Traditional seafood paella (Paella de marisco)
Paella is a dish that is meant to be shared. The ingredients you use will depend on your personal preference. I often add diced chorizo and 2 chicken thighs in place of the fish and mussels – just depending on who I am feeding and how I am feeling :). My Spanish friends despair at the addition of chorizo as it is not traditional, but here in Australia, it would be very odd not to have it included. I have decided to make a traditional paella today.
The variety of rice, arroz in Spanish, you use is important. Bomba, Calasparra or Valencia varieties are best. I usually use Calasparra or Bomba as I can easily source these from my local supermarket or fresh produce market. Spanish specialty shops will definitely have one, if not all, of these. These varieties are short-grained. This means they absorb all the wonderful stock and flavours without going mushy. If you can't find any of these, Arborio has similar absorption, but will go creamy if you stir it.
If you don't have a paella pan, a large frypan is fine to use. The key is to have the rice about 2-3 cm deep in the pan to ensure even cooking.
The better your stock, the better your paella will be. I use mussel stock that I save throughout the year from when I cook fabulous Portarlington mussels (#MrMussel). Store-bought chicken stock also works well. Personally, I dislike the flavour of store-bought fish stocks – but it's personal preference.
I had the great honour of learning to make paella from Candido at Barcelona Cooking (https://www.barcelonacooking.net/en/). I can certainly recommend taking any of their classes if you are lucky enough to visit Barcelona. Candido taught us to appreciate the fine ingredients of Spain with a tour of La Boqueria, and to determine the quality of the paella being served to you. In a restaurant, the paella should be brought out to you in the cooking pan and served to you. The display of the prawns and seafood shows the care and skill of the chefs. The paella should have a crispy golden bottom, called the socarrat. This is my favourite part! Street-bought paella is often served from very large paella pans serving 50+ people – these are unlikely to have socarrat, but are still delicious.
Serves 2
• 6 mussels
• 4 green prawns in shell
• 1 squid hood or 125 g cuttlefish
• 100 g firm white fish fillet
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 6 saffron threads
• ¼ tsp pimento or paprika (omit if adding chorizo)
• 500 ml fish or chicken stock
• 3 tbl olive oil
• 100 g frozen peas
• Salt to taste
Wedges of lemon and chopped parsley to serve
Place the mussels in a small bowl with clean cold water.
Dice the squid into small squares approx 1 cm x 1 cm. Chop the fish into bite-sized pieces.
Cut the tomatoes in half and grate - discarding the skin.
In a paella pan, heat the oil. Sauté the prawns for 1 minute on each side until they turn pink. Remove the prawns from the pan and set aside until they are needed later.
In the same oil, sauté the squid and onion gently. As the onion becomes golden, add the peas and cook for another 2 minutes. Now add the tomato pulp and garlic. Gently sauté until the juice from the tomato has evaporated, and the onions have caramelised.
In a small pot, heat the fish stock until it is simmering. Add the saffron to the stock.
Add the rice, pimento and fish pieces to the paella pan and gently stir for 1 minute, coating the rice with the tomato oil. Add all the stock at once and stir to combine. Turn the heat to high, and allow to cook for 5 minutes.
Debeard the mussels and place mussels around the pan, pushed slightly into the rice. Turn the heat to low and cook for another 10 minutes. Return the prawns to the top of the dish, and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
Paella should stand for 3-5 minutes before serving. There should be a crust formed at the bottom of the pan (it's the best bit!). Serve with a wedge of lemon, a sprinkle of chopped parsley and a crisp Rosé.
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