Seafood Paella for 10 (and a pretty badass salad)

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A couple of weekends ago I was asked to do a paella dinner for a birthday party. Completely stepping out of my comfort zone, I tweaked recipe I found online (thank you, Tyler Florence), watched a video, and viola! My first paella was a success (and all done on an induction burner just to add to the challenge).

Seafood Paella

(serves 4-6)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 Spanish chorizo sausages

1 medium onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 bunch leaves of flat leaf parsley

2 beefsteak tomatoes, ripe

4 cups medium grain rice

6 cups warm water

2 pinches saffron

1 small bag mussels, scrubbed

2 pounds large shrimp, peeled & deveined 

2 lobster tails

1 cup peas (frozen)

lemon wedges, for garnish

  1. Heat paella pan over medium-high heat.  Saute the chorizo in the olive oil until browned, remove, and set aside for later.  
  2. In the same pan, begin making your sofrito, sauté diced onion, garlic, and parsley. Cook 3-5 minutes over medium heat until onions are translucent.  Add tomatoes and cook until everything begins to meld together.  
  3. Stir in rice and coat grains with caramelized sofrito, season with a bit of salt and pepper to taste.  Pour in water and simmer for 10 minutes, lightly shaking the pan ensuring the that the rice is evenly cooking.  
  4. Add chorizo and saffron.  Begin adding seafood starting with the mussels and shrimp.  Tuck the mussels and shrimp into the rice and allow them to cook about 8-10 minutes or so. Add lobster tails to the pan. Give the pan a shake, and let the liquid simmer 15 minutes or until the rice is a dente.
  5. Once seafood is cooked and rice is just right, remove the pan from the heat and garnish with peas and lemon wedges.  

**Note: it may smell like the rice is getting toasty on the bottom, you want that.  It's called socarrat.

Just as a bit of a side note.  I made this salad alongside the paella.  I will have to perfect the amounts, but there is no real "recipe" for this.  It's merely: arugula, shaved serrano ham, toasted almonds, & grapes.  Seasonal, yummy, and pretty.  

Enjoy!