Mar i Muntanya

This recipe is adapted from one in Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home, and is a Catalonian version of surf and turf, roughly translated it means Mountains and Sea. As a result, this dish contains a myriad of proteins, including chicken, sausage, shrimp, and mussels, in addition to a variety of vegetables and layer of saffron rice. With all of these components, mise en place is an essential part of this recipe, and will ensure an impressive and stunning result.

Makes: 6-8 servings
Time: 10 minutes time prep for brine, 24 hours for actual brining
45 minutes prep for dish, 15 minutes cooking for dish

Ingredients:

1 small whole chicken
1 chorizo (I substituted italian sausage, because well, that was what I had on hand!)
12 PEI mussels
12 shrimp
large handful of green beans (blanched)
½ cup of roasted red peppers sliced into strips
½ yellow onion sliced
4 cups cooked saffron rice
10 cloves garlic confit
Piment d’espelette (if you don’t have this you could also use paprika)
½ cup chicken stock, plus 2 Tablespoons
½ cup white wine
juice from ½ lemon
3 tablespoons butter
grapeseed or other high smoke point oil
salt and pepper

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 400°F.

Break down your chicken into 8 pieces: two legs, two thighs, and two breasts that are each cut in half, (one half will have the wing attached to it.) Keller brines these pieces overnight, and if you are the plan ahead type, you should also! The brine is a simple recipe, and creates much more succulent chicken.

Next, de-vein your shrimp before brining them for about fifteen minutes in a solution of about 4 cups water and ½ cup salt.

Rinse your chicken, (if brined) and season with the espelette (if not brined, also add salt) and heat a large pan over medium high heat. Sear the chicken skin-side down in the grapeseed oil, turning the heat down once the initial browning has occurred. Cook for about 8 minutes on the first side, then flip and cook about 6 minutes more, or until all the pieces are almost cooked through.

Remove the chicken from the pan. Slice your sausage, and sear each piece in the pan you cooked the chicken. When finished, remove the sausage and throw in the onions, peppers, green beans, and garlic. Saute the vegetables until hot, seasoning with salt and pepper as they cook. Once they are heated through, we can begin building our dish. Line the bottom of a baking dish with the saffron rice, then cover with the vegetables and sausage slices. Nestle each of the chicken pieces in and pour the chicken stock over, minus the extra two tablespoons worth. Place the baking dish in the oven for about fifteen minutes. 

While the chicken is baking, cook each shrimp until it begins to curl, about 1 ½ to 2 minutes each side. Remove them from the pan. Add your butter, and heat until foaming. Toss in your mussels, then add your wine, reserved chicken stock, and lemon juice. Cover the pan with a lid, and let the mussels steam until they have all opened.  Once they have opened, remove the mussels, and reduce the liquid in the pan until it has a more sauce-like consistency.

When the chicken and rice are finished baking, pull the pan from the oven, place your shrimp and mussels within it, and pour the sauce from the mussels over everything. Garnish with fresh herbs and more lemon juice, if you prefer.