From May 07 Paella of Catalunya

Greetings foodies – fresh from a trip to Spain, it feels appropriate to share some yummy Spanish foods….. First, Paella, next, Tapas…..
Cheers,
Aaron

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Paella for 6 to 8 persons
3 ltr of strong fish- or chicken stock
2 white onions, chopped roughly
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of fresh thyme
LOTS of chopped parsley
A little saffron
Olive oil
(Sea) salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 chicken
12 giant shrimps or king prawns
1 green pepper, seeded and cut into strips
2 large tomato, peeled and chopped
At least 4 cloves of garlic
1 pound long grained rice
2 teaspoons of paprika
2 pounds fresh (closed) mussels, cleaned and debearded (cook in aforementioned broth)
1 pound fresh (closed) clams, cleaned and debearded (cook in aforementioned broth)
1 small white fish
1 pound squid, cleaned
Lemon wedges for decoration

Cut the chicken in cubes. It's not necessary to remove the bones.
Shave the clams and clean them. Clean the squid and be sure to remove their insides unless you bought them already cleaned. Wash the shrimps and the white fish. Remove head, tail and insides. Cut it in pieces.
Put all seafood, except clams, in a bowl. Make your own fish broth using head and tail of the fish and shrimp, onions, garlic, clean water, peppers. Cook the clams and mussels in the broth until they open and keep them apart for later.
Cut the onions and peppers; don't care about their size. Put all the vegetables, except the onions in a bowl.
Heat your pan with plenty of olive oil and get it steaming hot.
Throw in the chicken, season it with salt, black pepper and garlic. Fry until golden brown. Remove chicken from the paella and repeat the procedure with the seafood. Wait until the squid is done before adding the salt.
Remove the seafood and repeat the same action with the veggies; frying the onions until caramelized first.
Put all the ingredients, except the shrimps and clams + mussels into the paella and add one cup of rice per person. Add saffron (don’t try and fake this part) Fry for about one minute and pour the sieved fish broth onto the rest of the ingredients. Use roughly two cups of broth for one cup of rice.
Taste the broth. Good paella needs to be well salted. You may want to add salt and pepper. Put the parsley in and stir the ingredients. This should be the last time that you stir the paella.
Let the paella cook and slowly lower the fire during the cooking process. It should take about twenty minutes to cook the rice. Just add some broth when your paella starts to look dry.
Garnish the paella with the mussels, clams and shrimps or just throw them on top of it all. When the rice is cooked and almost dry, your Real Spanish Paella is ready to be served.
¡Salut

*** Variants – all vegetable, just pick your favorite seasonal veggies and add once the rice is cooked; use vegetable stock