Awhile back, we had a dinner for eight.  We decided to do Cioppino and had all but filled out our event planner, when The Little Woman saw a write-up on paella in the current Williams-Sonoma catalog.  "You've done cioppino to death, why not do paella?"  "Why not," said I.  (Besides, I thought, maybe I can go buy a paella pan.)  The Little Woman read my thoughts again as she said, "You can use the big roaster pan in the garage instead of one of those special paella pans, which I don't even want to hear about."  So, paella was the dish for that Saturday night.  Not having made it at home, I dug out recipes from four books (Peterson, McClane, Wolfert and Labensky) and bounced them against the school recipe in my Chef's Companion.  Paella, by the way, is a rice dish with meat, fish, shellfish and short grain rice seasoned with paprika and saffron--all cooked and presented in a round shallow pan. 

I then paid special attention to the Seafood Paella recipe in the The Gourmet Cookbook (page 349). The whole article was attractive—the best, by far, of my five references.  It started out with: "True, [paella] is a somewhat daunting project, but you are making a feast," and went on to sing paella's praises. So, while composing my own ingredients list, I decided to follow Gourmet's instructions as a means to judge at least one of its recipes--and a complex one, at that. 

I found the instructions for this dish to be descriptive and detailed.  For example, when boiling the rice on the stovetop prior to baking it in the oven, it said to do so "until the rice appears on the surface about 6 minutes," and then added "spoon should leave a path exposing bottom of pan when pulled through center of rice." I did exactly that:  boiled the rice at high heat for 6 minutes and, lo and behold, the spoon left a nice wide trace on the bottom of my new paella pan.   It called for 5.5 cups of broth for 3 cups of short grain rice, which was right on.  However, I found the recommended baking time to be about 20% short. 

So, we did this dish twice in two weeks and I think what follows is about right.  There is a lot of work required to put it together.  The trick is to sauté the main ingredients early on and set them aside (or put them in the fridge if holding them for more than four hours).  With the squid, fish, chicken and sausage done, all that is required then is to fire the onions, pour in the rice and stock, steam the mussels, fit all the goodies in, and get it in the oven about 30 minutes before you want to serve it.  I confess that this is easier said than done.  I was late serving the paella the first time, though it had as much to do with my having fun talking to guests and drinking wine as getting the dish assembled and in the oven in a timely manner.  But I got it right the second time. (As the saying goes: He ain't smart, but he's very observant and highly trainable). 

As stated in my preview of The Gourmet Cookbook, the instructions for this recipe were influenced by their Seafood Paella recipe. 

Serves 8 
See abbreviations, if necessary 
•  7 cups          chicken stock
•  BG                satchel 
•  1.5 lbs           sea bass or monkfish, cut to serving size 
•  20                  medium shrimp 
•  ½ lb               squid, cut crosswise for rings 
•  10                  chicken legs, foot knuckle removed (see notes) 
•  1 lb                chorizo or merguez sausage 
•  2                    onions, diced 
•  5                    garlic cloves, pureed
•  2.5 cups         short grain Spanish rice (see notes) 
•  big pinch        saffron 
•  2 t                  sweet paprika 
•  28 oz              can of diced tomatoes, drained (reserve juice) 
• 2 doz               mussels 
•  2 oz                white wine (for the mussels) 
•  3/4 cup           peas (frozen OK) 
•  1 cup              artichoke hearts (canned OK), halved 
•  2                     red peppers, roasted, bite size, square cut 
•  ½ cup             fresh parsley leaves (garnish) 

1.   In saucepan, add BG and about 6 cups stock, BTB and hold at simmer 
2.   In paella or other large pan, stir fry, in seriatim: 
     •  sea bass , shrimp and squid 
      •  transfer all to a warm place or to fridge 
3.   In another pan or on the grill, season and sauté chicken legs and sausage, set aside 
4.   In paella pan, season and sweat onion and garlic in EVOO 
5.   Add the rice and coat grains 
6.   Add a little stock, then saffron, paprika and diced tomato 
7    Add more stock to total 5.5 cups (remove BG satchel) 
8.   BTB, reduce heat and cook rice for about 6 minutes until rice surfaces and spoon leaves trace 
9.   Hold point  (pre-heat oven to 400F)
10.  OO, in another pot, cook mussels in white wine and 2 ozs stock.  Set aside and save liquid 
11.  Off heat: (allow 10 minutes for this step)
      • stir in artichokes, peas, peppers, shrimp, squid and sausage 
      • nicely arrange and push in fish, chicken and mussels 
      • add those platter juices that taste good 
12.  Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes 
13.  Remove from oven, check for doneness, add boiling water if too dry 
14.  Rack and cover for about 10 minutes 
15.  Uncover and add garnish 
16.  Serve from pan with lemon wedges 
Notes:  a.  Chicken leg foot knuckles are removed to save space in the pan.  Be sure to check (by rubbing) each cut leg to remove bone chips.
            b.  Short grain rice, while authentic to this dish, is not a favorite for many.  Try medium grain (risotto) or long grain (basmati) rice. 
            c.  A paella pan is ideal, but a roasting pan or a big skillet will work quite well.