Seafood Paella
I had the good fortune to travel to the Spanish island of Majorca many, many years ago. I still remember the people and the beaches. The clearest memory was of the seafood. We had been travelling through Europe that spring and had arrived back in England where we still had another week of vacation before we flew home. The time was May and although it had been warm and pleasant in Greece and Italy, Britain was suffering through a late and miserable spring. Instead of enduring the rain and gloomy skies, we decided to see if we could find an affordable warm spot to spent the dwindling days of our vacation. We went back to the travel agency that had booked our original tour and trusted them to point us in the right direction. Our spending money had dwindled as well and upon arrival, we decided that we would find a market and stock up on fruit, cheese and lunch fixings and only dine out once a day. On our second day we longingly watched people stream into the dining room and inquired about lunch details. Lo and behold, we were booked into an all-inclusive without even knowing it and were missing out on our three meals per day! That lunchtime, we were served a cold whole lobster salad and from that moment on, the seafood meals came in a continuous stream.
Friends for 40 years
The same friend that I traveled with that spring. now lives in Toronto and she told me about a paella party that she and her husband had attended. Supposedly a huge paella caldron was set up in the yard of their friends and they got to watch and participate in the preparation of this famous dish. It has been years since I’ve enjoyed paella in Winnipeg but understand that both Hermano’s and Bonfire Bistro include it on their menus.
This past weekend, we dined at the home of good, good friends. She is Italian and an amazing cook. I know that we would have loved anything that they put in front of us. To our delight, it was their favourite paella recipe. She showed me the Anne Lindsay Heartsmart cookbook that her recipe came from but unfortunately it was not one that I had in my Anne Lindsay collection. I have had the pleasure of meeting and being cooked for by Anne, a very long time ago (about the same time as this European adventure) and I remember the time (and the food) fondly.
I searched on line to try to find the recipe and could not come up with anything. I found instead this one that looks to be pretty close. It is from the Epicurious website and is credited to Claudia Roden-The Food of Spain.
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 5 T olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste or finely chopped
- 2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- ½ t sugar
- salt
- 1 t sweet paprika
- a good pinch saffron threads
- 4 cleaned small squid, bodies sliced into ¼-inch-wide rings, tentacles left whole
- 2 c medium-grain Spanish paella rice or risotto rice, such as Arborio or Carnaroli
- 3 c fish or chicken stock, plus more if needed
- 1 c dry white wine
- 12 jumbo shrimp in their shells
- 16 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
- Fry the onion in the oil in a 16-inch paella pan until soft, stirring often.
- Stir in the garlic, and before it begins to colour, add the tomatoes.
- Add the sugar, salt to taste, paprika and saffron, stir well, and cook until the tomatoes are reduced to a jammy sauce and the oil is sizzling.
- Add the squid and cook, stirring, for a minute or so.
- Add the rice and stir well until all the grains are coated.
- (You can prepare the dish to this point up to an hour in advance).
- Bring the stock and wine to a boil in a saucepan.
- Pour over the rice, bring to a boil, and add salt to taste (even if the broth tastes a bit salty, it will not be salty when it is absorbed by the rice).
- Stir well and spread the rice out evenly in the pan (do not stir again),
- Cook the rice over low heat for 18 to 20 minutes, moving the pan around and rotating it so that the rice cooks evenly.
- Lay the shrimp on top after 10 minutes and turn them when they have become pink on the first side.
- Add a little more hot stock toward the end if the rice seems too dry and you hear crackling frying noises before it is done.
- When the rice is done, turn off the heat and cover the pan with a large piece of foil.
- Steam the mussels with a finger of water in a pan with a tight-fitting lid. As soon as they are open, they are cooked.
- Throw away any that have not opened.
- Arrange the mussels on top of the paella.
Toni’s version did not include squid but did include Italian sausage, chicken and clams.
Kath’s quote: “Do not overcook this dish. Most seafoods…should be simply threatened with heat and then celebrated with joy.” –Jeff Smith
Love-that is all.
