Seafood Paella
Fresh seafood is perfect in a paella. This is a fairly traditional paella, for a slightly simpler paella, see our Chicken, Ham, and Sausage Paella.
Seafood Paella
Equipment
- Paella Pan
Ingredients
- 2 large ripe tomatoes
- 6 cups chicken broth (or use seafood stock if you have it)
- 1 pinch saffron – pulverized with a mortar
- 6 tablespoons olive oil divided
- ½ pound firm white fish cut into 1-inch pieces (monkfish, halibut, cod)
- salt to taste
- ¼ pound squid (bodies and tentacles) cleaned!
- 3/4 cup peas (optional)
- 8 cloves garlic -minced
- 2 cups rice – short to medium grain (paella rice if possible)
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 12 small to medium sized clams
- 12 jumbo shriimp
- 2 lemons cut into wedges
Instructions
Grate the tomatoes
- Cut the tomatoes in half, then grate them into a bowl and discard the skins.
Heat broth with saffron
- Using a medium saucepan, bring the chicken broth (or seafood stock) to a simmer. Add the saffron and keep the broth at a low simmer.
Sear the fish and squid
- Using a 13 to 15 inch paella pan, put 4 tablespoons of olive into the pan and heat it over medium heat.
- Add the white fish and sear for just a minute or two a side, transfer the fish to a small bowl and season with salt
- Add the squid to the paella pan and sear for just a minute or two, season with a little salt.
- Stir in the peas and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Then push everything to the sides of the pan.
Put things together
- Add one tablespoon of oil to the center of the paella pan, then add the garlic and cook for about a minute.
- Add the tomatoes to the center of the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Stir the tomatoes into the garlic as you cook (keeping the seafood and vegetables on the sides).
- Add the rice to the paella pan along with the paprika and stir everything together until the mixture is uniform and the rice is distributed evenly.
- Pour 4 cups of the chicken broth into the paella. Shake the pan to level the rice. Do not stir again for the rest of the cooking.
- Distribute the seared whitefish around the pan and push them into the paella.
- Distribute the clams around the pan and push them into the paella.
- Cook over medium heat. Rotate the pan to cook things evenly. As the liquid cooks down to the level of the rice, add simmering chicken broth. As the liquid gets absorbed, add broth, but don’t drown the rice in broth.
- Continue cooking until the rice is tender, but still a bit ‘al dente’. About 20 minutes.
- Turn up the heat for a couple of minutes so the paella can get a nice toasty bottom or soccarat. Do not burn it! The goal is to get a nice crunchy layer of caramelized rice.
- Turn the heat down, and try a taste. add a bit more broth if the rice seems too al dente.
- Take the pan off of the heat and cover it with foil for 10 minutes. Then uncover and let it stand for another 10 minutes. This is ‘resting’ the paella and lets the rice soak in more of the liquid and flavor.
- While the paella is resting, heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add one tablespoon of olive into the skillet and heat until it just starts to smoke. Sauté the shrimp in batches with a little garlic until they are pink then transfer them to a small bowl and keep them warm. Do not overcook.
- To serve, distribute the shrimp on top of the paella and place lemon wedges around the side of the paella pan.
A paella pan is not an absolute necessity, but it it is one of the things that makes a paella a paella. It adds to the presentation and the flat, shallow bottom ensures that it cooks properly.