Paella de Marisco is a summer favorite in Spain for good reason – paella is the perfect base for whatever’s tantalizingly fresh from the sea. While not considered the most traditional of paellas, it’s one of our absolute favorites – both for the stunning presentation and the delicious, coastal flavor. If you have an opportunity to cook your paella outside over a wood fire, do it! This will give your paella the smoke it needs for the absolute best texture and flavor.
There are three widely known types of paella: Valencian paella, seafood paella and mixed paella, but there are many others as well. Valencian paella consists of white rice, green vegetables, meat (rabbit, chicken, duck), land snails, beans and seasoning. Seafood paella replaces meat and snails with seafood and omits beans and green vegetables. Mixed paella is a free-style combination of meat, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes beans. Most paella chefs use calasparra or bomba rices for this dish. Other key ingredients include saffron and olive oil.
Ingredients
1 large onion, finely chopped
5 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste or finely chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
salt
1 tsp pimentón dulce (or sweet paprika)
a good pinch of saffron threads
4 cleaned small squid, bodies sliced into 1/4-inch-wide rings, tentacles left whole
2 cups medium-grain Spanish paella rice or risotto rice, such as arborio or carnaroli
3 cups fish or chicken stock, plus more if needed
1 cup dry white wine
12 jumbo shrimp in their shells
16 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
How To Make Seafood Paella
- Heat broth in a large pot. Stir in saffron. Pat fish and shrimp dry with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and let sit 10 minutes. Use a mortar and pestle to mash parsley, garlic, thyme and 1/8 tsp salt into a paste; stir in paprika. Add water if necessary, to form a paste.
- Heat 6 tbsp of oil in 15" paella pan over medium high heat and quickly brown the fish 1-2 minutes. Do not fully cook. Remove to warm platter. Add remaining 2 tbsp of oil, onion, scallions and bell pepper to paella pan and cook until the vegetables are slightly softened. Raise heat, add tomato and cook until it becomes sauce-like, 2 to 5 minutes. Pour in the hot broth and bring to a boil. Sprinkle the rice evenly across the pan. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring rice and rotating pan occasionally. Add all reserved fish (but not shrimp). Stir in parsley paste. Taste for salt. Do not stir after this point. Lower the heat, continue to simmer until rice is no longer soupy but enough liquid remains to continue cooking the rice (about 10 min.). Add extra liquid if necessary.
- Arrange shrimp, clams and mussels over rice, placing edges of mussel and clam shells so they open facing up. Cook, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes until rice is almost done. Remove pan from the heat and cover with foil. Let sit 10 minutes. Garnish with lemon wedges and serve with fresh alioli.
Trivia
- March 27th is National Paella Day.