How to Prepare the Seafood for Paella, Part 1

Rob Carson: Once again, I am Rob Carson and I am cooking with Javier Quiroga of To Your Taste Catering. If you want to check him out, toyourtastecatering.com. Javier Quiroga: Yes, with to, not too, to your. Rob Carson: Okay, there you go. All right, so today we’re making Paella. We have been sautéing our chorizo and pork and our chicken, that's done. So we are ready to move on to the— Javier Quiroga: The seafood. Rob Carson: Cool. Javier Quiroga: The seafood, yeah perfect. Rob Carson: Now, we are not going to steam all of this seafood. We are going to do two preparations of it, right? Javier Quiroga: Right. Rob Carson: Okay, we are going to steam and— Javier Quiroga: We will now steam and sauté. We are going to steam the mussels over their little necks and we are going to sauté the shrimp and the scallops. Rob Carson: So the little neck clamps go in there and we are going to sauté the rest. So let’s do it. Javier Quiroga: Let's throw these guys in there now then. Rob Carson: Okay, our poor little necks, ciao. How long do we need to steam these and when do you know that a clam is done? Javier Quiroga: When they open up, you know that they are done. Point is, it's probably about depending on how big your container is because like in this situation, it’s probably going to take maybe seven to 10 minutes. Rob Carson: Seven to 10 minutes, okay, all right cool. You want to make sure the clams are done? Javier Quiroga: Yup and they will open up and any clams that are shut, they are dead, so you got to throw them away. Don't use them. Rob Carson: You’ve got these nice big tiger prawns. You want to—well, these are fairly easy to—go ahead, I am sorry. Javier Quiroga: Well, you know, the way I like to do is basically I grab them like this and chop like this. And then just pull the legs off like this and then once we are done with that, you go all the way to the bottom here and then you just pull the tail off like that and you do it in exact same way. Rob Carson: This is how I do it, is it cool? Javier Quiroga: Perfect, yeah that’s exactly just same way, just go sideways here and then clean it a little bit. Rob Carson: So you de-veined it? We all know what's in the vein, its shrimpoo. So we want to get rid of that because you know what your Paella had to taste like, you know. Javier Quiroga: Shrimpoo and the one thing for these guys here with the heads, we are going to cook them as it is, okay. Rob Carson: Okay, so this is more of a presentation. Javier Quiroga: Right and as a matter of fact, a lot of people in Spain and Valencia specifically they eat the head. I don’t know if you had shrimp head before, it's pretty good. It really is. It's like eating crawfish. Rob Carson: You know I am a big fan of shrimp head. Javier Quiroga: With your chicken, with a good baked chicken. Rob Carson: You know when I have shrimp head I like to drink chicken broth. All right, okay, so you are going to leave the heads out—now a lot of the times, people get a little freaked out by fish heads and shrimp heads, just find from the Midwest, we throw those away. So you could cut it off or you can leave it or whatever works for you. But we are going to go ahead and peel those. Javier Quiroga: Yeah, I want to peel this actually and what we are going to do, again, part of the whole thing is also the presentation. I only want the tails on these ones, I want the tails on for the presentation so these guys—yes, just peeling them. Rob Carson: Okay, all right. So the smaller prawns that you have here, you are leaving the tail on for presentation. Javier Quiroga: Yes. Rob Carson: All right, cool. Javier Quiroga: And then these big ones, we are going to de-vein like what we talked about. So let’s take this right off. Rob Carson; We’ll de-vein it, great. Javier Quiroga: So that's the best part of the shrimp, right Carson? Rob Carson: Yeah, that's the best part. I am having trouble getting it ripped. I had that problem my entire life. Javier Quiroga: You are too much. So another great thing—well, one of the keys to Paella according to me is that use the same pan because you get all the stuff here, it's not burned food. This stuff is not burned, that's the goodness. Rob Carson: Absolutely, that's flavor. Javier Quiroga: That's complete flavor, so we are going to do that, put on a little garlic to this thing here to little. Rob Carson: Lot of times they will—in cooking, you deglaze your pan and you will add wine too, whatever you have been cooking in the pan and you will save the flavor. There is no reason to save that flavor because it's intense. You may think it's something you are just going to wash out of the pan eventually, yeah, but use it while you can because there is a lot of great flavors there. Javier Quiroga: There really is, it's great, yeah let's see. Rob Carson: Little more garlic, sweet, hot. Javier Quiroga: Yeah, little more garlic, probably about a teaspoon, a little bit more than a teaspoon. Rob Carson: Okay, we are going to just—shrimps are in there. Javier Quiroga: We are browning them but make sure your pan is hot and then they go in, yeah, ready to go. Ready to go, ready to go. Oh, shrimp is the best. Actually we are cooking through these guys and they are tilted also, their little heads. Rob Carson: Almost with their heads, okay, right. Javier Quiroga: And the way you know shrimp is cooked is when they turn like an orange-hued to them and then you know. Rob Carson: Like a lobster, that way. Javier Quiroga: Yeah, like a lobster, right and we can just start cleaning some of the—this are already cleaned, the squid. Rob Carson: Okay, now where do you buy squid? Javier Quiroga: Well, I get it at my regular fishmonger store and I have seen frozen squid before too. Rob Carson: There is a lot of Asian markets too in the area, international markets so you can get great fresh squid there. If you have any questions about it, just ask somebody. Now what I am going to do with this? Javier Quiroga: We are going to slice these. Okay, because we will also going to sauté these. Rob Carson: Like this, like this. Javier Quiroga: Yup, just like that. Rob Carson: Okay, I have never sliced squid before. Javier Quiroga: Oh no! It’s the best and the thing again, this is clean and as a matter of fact, the Paella that we keep talking about, the Paella Valenciana comes from Valencia and they use basically a lot of seafood, prepare and when it dries up a little bit, add a little more olive oil to it. Rob Carson: Sure. Javier Quiroga: And what they do, they have a Paella with the squid ink. So it's a black Paella. Rob Carson: Oh really! Javier Quiroga: Yeah, it's delicious, it really is—they take the squid out—they take the ink out of the squid. So the lower ones too and then here again, we have the tentacles from the—it looks a little grouse but it's delicious. Rob Carson: When I think delicious, I think tentacles. Javier Quiroga: Are you crazy? Rob Carson: Now, do I have to cut up the tentacle things or just— Javier Quiroga: Oh no, we’re going sauté just as it is. Rob Carson: Okay. Javier Quiroga: Okay, so see your shrimps are looking very good here. Rob Carson: Excellent, excellent, turning color, that's nice. Then again, don't overcook it. Javier Quiroga: Yeah, don't overcook it. A little salt and pepper to that too. Rob Carson: Excellent, we will be right back to put it all together.