Ingredients
Scale
- 2 Tbs. olive oil
- 1 lb. Spanish chorizo or spicy Italian sausage, cut or chopped into bite-size pieces
- 4 jumbo shrimp or crayfish (I like head-on for presentation)
- 6 small clams, scrubbed
- 6 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped small
- 1 small red bell pepper, chopped small
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to your taste
- 1 + 1/2 cups Bomba rice or other Spanish paella rice
- 1/2 tsp. saffron threads
- 4 – 6 cups broth (I use seafood broth but chicken or vegetable broth works too)
Instructions
- Warm the olive oil in a paella pan or a large sauté pan over medium heat. Pan sear the crayfish on both sides, for 2 minutes total. Remove from the pan and set to the side for later. Add the sausage and cook, until browned, about 6 minutes. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the rice and saffron and cook, stirring, until the grains are coated with any remaining oil and seasoning in the pan, about 3 minutes. Pour in 3 cups of the broth and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir to combine and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cook until the rice has absorbed nearly all of the liquid, about 15 minutes, gently stir (from the bottom up, kind of scraping the bottom) every 5 minutes. Once all the broth has been absorbed add another cup of broth, stir then let rest until all the broth has been absorbed. Repeat the process until the rice is tender. The exact amount of broth is hard to know, the last time I made paella with 1 + 1/2 cups of rice it took nearly 6 cups of broth to get tender!
- When the rice has softened and absorbed nearly all of the liquid, nestle the clams and mussels into the rice along with the crayfish. (Note – any clams or muscles that stay open b/f you cook them should be discarded and not used.) Cover and cook until the mussels and clams have opened, about 5 minutes. Discard any unopened clams and mussels and serve.