Seafood Paella

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Seafood Paella – Paella is a very special dish for my family. For no other reason than it is my husband's favorite dish, paella has become our traditional Christmas Eve meal. I've been making seafood paella for him every year for the past 16 years on Christmas Eve. This year I feel like I finally perfected the recipe and made it my own. This recipe involves a bit of prep work. It takes a bit of planning, but once the shopping and the chopping are done, it is relatively simple to prepare. My unconventional way of cooking the dish also makes it rather fool proof! I cook the shell fish on the side to introduce extra flavor to the finished dish and to insure that the shell fish opens and cooks properly. Paella is great for dinner parties, because your whole meal is in one beautiful dish. Just have some olives and Marcona Almonds for your guests to snack on while the dish is finishing up and you're all set! I hope you enjoy this dish as much as my family does. – rock fish or halibut (wild caught and fresh, cut into cubes), fresh clams such as Manilla, Little Neck or Cherry Stone (cleaned), fresh mussels (de-bearded and cleaned), uncooked chicken chorizo (removed from the casing), Spanish short grain paella rice, Tomato Paste, saffron threads, veggie, chicken or seafood stock, diced tomatoes (preferably organic), garlic cloves (thinly sliced), red bell pepper (thinly sliced, preferably organic), yellow onion (diced small), green beans (trimmed), Italian flat leaf parsley (chopped), smoked salt, lemons (cut into wedges), dry white wine, Avocado oil, , In a medium size sauce pan, heat the stock over medium high heat. Add the saffron threads and stir to help them dissolve. Keep the stock at a low simmer until needed for the rice.; In a large wide pan such as a paella pan or very large skillet, saute the chicken chorizo that has been removed from its casing in 1 tablespoon of avocado oil until it is cooked through and browned. make sure that you break it up into small chunks as it cooks. Once the sausage is cooked through, remove it from the pan and set it aside. ; In the same pan, saute the fish in the oil from the sausage and cook approximately 2-3 minutes on each side until it is cooked through. Remove the fish from the pan and set it aside. Carefully pour off any liquid that remains in the pan and carefully wipe the pan out.
; In the same pan in which the sausage and fish were cooked, heat 1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons avocado oil over medium high heat. Saute the onion, garlic, bell pepper and parsley until the onion and garlic are translucent. Add the tomato paste and canned tomatoes to the pan. Saute until the liquid reduces and the the tomatoes start to caramelize. Approximately 5-6 minutes. ; Add the rice and stir it into the soffrito (tomato onion mixture) let it toast a bit and then add the stock all at once to the pan. Cook 10-12 minutes shaking the pan carefully to help keep the rice from sticking. Add the green beans and chorizo to the pan. Turn the heat to medium season the rice with 1/4 tsp smoked salt and let the paella cook until the liquid has been absorbed. Approximately 10-15 minutes more. While the rice continues to cook, start on the shell fish. ; In a separate pan, heat a bit of avocado oil over medium high heat. When hot, add the clams and stir or shake the pan after 2 minutes add the mussels to the pan, pour 1/2 cup of white wine over the shell fish, squeeze 1/2 lemon over the top and season with the remaining 1/4 tsp smoked salt. Shake the pan until all the shells are open and the shell fish meat is opaque rather than clear. Carefully scoop up 1/4 cup of the liquid that is in the bottom of the shell fish pan and pour it over the cooking rice. Stir the rice to incorporate the liquid. Add the cooked white fish to the rice and stir it into the dish. Once the liquid is absorbed and the green beans are cooked, turn up the heat on the rice pan to high and let the rice toast on the bottom for approximately 2 min. Traditional paella is soft on the top and toasted on the bottom. You can skip this step if you prefer all the rice to be soft. ; Turn off the heat on the rice pan and let the rice rest for a few minutes. Distribute the rice mixture on dinner plates, distribute the clams and mussels between the plates placing the shell fish on top of the rice. Garnish the plates with lemon wedges and enjoy. ; ; – – Dinner – Main Dish – Spanish – Dairy Free – Gluten Free – Healthy Comfort Food – Pescatarian