Heat 2 tsp oil in Dutch oven over med-hi heat until shimmering but not smoking.  Add peppers and allow to blister / blacken.  As soon as they are charred, transfer to plate and set aside.

4. Add more oil to Dutch oven.  Add half of the sausage slices and allow to char / blacken.  Transfer to plate and set aside. 

5. Add the other half of the sausage to the Dutch oven and allow to char / blacken.  Transfer to the plate of already charred sausage and set aside.  (If you cook the sausage in 1 big batch, it will steam instead of char

6. Add a little more oil to the empty Dutch oven.  Add onion and cook until softened.

7. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

8. Stir in tomatoes.  Cook until mixture begins to darken and thicken slightly, about 3 minutes.

9. Stir in rice and cook until grains are well coated with the tomato mixture, about 1-2 minutes.

10. Stir in chicken broth, saffron, bay leaf and sausage.  Bring to a boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally.

11. Cover pot, transfer to oven, cook until rice absorbs all liquid, about 15 minutes.

12. Remove pot from oven.  Stir in the 1 lb of seafood.  Insert the mussels / clams hinged side down into rice, so they stand upright.  Scatter bell pepper strips over top of rice. 

13. Cover pot and return to oven.  Cook until seafood is opaque and mussels / clams have opened, about 10-12 minutes.

14. Discard any mussels / clams that have not opened.  Sprinkle with parsley and serve, passing lemon wedges separately.