Recipe from the TWiT Army Mess Hall - Shellfish Paella Risotto

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 pound hot or sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
• 1.5 pound clams
  
• 4 8-ounce bottles clam juice
• 1 teaspoon saffron threads
• 2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled, deveined
• 1 10-ounce package frozen peas, thawed
• 2 large plum tomatoes, seeded, chopped

Preparation:

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook until almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add sausage meat. Cook until sausage is no longer pink, breaking up with fork, about 5 minutes. Add clams and mussels. Increase heat to medium-high, cover and cook until shells open, about 5 minutes. Transfer clams and mussels to medium bowl, discarding any that do not open. Cover shellfish and keep warm.

Meanwhile, combine clam juice and saffron threads in small saucepan; bring mixture to simmer. Reduce heat to low; keep warm.

Add rice to same saucepan that clams and mussels were cooked in and stir 2 minutes over medium heat. Add dry white wine and cook until wine is evaporated, stirring constantly, about 3 minutes. Add warm clam juice mixture and simmer until rice is just tender and liquid is creamy, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes.

Mix shrimp, peas and chopped tomatoes into risotto and cook until shrimp are just cooked through, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes. Season risotto to taste with salt and pepper. Top risotto with clams and mussels and serve immediately.

Recipes from the Twit Army Mess Hall - Crawfish Etouffee

This is Paul Prudhomme's classic recipe a link to the book on Amazon is at the end of the recipe

Ingredients:
Seasoning Mix:
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/4 c. chopped onions
1/4 c. chopped celery
1/4 c. chopped green peppers
7 tbl vegetable oil
3/4 c. flour, unsifted
3 c. shrimp stock (if unavailable use chicken stock)
2 sticks of sweet butter
2 lbs of crawfish (you can substitute shrimp if you can't get crawfish)
1 c. finely chopped green onions
Rice

Mix seasoning together & put aside.
Put vegis in a bowl and set aside

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet and cook the flour into a roux, cook until a very dark red brown but don't let it burn.

Removed from heat, stir in vegis & 1 tbl of the seasoning mix. Stir until cool & then set aside.

Bring 2 c. of the stock to a boil. Slowly add the cooled roux and stir until completely dissolved. Reduce heat to low and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from the heat & set aside to cool.

1 a large saucepan melt one stick of butter & saute the seafood & green onions for 1 minute. Add the rest of the butter, stock/roux mixture and the rest of the stock. Stir on medium heat until the rest of the butter is melted, add the rest of the seasoning.

Serve over the rice.

Recipes from the Twit Army Mess Hall - Mussels, Clams and Shrimp with Saffron Risotto and Green Olive Relish

Don't skip on the olive relish you really need the taste from the lemon peel, parsley & olives to complete this dish.

Finished Risotto

Ingredients:
Olive Relish

• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pitted brine-cured green olives
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 1/2teaspoons grated lemon peel

Risotto

• 2 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped shallots
• 1 cup arborio (sometimes labeled risotto) rice or medium-grain white rice
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup bottled clam juice
• 20 mussels, scrubbed, debearded
• 12 little neck clams, scrubbed
• 12 uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails left intact, if you peel them your self save the shells
  
• 3/4 cup chopped tomatoes, I use roma but you can use any type you like as long as they aren't the 'sweet' type
  
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions

Preparation:

Olive Relish
Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside for at least 2 hours for the flavors to blend.

Risotto:

Bring stock and saffron to simmer in medium saucepan, if you kept the shrimp shells add them to the stock & simmer until the shells turn pink (This step adds some extra oomph to the stock). Remove from heat, remove the shells, if used, and cover to keep warm.

Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add shallots; saute until tender, about 2 minutes. Add rice and garlic; stir 1 minute. Add white wine and stir until absorbed, about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup saffron stock and simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. Add remaining stock 1/2 cup at a time, allowing stock to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently until rice is cooked halfway, about 10 minutes. Do not try and short on this step, if you add all the stock at once it won't absorb properly and you'll have a soupy mess instead of risotto. Add clam juice, mussels, little neck clams, shrimp and chopped tomatoes. Cover and simmer until rice is tender, mussels and clams open, shrimp are cooked through and liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes (discard any mussels and clams that do not open). Divide seafood and saffron risotto equally among 4 bowls. Sprinkle with sliced green onions. Garnish with lemon wedges. Serve, passing Green Olive Relish separately.

Report from the Twit Army Mess Hall - Seafood Paella

Ingredients:


1/3 lb. shrimp, peeled (reserve the shells for broth)
Pinch of saffron threads
Salt to taste
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 lb. scallops
1/2 onion, grated on the largest holes of a box grater
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 ripe tomato, halved and grated on the largest holes of a box grater (discard the skin)
1 1/2 cups medium grain rice
8 small clams (1/2 lb.), scrubbed
1 lemon, cut in wedges for garnish

• 1/3 lb. shrimp, peeled (reserve the shells for broth)
• Pinch of saffron threads
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/3 lb. scallops (or calamari, cut in rings)
• 1/2 onion, grated on the largest holes of a box grater
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 ripe tomato, halved and grated on the largest holes of a box grater (discard the skin)
• 1 1/2 cups medium grain rice
• 8 small mussels or clams (1/2 lb.), scrubbed
• 1 lemon, cut in wedges for garnish

Preparation:

In a medium saucepan, boil 3 1/2 cups of salted water. Add the shrimp shells and simmer, covered, for about 10 min. Strain the broth, and return it to the saucepan. Toast the saffron gently (in a dry skillet or toaster oven), crush the threads with the back of a spoon, and add to the shrimp shell broth. Taste for salt; the broth should be well-seasoned.

In a 14-inch paella pan, heat the oil on high. Meanwhile, pat dry the shrimp and scallops . When the oil is hot, sauté the shrimp and scallops until almost cooked through, about 2 min. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Pour out all but 1 Tbs. of oil from the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and sauté the onion and garlic until the onion softens, about 5 min. Add the tomato, season with salt, and sauté until the mixture, called the sofrito, has darkened and is a thick purée, 10 to 15 min.

Meanwhile, bring the shrimp shell broth back to a simmer. When the tomato-onion sofrito is ready, add the rice to the pan. Sauté until the rice loses its opaqueness, about 1 min. Increase the heat to medium-high. Pour in 3 cups of the simmering broth (reserving the remaining 1/2 cup) and stir or shake the pan to evenly distribute the rice in the pan. As the liquid comes to a boil, arrange the mussels or clams in the pan, submerging them as much as possible below the level of the liquid. From this point on, do not stir the rice.

Cook the paella on medium-high, rotating and moving the pan over one or two burners to distribute the heat. When the rice begins to appear above the liquid, after 8 to 10 min., reduce the heat to medium low. Continue to simmer, rotating the pan as necessary, until the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 min. more. Taste a grain of rice just below the top layer; it should be al dente. (If the rice is not done but all the liquid has been absorbed, sprinkle a bit of hot broth to the pan and cook a few minutes more.) Arrange the shrimp and scallops (or calamari) in the pan.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and cook gently for another 2 min. to help ensure that the top layer of rice is evenly cooked. With the foil still in place, increase the heat to medium-high and, rotating the pan, cook for about 2 min., until the bottom layer of rice starts to caramelize, creating the socarrat. The rice may crackle somewhat, but if it starts burning, remove the pan from the heat immediately.

Let the paella rest off the heat, still covered, for 5 min. Sit everyone down at a round or square table. Remove the foil and invite people to eat directly from the pan, starting at the perimeter, working toward the center, and squeezing lemon over their section, if they want.

Recipe from the Twit Army Mess hall - Cioppino

Ingredients:

• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 1 Turkish bay leaf or 1/2 California bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
• 1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 green bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups dry red wine, I use chianti
• 1 (28- to 32-ounces) can whole plum tomatoes, drained, reserving juice, and chopped
• 1 cup bottled clam juice
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 (1-pound) king crab leg, thawed if frozen and cut into 2 to 3 inch pieces, **
• 18 small (2-inch) hard-shelled clams (1 1/2 pound) such as littlenecks, scrubbed
• 1 pound skinless red snapper or halibut fillets, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 pound large shrimp (16 to 20), shelled (tails and bottom segment of shells left intact) and deveined**
• 3/4 pound sea scallops, tough muscle removed from side of each if necessary
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil

Preparation:

Cook garlic, onions, bay leaf, oregano, and red pepper flakes with salt and pepper in oil in an 8-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring, until onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Add bell pepper and tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and boil until reduced by about half (it will start to look a little syrupy), this should take 5 to 6 minutes. Add tomatoes with their juice, clam juice, and broth and simmer, covered, 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.  At this point you can cool the broth & store it in the refrigerator until the next day.  One hour before serving take out of the refrigerator and warm slowly over medium heat until just about boiling (so that the seafood will cook properly)

Add crab pieces or crab meat and clams to stew and simmer, covered, until clams just open, 5 to 10 minutes, checking every minute after 5 minutes and transferring opened clams to a bowl with tongs or a slotted spoon. (Discard any unopened clams after 10 minutes.) Lightly season fish fillets, shrimp, and scallops with salt and add to stew, then simmer, covered, until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Discard bay leaf, then return clams to pot and gently stir in parsley and basil.

Serve cioppino immediately in large soup bowls.

Serves 6 to 8

This recipe can be easily doubled if you have a large enough pot but not made smaller, you need to have that much broth for the seafood to cook properly.

** if king crab is not available you can substitute frozen crab meat (just not surimi it's too sweet) but then leave the shells on the shrimp.  You'll have to clean the shrimp but you need to have the shells in the broth for the flavor.