Not Paella Again!!!

@td66snrf - Recipe would only be part of the story.  Paella takes some technigue to get right.  If you follow the directions given on the Naked Whiz site, you have half the battle -  http://www.nakedwhiz.com/paella/paella.htm .  Actually any ingredients can go in the paella.  For this one I used Shrimp and scallops, sautéed for 2 minutes  in the Paella Pan with some Arbequina olive oil. Then sautee the onions and red peppers. I separate out the pepper strips to add back later.  The sofrito is made up of onion, garlic, tomato and chopped mushrooms.  That is all reduced over the fire (with the top open).  The rice is added - I've always used Bomba rice, which is the customary Spanish paella rice.  You also need to have a broth to add to the rice/sofrito mixture.  I used Better than Bouillon fish broth, and enhanced it by boiling some of it with the shrimp shells and adding a little clam juice.  To the broth you add a pinch of saffron that has been toasted, and then ground with mortar and pestle.  Then the broth goes into the sofrito/rice mix and away you go.  The egg gets really hot when cooking with the top open.  The bottom vent can be completely closed.  After adding the broth, close the top, with the bottom and top vents just cracked.  Surprisingly, it will come down to about 350 in short order.  I throw some smoking wood in before closing the lid, to let it get burning a bit - this time I used Oak and apple, because that's what I had at hand.  With this paella, you let the rice cook down until the broth is about gone before adding the shrimp, scallops and peppers.  I completely forgot to add the garbonzos.  Lima beans are great too (also not added to this one).  Then you let it continue to cook.  My guess is that it went a little over 20 minutes after I added the shrimp and scallops.  I also boosted the temperature to 400+ for the last 8 minutes or so.  I am totally still learning what works.  When the rice is sticking to the side of the pan, it is about ready.  I actually dug in to the center to see if it had caramelized into the socarrot, and let it go a few more minutes.  I haven't overdone it yet.  I garnished it with chopped Italian parsley. 

This was my best of 3 efforts to date.  Great socarrat.  The flavors were very complex.  I had some for lunch the next day cold, and it was OUTSTANDING!!  One problem when you cook on a fire with smoke wood, is you get desensitized to the smoke flavor imparted.  It was soooooo good.  I just had the last of it for lunch today.  Most excellent!!!

This isn't the easiest thing to prepare.  You want to have all your ducks in a row.  Everything can be prepared ahead of time.  Things happen quickly once you start everything in the paella pan.  Have them all ready and close by.  The fire gets hot, so make sure you have welder's gloves.  The Naked Whiz site has an excellent section on paella, and  the book Paella! by Casas is also very good and will give you lots of ideas - I think my next one will be the Black Squid Paella from the Casas book.  This takes about 3 hours of prep and cooking time, but it isn't difficult - just involved.