Paella de Camarones y Langosta

This paella is based on "Paella con Mariscos" recipes. I know my kids love large shrimp and lobster, so I decided to focus on these ingredients for a seafood based paella. It wasn't clear what vegetables, if any ought to be included, but we have some very good artichokes and some organic green beans that seemed fresh in the store, so I decided to work with them, since they are common in other paella recipes. Probably, I have missed the ideal combination of ingredients for a paella with seafood, but my family loved this dish.

We took some photos of the process.
This was done in a 18 inch paella pan (46 cm). It serves about 8-10 people (some of them are kids) with some left over.
For the Stock

• 1 onion
• several carrots
• 5 stalks celery
• 4 cloves of garlic
• dried ground red and black pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• the shells of the shrimp for the paella
• the shells, legs, and meaty part of body of lobster

For the Paella

• 5 cups, approximately, Bomba or Arborio rice or similar
• 2 lb. raw jumbo shrimp blanched and shelled
• the claw, tail, and arm (knuckle) meat from a 1.25 lb. live lobster
• 2-3 cups green beans
• 5 artichokes
• 2 cups diced or finely sliced tomato
• 2 cups frozen peas
• enough saffron to give the paella its yellow color
• 1 lemon
• 1-2 tbsp sweet paprika (pimenton dulce)
• 1-2 onions sliced finely
• 1 bell pepper cut in fine long strips
• 1/2 lb. finely chopped mild chorizo

Prepare a Shrimp and Lobster Flavored Stock
Bring 12 cups or so of water to boil in a large pot. Drop in the shrimp and the lobster for about 3 minutes, until the shells begin to turn red. Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon, and place them in a colander. Run cold water over them to cool them off. Shell the shrimp and put the shells in the pot. Crack the shells and pick the lobster meat out of the tail, the arms, and the claws. Place the tail shell and the arm shells in the pot. Remove the lobster legs and place them in the pot. Pull the carapace apart and find the structure with the body meat in it. Pull off the gills, which are on the outside of the structure with the body meat in it. Place the body meat structure in the pot. Throw out the rest of the head and body shell along with the green stuff. Cut the lobster tail into pieces about 1/2 to 1 inch cubes. Leave all other meat as is. Refrigerate all the meat. Add some carrots, celery stalks, a halved or quartered onion or two, 4 halved cloves of garlic, some red pepper, black pepper, and salt to taste. Simmer the contents in the pot very gently for several hours or even overnight. The lid of the pot can be left ajar, such that a small amount of vapor and heat can escape and so the pot can maintain a very light simmer. Add water as necessary to maintain the amount of water in the pot.
The Paella
Preparations
Grind enough saffron (I'm still not sure the right amount, but maybe 1 gram for this amount of ingredients) with a little salt, add to 1 cup of hot water, and allow to steep while you prepare the rest of the paella ingredients. Slice the onions and garlic finely. Cut the bell pepper into fine long strips. Cut the greenbeans into about 4-6 cm lengths. Cut off both the bottoms and most of the top of the artichokes, so there is about 2 cm of heart and the tender lower parts of the leaves. Remove all but the tender inner leaves. Quarter the artichokes and remove the fibrous spiny part above the heart and inside the leaves with a sharp knife. What is left of the artichoke is quartered pieces of heart with the tender lower inner parts of the leaves attached. Chop the chorizo into very small pieces less than 1 cm on a side.
Sautee
On fairly high heat, sautee the chorizo and the finely sliced onion - about 2 cups - and finely sliced garlic - about 4 cloves - until the onion and garlic begin to be translucent and the chorizo is beginning to brown a little. Add the greenbeans and artichokes and continue to sautee for a few minutes. Add the sliced bell pepper and sautee for a minute or so. Turn heat to high, push the ingredients currently in the pot to the outside, and for just a minute or two brown the shrimp and lobster meat. For a little bit of pepper flavor, dust the shrimp and lobster with a small amount of ground cayenne or similar pepper when you sautee it.  Remove the shrimp and lobster meat. Add the diced tomato and sautee for about 2 minutes. Drop about 1-2 tbsp of paprika on the tomato and sautee for just a minute - not long enough to burn the paprika, which can turn bitter if burnt.
Boil Rice
Add 9-10 cups of stock. Add about 5 cups of rice. The amount of stock should be enough to almost reach the handles of the pan. Since the lobster and peas still need to be added, the liquid should be about 1/2 cm below the middle of the handles. Add about 5 cups of rice. It should be enough rice to create a "sand bar" of rice along the diameter of the pan from one side to the other that sticks up about a finger or two and is about 4 fingers wide. Roughly, it should be a little more rice in volume than half the volume of water added to the pan. Pour the saffron tea made earlier along the "sand bar" of rice. Submerge and spread the rice around the bottom of the pan and raise the heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil. Once it has come to a boil, continue at high heat for about 5 minutes. Stir gently and check for burning on the bottom. After about 5 minutes of a violent boil, the rice will release its starch and swell. You will see that many grains of rice begin to sit on the surface when you stir it.
Simmer to Finish
At this point, reduce the heat to low, add the frozen peas and all the shrimp and lobster meat, submerge everything, drop the heat to the lowest setting. Allow it to continue simmering very gently for about 12-15 more minutes. Sprinkle some lemon juice over the dish about 5 minutes into the simmering and stir very gently to check for burning on the bottom. Turn off the heat if it is too dry and beginning to burn. If the rice is not drying out sufficiently after 10 minutes, raise the heat slightly and simmer a few minutes longer. Once the rice is done (it will seem a little "al dente", set it in the middle of your dining table and allow to cool for 5 minutes. It should soften just enough during this time. Make sure your guests are ready to serve themselves immediately when the rice has reached the perfect condition. If the rice seems too "al dente" or dry, cover it with a damp towel or with foil and allow it to steam for a few minutes more until it softens slightly more.
Serve
This dish should ideally be served when the rice has reached the perfect consistency, which may take a few minutes one way or the other, depending on the water, the ingredients, the heat, and so on. Paella lovers like to say, "The guests should wait for the paella and not the other way around." Paella is a somewhat difficult dish that requires some practice, but it is well worth it for those cooks and guests who will devote enough patience, attention, and respect.