Paella

Paella, this dish came about because Costco had a paella pan for under $30. Well, challenge accepted! However, the idea of cooking paella was daunting. Although this recipe isn't directly from a chef or content creator, I learned the basics of making paella from the YouTube channel Spain on a Fork.

Annotated Cooking Notes: The type of rice is important; avoid Rice-a-Roni Spanish rice. Use Bomba or Calasparra rice, which can be found at World Markets or online. If those aren't available, Calrose rice is the best option from a supermarket shelf.

Don't overpurchase your seafood. I discovered that 1/4 lb of each ingredient is more than sufficient. Want to simplify things? Use frozen, peeled, deveined shrimp. I prefer to remove the tails, but that's up to you.

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 onion ( I prefer white onions for their acidity)

1/2 red bell pepper

12 raw jumbo shrimp (peeled & deveined)

8 fresh mussels (cleaned)

6 bay scallops ( cleaned)

1 small filet of cod ( cut into cubes )

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (80 ml)

1/2 cup tomato sauce (112 grams)

1/2 tsp sweet smoked Spanish paprika (1.30 grams)

2 1/2 cups fish broth (600 ml)

1/4 tsp saffron threads or powder (.17 grams)

1 cup uncooked round rice (200 grams)

2 lemon wedges

handful of finely chopped parsley

sea salt & black pepper

1. Roughly chop 3 cloves of garlic, finely dice 1/2 onion, and finely chop 1/2 red bell pepper.

2. Heat a paella pan with a medium-high heat and add in 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil. After 1 minute, season the olive oil with sea salt and add the diced onion & chopped garlic into the pan, mix with the olive oil. After 1 minute, add the chopped bell pepper and continue to mix so everything is evenly sauteed. Add in the Cod

3. After 3 minutes, add in 1/2 cup tomato sauce and season everything with 1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika, sea salt & black pepper, mix together, after 2 minutes and the tomato sauce has thickened, add in 2 1/2 cups fish broth and the saffron

4. Once the broth comes to a boil add in 1 cup round rice, give it one final mix so everything is evenly distributed, after 5 to 6 minutes add in the shrimp, scallops and the cleaned mussels, after another 5 minutes, lower the fire to a low-medium heat and simmer until all the broth has been absorbed by the rice, then hit back to a medium-high heat to achieve the socarrat, just go between 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and cover

5. After 5 minutes uncover the pan, and garnish the paella with lemon wedges and finely chopped parsley, enjoy!