Roxie's Easy Paella

Paella is the stuff dreams are made of. Or memories, in my case. The year before I got married I had the fortune to travel to the south of France to stay with relatives. Yes, yes, Paella is Spanish, not French. The grandmother of the family I was staying with was born in Spain and emigrated to France. The brother in law was Moroccan, the rest of the family french. It truly was a week of indulgent food. One I'll never forget.



This is the second time I have written about Paella in this blog. The first time, two years ago, I chronicled my first attempt. Now I feel a bit more able to adapt and tweak a recipe to make it my own. Feel free to adjust the seafood to suit your needs. The sausage can be left out if you desire.

Seafood and Sausage Paella
serves 6-8
Cook and prep approx 1 hour

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 lb bay shrimp
1/2 lb white fish (I used sole) in 1/2 inch chunks
10 clams
1/2 lb small scallops
1/4-1/3 lb sausage (I prefer spicy when kids aren't eating it)
salt
pepper
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 medium yellow or red bell pepper, diced
1 fennel bulb (optional)
3 fresh tomatoes or 14oz canned diced with juices
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups long grain white rice
saffron threads

Roasted fennel (optional)
1. set oven to 350
2. cut fennel bulb into quarters and drizzle with evoo and a pinch of salt
3. roast for 20 minutes and then dice
Keep oven on for rice

Paella
1. In a deep, large oven proof skillet saute sausage until cooked. Set aside.
2. add 1/8 cup olive oil and saute fish and scallops until almost cooked, then add bay shrimp to warm through. Remove from pan and set aside with liquid juices.
3. Saute onion in remaining 1/8 olive oil until translucent. Add garlic.
4. Add vegetable stock and diced tomatoes. Bring to boil and add rice. Boil for 5 minutes
5. reduce to simmer and add saffron. Simmer for 10 minutes.
6. stir in fennel, sausage and cooked seafood. Bury clams in the rice. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil and transfer to oven.
7. cook for 20 minutes until rice is tender
8. serve straight from pan.