Photo by Beth Ferguson
Ingredients
5 1/2 cups of fish stock
Saffron
2 tablespoons of olive oil halibut, cut into 5 pieces per fillet
24 Jonah crab claws, cracked
1 yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of Spanish paprika*
1 bay leaf
1 dozen piquillo peppers,* julienned
1 bunch of asparagus, with the woody ends snapped off
1/2 cup of fresh or frozen peas, thawed
Splash of white wine
1 15.5 ounce can of tomato sauce
3 cups of Calasparra rice*
Salt, to taste
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring the fish stock to boil, reduce the heat to low and add several pinches of saffron. Keep simmering on a back burner.
Add the olive oil to a wide paella pan over medium-high heat. Sear the halibut pieces in batches on both sides for about 1 minute per side. Remove the fish from the pan and set aside.
Add an additional tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and sauté the onions, garlic and green bell pepper. Season with the paprika and a pinch of salt. Add the bay leaf.
When the onions are translucent, add a splash of white wine. Reduce for a minute and then add the can of tomato sauce and hot fish stock. When the tomato sauce and stock are boiling, pour the rice into the paella pan in the form of a cross and then stir.
Return the halibut to the paella pan. Arrange the piquillo peppers, Jonah crab claw meat, peas and asparagus in a circular pattern over the rice. Cover and cook in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, uncover and rest for 10 minutes before serving.
* Specialty Spanish ingredients can be found at Belmont Butchery or La Tienda.
