Paella 6.22 Partings
“Very interesting dinner, Emily.” “It's paella. I got the recipe from Hilde Macintosh whose son married a Spanish girl. God knows how long it's going to last, but the food at their wedding was wonderful.”
Ingredients:
For the rice:
2 tbsp butter
½ yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 ½ cups arborio rice
1 gram of saffron threads
1 cup dry white wine
3-4 cups chicken broth
For the chorizo:
1 tsp olive oil
9 oz chorizo
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp cayenne powder
For the prawns:
½ lb uncooked shrimp, deveined (for ease of eating, you can remove the shells, but for photos I kept the shells on)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp cayenne powder
For the mussels
½ lb fresh mussels
¼ cup butter
1 ½ cups dry white wine
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp red chili flakes
¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
To assemble
½ cup tomato, diced
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
Directions:
Make the rice:
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Once melted, add the onion and garlic. Sauté for about 4 minutes or until translucent and fragrant. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the arborio rice and be sure to coat in the melted butter and add the saffron threads. Sauté for another minute to toast the rice.
Carefully pour in the wine and cook until the rice absorbs all the liquid. Don’t stir!
Add a cup of the chicken broth to the rice about every 10 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. After 3 cups and about 30 minutes, you’ll need to taste to see if the rice is done. You might need to add more chicken broth, but add a little at a time up to a fourth cup, but you might not use the full amount of the final cup.
Cook the chorizo:
Place a large skillet over medium heat. Add a tsp of olive oil.
Add the chorizo and use a spatula to break up the meat. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder, and cayenne. Allow to fully cook, about 10 minutes total.
Cook the prawns:
After the chorizo cooks, remove it from the skillet and use the same pan to cook the shrimp. Pat the shrimp dry and season both sides with salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder, and cayenne.
Place the skillet over medium heat and add the shrimp. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side or until the shrimp is fully pink. Set aside.
Cook the mussels:
Rinse the mussels in cold water and scrub off the beards, any barnacles, sand, or anything else that might be still attached. Discard any mussels that don’t close when squeezed unless you purchased frozen.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Carefully add the wine so as not to splatter and simmer for 1 minute.
Add the mussels and cook for about 5 minutes or until the mussels have opened.
Add the salt, pepper, red chili flakes, and parsley and stir for an additional minute.
Assemble:
In a large skillet or paella pan, add the cooked rice and the tomato over medium-low heat. Simmer for about 3 minutes to allow the tomato to cook. Stir in the chorizo.
Plate by adding the rice and chorizo mixture then adding a few of the shrimp and the mussels.
Top with fresh lemon juice and parsley.
Whew, this one was a doozy! I combined some elements from past dishes from season 1, like how I cooked the rice similar to Sookie’s magic risotto, and we have the return of fresh mussels! This was a fun little throwback to the beginning of Eating Gilmore! I’m really excited to be done with season 6, and you don’t even have to wait long for season 7 because I’m kicking off my dishes for the final season tomorrow! But don’t worry, this isn’t the finale to Eating Gilmore because yes, I am cooking through A Year in the Life, too!
Happy cooking from the Hollow!
If you missed what I made last episode, catch up here!
