SERVES 6
In Spain a mixed seafood paella is the one you will find most Spaniards enjoying in summer at restaurants by the sea and at the ever-popular beach lean-tos called chiringuitos. This is my favorite version of the paella. It requires firm fish that will not fall apart when cooked and a well-flavored cooking liquid enriched with fish scraps, mussel broth, and a mash of garlic, parsley and thyme. For my choice of fish, I usually use cod and halibut.
3 dozen small to medium mussels, thoroughly cleaned
About 5½ cups of fish broth (if you cannot find or want to make fish broth, you can use clam juice)
¼ tsp crumbled saffron threads
¾ lb cod, skin removed and cut into ½-in cubes
¾ lb halibut, cut into ½-in cubes
Instead of cod and halibut you can also use other firm fleshed fish such as monkfish or grouper
1 lb small cleaned squid with tentacles, cut in ½-in dice and tentacles halved lengthwise
18 large shrimp in their shells
Kosher or sea salt
2 tbsp minced parsley
8 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp thyme leaves or ½ tsp dried
2 tsp sweet paprika, preferably Spanish smoked
8 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
6 small scallions, green portion trimmed, finely chopped
2 red bell peppers, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
3 cups imported Spanish or Arborio short-grain rice
1 Place 1½ dozen mussels in a skillet with ¾ cup water. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove the mussels as they open. Reserve the meat and discard the shells. When all the mussels have opened, pour the liquid from the skillet into a large pot and add enough fish broth to make 6 cups. Stir in the saffron.
2 Dry the cod, halibut, squid, and shrimp well between paper towels. Sprinkle all over with salt and let it sit for 10 minutes at room temperature. In a motar or miniprocessor, mash to a paste the parsley, garlic, thyme, and 1/8 tsp salt. Stir in the paprika and a little water if necessary to form a paste.
3 Keep the broth hot over the lowest heat. Preheat the oven to 400 °F for gas oven and 450 °F for electric oven.
4 Heat 6 tbsp of oil in a paella pan measuring 17-18 in at its widest point. I prefer to use a non-stick paella pan. Quickly sauté the cod, halibut, squid and shrimp (in their shells) for 1-2 minutes. They should not be fully cooked. Remove the seafood to a warm platter. Add the remaining 2 tbsp oil, onions, scallion, and red peppers, and cook over medium-high heat until the vegetables are slightly softened. Raise the heat, add the tomato, and cook for about 2 minutes.
5 Stir in the rice and coat well with the pan mixture. Pour in all the hot broth and bring to a boil. Continue to boil for about 3 minutes, stirring and rotating the pan occasionally. Add all the reserved fish (except the shrimp), the reserved mussel meat, and the mortar mixture. Taste for salt and continue to boil about 2 minutes more, until the rice is no longer soupy but sufficient liquid remains to continue cooking the rice.
6 Arrange the shrimp and the uncooked mussels over the rice, placing the edge of the mussel shells that will open facing up. Transfer the oven and cook, uncovered, until the rice is almost al dente, about 10-12 minutes in a gas oven, 15-20 minutes in an electric oven. Remove to a warm spot (if most of the liquid has not been absorbed, plae the pan in the over high heat for 1-2 minutes without stirring), the cover with foil and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, until the rice is cooked to taste. Serve hot.
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