Description
This awesome seafood paella is incredibly easy to prepare. With flavors of citrus and sherry, if you want just skip the seafood and eat the rice!
Ingredients
For green sauce:
1 serrano chile, not seeded, coarsely chopped
1/3 c chopped fresh parsley
10 T olive oil, divided
Kosher salt
4 oz pancetta, cut into 1/2″ pieces
8 oz fresh chorizo
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2″ strips
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 t paprika
1/2 t smoked paprika
1/2 c dry Sherry
3 c short grain rice (I used medium because my grocery didn’t have short)
6 c low sodium chicken broth
3 wide strips orange zest and more grated orange zest for garnish
1/2 t saffron threads (Don’t skimp)
12 little neck clams, scrubbed
8 green onions, trimmed
8 oz fresh green beans
12 large shell on shrimp or prawns (heads are fine if you can find them)
Freshly ground black pepper
3 lemons, halved
Instructions
Puree chile, parsley and 6 T oil in food processor until smooth. Season with salt and set aside.
Heat 1 T oil in a 13″ paella pan or a 12″ cast iron pan over medium high heat. Cook pancetta, stirring occasionally until browned and crisp, about 5 minutes.
Add chorizo, breaking it up as it cooks.
Add onion and pepper and cook stirring occasionally until soft, about 8-10 minutes.
Add garlic and paprika's and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add sherry and bring to a simmer and cook stirring constantly, until pan is almost dry, about 3 minutes. (I stopped at this point and when I was ready to start again, I just rewarmed it.)
Add rice and cook stirring occasionally until rice is coated and starting to turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in broth, orange strips and saffron, season with salt. Bring to a boil, uncovered, reduce heat, and simmer until rice is nearly tender, 12-15 minutes.
Nestle clams into rice in center of pan and cook until clams begin to open, 12-15 minutes. Do not nestle them too deeply into the rice or too close together because they will have no room to open up! Cover pan with foil and simmer until rice is al dente and clams open. Discard any that don’t after about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat, but keep covered, and let rice steam 10 minutes.
While paella cooks, toss green onions and green beans with 2 T of oil and salt and then grill until charred, about 5 minutes.
Then toss shrimp with 1 T of oil and salt and grill until cooked through and shell is lightly charred, about 2-3 minutes per side, depending on size. Grill lemons at the same time, until charred, also.
Arrange onions, green beans and prawns over paella. Drizzle with reserved parsley chile oil. Squeeze some grilled lemon juice over. Place a few wedges on paella. Don’t forget the orange zest! Be ready for compliments.
Notes
Thanks Ottolenghi and Bon Appetit!