Baked “Paella” with Shrimp, Chorizo and Salsa Verde

Every dish has a story. Paella is a Valencian rice dish that has ancient roots but its modern form originated in the mid-19th century on the east coast of Spain adjacent to Valencia. Like any classic dishes, there are many adaptations in the rest of the world. There are vegetable paella, seafood paella and mixed paella of all shapes and forms. Among the paella enthusiasts, it’s extremely contentious in questioning what paella truly is. Tinkering, it seems, is inherent to the culture of paella. Therefore, we wrap the name of the dish in quotes. It’s baked “paella” with shrimp, chorizo and salsa verde from Yotam Ottolenghi. Now we’re free from any classics entanglements.

All paellas start with a sofrito, or flavor base, of chopped vegetables cooked in oil—typically garlic and tomatoes. Ottolenghi’s version includes chorizo, tomatoes, onion, tomato paste, garlic, chile and olive oil. Accordingly, I put all these ingredients in a 12-inch cast iron pan. Transfer it to a 450°F oven and cook it for about 20 minutes. No stirring over the fire, like the way you would do traditionally. Just place the pan in the oven, stir once, until the sofrito thickens. Best of all, the kitchen smells like that of a Spanish restaurant. It must be the smoky flavor of the chorizo wafting forth.

One not-so minor but worth-noting detail about the sofrito: the tomatoes are roughly grated and skins discarded. Without too much thoughts, I started chopping up the tomatoes. Then it dawned on me the recipe read “roughly grated.” I quickly changed gear and started pulling out the grater. Isn’t that the same way we’ve learned to grate tomatoes for paella in Spain? Remember, you need all the meat and juice of the tomatoes, but without the skins. How clever?

Rice, and yellow rice (from saffron), of course, is another constant; but what kind is another matter of disagreement. In fact, the short-grained variety, known as bomba from Spain, is the gold standard. You can get it in Whole Foods. However, I just use what I have on hand, the risotto rice from Italy. Yes, anything goes — as long as I claim this is a kind of paella.

On the finer point of paella, it is to focus on the singular pleasure of eating it communal style. Valencians seem to follow a longstanding script: a pan of paella on the table and diners scoop up their own portions with wooden spoons. Meanwhile, make sure each spoonful gets plenty of pieces of burnished meat or seafood, and scrape up some of the caramelized socarrat on the bottom of the pan.

Most chefs or diners would agree on the one thing in common for a good paella: the caramelized socarrat. You get it by turning up the fire and burnish the bottom of the paella pan. At the end, the rice turns a deep brown with a satisfying crunch of a burnished crust. Here Ottolenghi is defying all the rules. He bakes the paella in the oven instead of cooking it on an open flame. Cooking it this way won’t get you the familiar socarrat, but the wonderfully crispy bits that develop at the edges of the roasting pan are delightful in their own way.

Alas, that’s the one thing I didn’t achieve: the caramelized socarrat. First of all, this is a “baked” recipe and the moisture level is much higher in the oven. Secondly, it slipped my mind that the oven temperature was supposed to be increased to 500°F at the end. I couldn’t turn up the temperature to that degree with the paella in my convection steam oven (with all its fancy electronics). The use of a conventional convection oven with maximum temperature above 500°F is necessary. My mistake!

I had my doubt. It has taken me many weeks after I first read the March 27 article on the New York Times before I’m finally convinced to give the recipe a try. You see, I have a huge paella pan that feeds a crowd. So it’s not an everyday affair that I cook paella. On the other hand, this baked “paella” is practical for two. It’s what I can easily put together for a weekend meal. Furthermore, if you can believe it, it’s a one-pot meal. Besides, there is no stirring. Once the pan is in the oven, you can almost forget about it!

The baked “paella” is remarkably accessible for a homecook; I’d make it more often. There are many categories of recipes on this blog. Now I feel compelled to create another category for the truly amazing “genius” recipes. This baked “paella” with shrimp, chorizo and salsa verde is unequivocally one of them. Ottolenghi raises the bar — again.

Print Recipe

Baked Paella with Shrimp, Chorizo and Salsa Verde

Serves: 6

Cooking Time: 1 1/2 hour

Ingredients

• SALSA VERDE:
• 9 tablespoons/135 milliliters olive oil
• ½ packed cup/30 grams chopped fresh parsley
• 2 mild red or green chiles, such as Anaheim chiles, halved lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced
• 7 garlic cloves, 2 roughly chopped and 5 thinly sliced lengthwise
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• SEAFOOD:
• 1 ⅓ pounds/600 grams whole, shell-on tiger or jumbo shrimp (prawns)
• ¾ pound/340 grams boneless, skinless halibut fillet, cut into 6 equal pieces
• 2 lemons, 1 squeezed to get 1 1/2 tablespoons juice and 1 cut into 6 wedges
• SOFRITO:
• ½ pound/225 grams fresh chorizo, casing discarded and chorizo roughly crumbled
• 2 large vine tomatoes (14 ounces/400 grams), roughly grated and skins discarded
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped (about 5 ounces/150 grams)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• RICE & STOCK:
• 14 ounces/400 grams bomba rice
• 10 ounces/285 grams jarred or canned artichoke hearts marinated in oil, drained and halved
• 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, then cut into 1/2-inch/1-centimeter strips
• 1 ¼ teaspoons smoked sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon saffron threads
• 3 ¼ cups/780 milliliters fish stock, warmed
• 2 cups/480 milliliters hot water

Instructions

1

Heat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit/230 degrees Celsius.

2

Make the salsa verde: Add 6 tablespoons/90 milliliters oil, the parsley, half the chile, the roughly chopped garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt and a grind of pepper to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Scrape half the salsa verde into a medium bowl and reserve the remaining salsa verde.

3

Marinate the seafood: Keeping the heads and tails intact, remove and discard the shrimp shells and transfer the head-on shrimp into the medium bowl with the salsa verde. Add the halibut, lemon juice, 3/4 teaspoon salt and a good grind of pepper to the bowl with the shrimp and gently toss to combine. Transfer to the refrigerator to chill while you continue with the rest.

4

Make the sofrito: Add the chorizo, tomatoes, onion, tomato paste and the remaining sliced garlic, chile and 3 tablespoons oil to a large (about 15-by-10 inches/40-by-28 centimeters), deep metal roasting pan and toss to coat. Transfer to the oven and cook until sauce is thickened and browned at the edges, stirring once halfway through, about 20 minutes.

5

Cook the rice: Stir the rice, artichokes, bell pepper, paprika, saffron, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and a good grind of pepper into the pan. Pour in the stock and hot water and stir well to combine. Cover with foil and return to the oven until the rice is cooked through and most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 25 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees Fahrenheit/260 degrees Celsius.

6

Load the seafood: Remove the pan from the oven, remove the foil and top with the marinated shrimp and halibut, gently pushing them into the rice without mixing it around too much. Return to the oven, uncovered, until the shrimp and halibut have cooked through, about 5 minutes.

7

Garnish the dish: Spoon the reserved salsa verde over the paella. Serve warm, with the lemon wedges alongside.

Notes

Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's "Adapted, but Always (Kind of) Paella" https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020108-baked-paella-with-shrimp-chorizo-and-salsa-verde?login=email&auth=login-email