Shellfish Paella made with lobster tails, shrimp and scallops, saffron rice, petit pois, roasted red bell pepper strips and capers.
The secret to my paella is I use beer instead of water or stock to cook my
rice. It gives it a nice tangy taste.
Sometimes I follow the long, elaborate instructions and make everything from scratch. Sometimes I use the already pre-packaged yellow rice mixes, and might use some stock, but I always use the beer in cooking.
I don't follow a recipe usually, so here is what I do:
Take a few threads of saffron and crush them in a small glass bowl in the juice of one lemon. The acid in the lemons seems to bring out the color and taste of the saffron. Let is steep for a little bit.
Make a sofrito:
Sauté chopped onions, minced garlic, chopped cherry tomatoes (optional) and bay leaf in olive oil, until onion is translucent. Add a touch of oregano and a pinch of cumin.
Add the rice and sauté for a few minutes, not long enough to brown, but just until it takes on a slight nutty color.
Sautee the lobster tails, scallops and shrimp, separately, just to turn opaque, but not cooked through. I season them a bit just before cooking with Goya All -purpose seasoning (the one w/no MSG)
Add the saffron-lemon mix to the rice and the beer and/or stock and cook at 350oF in the oven, covered. When it is almost done, add the shellfish. Taste for seasonings and adjust if needed. At this point add the petit pois (sweet English peas) and decorate with strips of red pimientos and a scatering of capers, if using. Finish cooking.
The paella should be slightly soupy, but not watery (if that makes sense).
Buen Provecho!
Note from Sonia:
The best paellas I have ever eaten were the ones featured at the Covadonga Restaurant, right on the bay in Cienfuegos, my hometown in Cuba (and I have been to Spain and tasted paellas in the different regions I visited, but none could compare!) Covadonga is the name of a little bitty place up in the area known as Los Picos de Europa (The European Peaks) a very beautiful mountainous region in north-central Spain. The owner of the Covadonga Restaurant in Cienfuegos, Cuba, was originally from this little town (village, actually) and was known, answered to and addressed by all by the name of Covadonga. Not many
people knew her real name. There is not one true paella recipe. Paella
ingredients depend on the regional ingredients available...more seafood in the coastal areas, more chicken, pork or ham in other regions, although most do contain seafood of one type or another.
