Shrimp Paella

Monday August 13

My first archaeological excavation was at Alcudia, a Roman site on Mallorca, in Spain. Though we lived in a touristy large hotel where the food was "continental," i.e. bland and usually stale, there was one memorable excursion when the Director's housekeeper came to the beach with a wagonload of equipment, made a wood fire, and cooked a paella of freshly-caught seafood, ladling sea water right into her enormous woklike pan. It was one of the most delicious things I had ever tasted, though at age 18, and on my first trip abroad, I hadn't tasted much.

Needless to say, this recipe is not that, though it has its own virtues. Though labeled "healthy" and "easy," which usually indicates something nasty in the cook shed, it's actually delicious.
Here's our take on it.
Sauté a chopped onion and red pepper ditto in olive oil.* Add one cubed-up Spanish chorizo.** A generous pinch of saffron and pimentón della Vera get sautéed in the oil, too. Then 3/4 cup Arborio rice, coated in the fat, as for risotto, but then 1 1/2 cups broth (with some wine to fill it out) are poured in. Bit of salt. Covered on low for 25 minutes - the Arborio needed the extra 5 minutes - and you just throw the raw, de-shelled shrimp in to cook in the last 5-7 minutes. It's done when the shrimp is opaque and the rice is tender.
Simplicity its own self.

*after the big New Yorker article we're now afraid, very afraid.
** This is the smoked, hard sausage, not the loose crumbly Mexican kind.