Another item that was on the menu for Father's Day was seafood paella. My father and I share a deep love for this Spanish dish, sparked by a family vacation through the beautiful country many years ago. We sampled Valencian paella and rich sangria in the Spanish capital and versions across the southern coastline of Adalucia. The flavors have always stuck with us after having immediately developed a fondness for them. Taberna Del Alabardero is a traditional Spanish restaurant in D.C. and they serve incredible paella, but being able to make it at home is something I've always wanted to conquer. I perused many recipes (including those from a paella cookbook my close friend gave me) and even watched some instructional videos online. I found Cook's Illustrated (and America's Test Kitchen) version very helpful. They are protective of their material if you are not a member, but you can find the recipe published here. I really liked their idea of using a dutch oven as most people (my father aside) don't own a paella pan. In the end, I couldn't find a recipe that I wanted to follow precisely, but I used the template from Cook's Illustrated and created my own version with seafood and some shortcuts. It came out beautifully. I have no idea why paella has somewhat of a reputation for being difficult; it was not at all as complex as I was expecting. Here is what I did:
Seafood Paella
Prepped almost 2 lbs of seafood. I used shrimp, lobster (tails), calamari steaks and scallops. I was tempted to also use mussels, but we were serving mussels as the first course. We washed, dried, chopped (except the shrimp), salt and peppered them. Harris Teeter has the best quality for the price, I find. Example: lobster tails at Whole Foods: $12.99 each. at Harris Teeter: $4.99 each.
I heated some butter and 4 cloves of chopped garlic in a dutch oven
Sauteed all the seafood together and removed after about 3 minutes (when seafood was almost, but not quite yet done), set aside in a bowl, covered with foil
Preheated the oven to 300 degrees
I added some olive oil to the dutch oven, threw in a small chopped white onion
4 more cloves of chopped garlic
I then added some spices to jazz it up and this is totally optional (the paella tasted nothing but authentic) ground cumin, coriander, red chili and tumeric, 2 cloves and 2 cardamom pods
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
1/3 cup white wine, salt, pepper
I let this cook down for a few minutes, and then added a bay leaf
I then added 2 cups Arborio rice
3 cups chicken broth
I then added the saffron. I used about a teaspoon or so and I buy my saffron from Trader Joe's because it's the greatest bargain: a small jar for $5.99. I grinded the saffron up, which I read releases more flavor, poured a little boiling water over it in a small bowl and let it sit for a while
Stir the pot, and let it all come to a boil
I then placed the pot (covered) in the oven, for 15 minutes
I removed the pot and threw in all the seafood, 1/3 cup frozen peas, 1/3 cup freshly chopped cilantro, and some fried onions (another Indian addition I love in rice dishes, but totally optional)
I then placed the pot back in the oven for another 10 minutes and it was done
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