Paella

The grocery store had mussels on sale this week, so I had to bring some home and make some Paella for dinner.

I start any meal with clams or mussels with first cleaning the shellfish.  I place them in some very cold water with a couple tablespoons of corn meal.  The clams or mussels will open up to eat the cornmeal, and drop any sand or grit into the bowl.  If they're really gritty, I change the water a couple of times.

First I saute a large onion in my big paella pan with a couple of turns of the pan of olive oil.  After a few minutes I add 4 cloves minced garlic and saute for another minute.

I then add 2 cups rice to the pan along with 2 bay leaves, a handful of chopped fresh parsley, the zest of a lemon, and a generous pinch of saffron threads.  I know that saffron costs an arm and a leg, but the flavor is so worth it, and you only use a pinch at a time.

I stir that around for a minute, then add 4 cups of seafood stock.  You can use chicken or vegetable stock if you don't have seafood stock on hand.  I also add one can of drained diced tomatoes with chilies.  I bring this up to a boil and simmer covered.

After about 20 minutes, the rice will have absorbed a lot of the liquid.

Now is when you add the seafood.  I tossed a cup of peeled, deveined, and sliced lengthwise shrimp into the pan.  If this were just for me, I'd leave the shells on, but my family prefers them off.  If you save the shells in a ziplock baggie in the freezer, you can use them to make a wonderful seafood stock(but that's for some other future post.)  I also added a pound of cleaned mussels to the pan.  I covered the pan again, and in about 8 minutes the shrimp had cooked through and the mussels had opened up.

Make sure to discard the bay leaves and any mussels that don't open up before plating.

Thanks for popping in and cooking with me.  I'm linking this up to Make Ahead Meals for Busy Mom's Melt in Your Mouth Mondays, A Southern Fairytale's Mouthwatering Mondays, and Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays.