NEW WORLD PAELLA (Paella Nuevo Mundo)

(From Bistro Latino, Home Cooking Fired Up with the Flavors of Latin America, page 126) This paella just may be the most popular dish at our restaurants. I've made it for groups of two to two hundred people, and it's always a tremendous hit. I do use a traditional Spanish paella pan, but otherwise this is far from classic paella. Instead of short-grain Valencia, I like to use long-grain rice to lighten the texture of the dish. The chunks of cured chorizo lend flavor and heat. Sprinkling black beans and hogo over the top at the end of the cooking makes the dish beautiful, impressive, and very New World - hence Nuevo Mundo.

Paella is an essentially simple dish, without complicated seasonings, but it's important to follow the steps of the recipe carefully so that everything cooks together. From start to finish, the whole cooking process should take no more than 30 minutes. This recipe can be multiplied for as many people as you like. The lobster adds wonderful briny flavor and sweet meat, but it must be quartered while still alive — so I've made it optional in deference to the squeamish. (Makes 4 servings)

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
2 cups long-grain rice, rinsed
2 pinches of saffron threads
2 pinches of sazon Goya
5 cups Fish Stock, at room temperature, or salted water
2 pinches of kosher salt
3 tablespoons seeded and diced ripe tomato
8 large littleneck clams, cleaned
12 mussels, cleaned
2 dry chorizos, diced
2 small fresh lobsters, about 1 ¼ pounds, rinsed and quartered (optional; see Note) or additional shrimp
8 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ cup drained freshly cooked or canned black beans
2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions, white and pale green parts
¼ cup Hogo (you can use Latino Chef Sofrito)

In a large nonreactive skillet with curved sides, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and stir until each grain is completely coated with oil. Sprinkle the saffron and sazon over the rice and stir. Add 3 cups of the stock and a pinch of salt to the skillet. Bring to a simmer and simmer gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally. After 5 minutes, add the tomato and stir. Simmer 3 minutes more. The mixture should still be quite soupy; as the liquid is absorbed, add more stock ½ cup at a time.

Place the clams in the skillet, gently pushing them down into the rice. After the clams have cooked for 3 minutes, place the mussels in the skillet, gently pushing them down into the rice. After this point, do not stir the mixture, but move it gently every so often with a wooden spoon to make sure it is not sticking to the pan. Add more liquid only sparingly, keeping in mind that the final product should be quite dry. After the mussels have cooked for about 2 minutes, add the chorizo, pushing the pieces down into the rice. Place the lobsters, if using, and the shrimp on top of the mixture. Cook until the rice is cooked through but not mushy, about 5 minutes more. Sprinkle the paella with the black beans and scallions, then drizzle the hogo over the top. Serve from the pot at the table.

Note: Make sure the lobster claws are held together with rubber bands. Wrapping your hand in a kitchen towel, lay a lobster belly down on a steady surface and hold it firmly around the tail. Push the tip of a knife into the flesh between the head and the neck to sever the spinal cord.   Let stand 2 minutes. Turn the lobster over and use a large kitchen knife or shears to cut it in half lengthwise.   Discard the black vein behind the tail and the stomach sac behind the head.   Twist off the claws. You now have four large pieces of lobster.   Repeat with the remaining lobster.

DULCE DE LECHE CHEESECAKE
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup dulce de leche (see below)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place cream cheese in food processor and process until soft. With Machine running, drop in eggs through feed tube, followed by heavy cream, then dulce de leche.
Place mixture in 9 inch pie dish. Put dish in a large pan and add hot water until it comes halfway up the side of pie dish. Place in oven and bake about an hour or a little longer, until cake tester comes out clean and top is fairly firm.
Let cake rest one hour, then serve at once. Or refrigerate, but remove from refrigerator one half hour before serving. (Yields: 8 servings)

DULCE DE LECHE
1 quart of whole milk
2 cups of sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of cinnamon

Combine ingredients in a large heavy saucepan. Place over medium heat and cook without stirring until mixture boils, 15 to 20 minutes. Briefly remove from heat.
Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, 45 minutes to 1 hour. When mixture becomes a caramel color and is think enough that you can see the bottom of the pan as you stir, remove it from heat. Use at room temperature or cover and refrigerate. (Yield: 2 cups) (Note: For cajeta, substitute goat's milk for cow's milk; add 2 teaspoons cornstarch.)