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Seafood Paella [Recipes Index] [World of Chefs] Ingredients:
Preparation: Scrub the mussels with a tough brush and rinse well. Place them in a bowl of salted water completely covering the mussels, sprinkle 1 tablespoon cornmeal over them and refrigerate overnight. This process will clean the mussels inside and out. Rinse the mussels well, place 18 mussels in a skillet with ¾ cup water and reserve the remaining 18 mussels for later. Make sure that all the mussels are closed or that they close when you gently press the shells together. Discard all open mussels and replace with cleaned, closed ones. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove the mussels from the skillet as they open. Remove the meat from the mussels and reserve it. Discard the shells. Pour the liquid from the skillet into a large pot and add enough clam juice to make 6 cups. Crumble and stir in the saffron. Keep this broth hot over low heat. Rinse the monkfish well, remove the skin and cut it in ½ inch cubes. Sprinkle the monkfish, squid and shrimp all over with salt and let them sit for 10 minutes at room temperature. This will remove any strong "sea taste" and you will be able to uncover the delicate tastes of each of your ingredients. Mince the parsley and the garlic. In a food processor, mix the parsley, garlic, thyme, and ⅛ teaspoon of salt to a paste. Stir in the paprika and a little water if necessary to form a paste. Preheat the oven to 400 for gas oven or 450 for electric. Finely chop the onion, the bell peppers and the tomato. Heat ¼ cup and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a paella pan. Briefly sauté the monkfish, squid and shrimp (in their shells) for 1 to 2 minutes and remove before they are fully cooked. Remove and set the seafood aside on a warm platter. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the onion, scallions and red peppers and sauté over medium heat so that the vegetables are slightly tender. Raise the heat, add the tomato and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the rice and, using a wooden spoon, stir and completely coat the rice with the pan mixture. Pour in all the hot broth and bring to a boil. Continue to boil stirring with a wooden spoon for about 3 minutes. Add all the reserved fish (except the shrimp and the uncooked mussels), the reserved mussel meat, and the paste. Taste for salt and continue to boil for about 2 minutes until enough liquid remains to continue cooking the rice without being soupy. Arrange the uncooked mussels and the shrimp in a circle on top of the rice at the periphery of the pan, placing the mussel shells so that they will open facing up. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook, uncovered, for 10-12 minutes in a gas oven (approximately 5-10 minutes longer if using an electric oven), or until the rice is almost done. Remove to a warm spot then cover the pan and let it sit for 10 minutes, until the rice is cooked to taste. When you remove the pan from the oven, if most of the liquid has not been absorbed, place the pan over high heat for 1-2 minutes without stirring and then cover it. Let the paella sit for 10 minutes before serving to guarantee that the rice is cooked and that all the flavors are harmoniously mixed together.
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