Paella with an Italian twist

Paella (pronounced "pa-e-ya"), is one of my favorite meals. It is not really a Cuban dish. It is essentially Spanish from the provence of Valencia. In fact, the term "la paella" refers to a cooking pot traditionally made of iron. You can trace the origin of this term back to Roman times and the latin term "patella". It found it's way to Spain as the Roman's conquered Gaul and brought with them their traditions. The earliest known origins of what is now known as Paella the dish, is in Valencia, Spain. As cooking rice became popular in this region, peasants would use the paella pan to cook rice with ready available ingredients of the countryside like tomatoes, onions, snails, rabbit and duck. The more affluent peasants would also use chicken. Today, the most popular incarnation of this dish is with seafood, which is known as Paella Marinara. But the original is the Paella Valenciana which incorporates seafood with chicken and pork.

It is obvious to me how Paella found it's way into the Cuban culinary repertoire. The Spaniards, having conquered the island, brought with them not only their cultural traditions but their culinary tastes as well. Today, Paella can be found on almost every Cuban restaurant's menu.

I LOVE this dish. My mom makes it with seafood and leaves the rice slightly soupy, which is known as Paella asopada (Soupy Paella). She also uses tomato sauce when cooking the rice. I have tried to make it the way my mom does and it never comes out as good. So I gave up and tried my own thing. I think I have found a nice compromise between the traditional version and my own concoction. I like to make my Paella in stages and then mix all the ingredients together. I also like to incorporate some Italian ingredients into the mix. Here is my version. I hope you will like it.

Ingredients:
1 small onion sliced
2 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons bijol (bijol is available in all spanish markets. You can use Saffron. In fact, you should use Saffron, but it's expensive. I have found that bijol works just as well.)
salt and pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup frozen peas thawed
3 sweat italian sausages with casings removed
1 lb. extra large shrimp cleaned
1 lb. little neck clams scrubbed cleaned
1 lb. mussels (beards removed)
14 oz. rice
Roasted red peppers (the type you buy in a store ready made in a jar)

In a large pot heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Put in the sliced onion and garlic. Cook until translucent. Add the oregano and thyme.

Add the clams and mussels and pour in the wine. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook until the clams and mussels open. Don't over cook them.

Turn off the heat and removed only the seafood from the pot and place onto another large pot and cover so they remain warm. Set that pot aside.

Turn the heat back on the pot with the broth. Cook the shrimp until just pink. Again, don't over cook them. Take the shrimp out and place in the pot with the other seafood and cover.

Run the broth through a strainer so you are left with only the liquid (no onions, garlic or herbs.) Set the liquid broth aside.
You can discard the onions, garlic, etc.

Return the pot to the stove and heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Start cooking the sausage. As the sausage cooks, chop it up into pieces with your spatula. Transfer the cooked sausage into the pot with the seafood and cover again.

Now we are going to make the rice. In the pot that you have been using to cook all your ingredients, put the broth (which should equal one cup, if it does not, add some water to make a full cup), an additional 2 1/2 cups of water, rice, bijol, salt, pepper and remaining olive oil bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook the rice according to the instructions. Best to use a rice cooker, if not, do what I do, buy Uncle Ben's Instant Rice.

When the rice is done, add the thawed peas and stir. Now combine all your ingredients (rice, seafood, sausage) in your serving platter.

Just before I serve my Paella, I sprinkle just a touch of white wine over it and place pieces of roasted red peppers over it. The red peppers give it a nice touch.

These ingredients should be enough for 4-6 servings.

HEALTHY/LITE VERSION:
I have made this dish using Italian turkey sausage and brown rice. The bijol will turn brown rice yellow and nobody will notice you are serving brown rice. In fact, I just did that last night!

If you are interested in trying different versions of Paella (and there are MANY versions) I highly suggest this book by Penelope Casas: