Seafood Paella a classic Spanish recipe that tastes fantastic, this recipe by Omar Allibhoy from his book Spanish Made Simple is guaranteed to give the wow factor when served to your guests. The secret to the most amazing flavoured rice is the homemade stock which makes all the difference to the finished paella, the flavour is so intense, once you have made it once, you will forevermore go to the effort of making your own stock.
Paella's need to be made in a wide shallow pan, ideally a special paella pan, I am lucky enough to have paella pans in various sizes that I have brought home with me from my holiday's in Spain. Paella pans are readily available in most cook shops or can be ordered online. If you really do love paella, there are many paella recipes, seafood, chicken, rabbit, vegetable, the list goes on, then I would highly recommend investing in a paella pan and if possible an outdoor paella gas burner, these are great and ensure that your paella is cooked to perfection, spreading the heat evenly across your whole pan.
Paella is the perfect dish to cook for family & friends on a sunny Sunday afternoon outdoors, while everyone chats and enjoys a few glasses of wine, ideal served with a white Rioja such as Don Sancho De Londoño, Real De A 8 White, DOC Rioja 2021 available from Bubble Brothers, The English Market, Cork.
Ingredients:
Note: if you can, buy your fish from a fishmonger, fish in a fishmonger's is not pre-prepared, so you can easily get the prawn heads & shells, inner parts of the squid, fish carcasses or heads etc. The stock can be made without squid inners or fish carcasses but won't be as good, believe me, it really does make a difference to the unbelievable flavour of the stock if you can get hold of all the ingredients.
For the paella:
500g fresh squid, inner parts removed but kept for stock (your fishmonger will do this for you)
50ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp sea salt flakes (plus extra for seasoning)
1 red Romano or bell pepper, cut into thick strips
200g flat green or runner beans, cut into 4cm lengths
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp sweet pimentón (sweet smoked paprika)
2 tomatoes (about 300g) grated
400g paella rice, such as bomba
500g fresh prawns or langoustines or a mixture, keep a few whole, otherwise heads & shells removed for stock
a couple of handfuls of mussels & or clams, cleaned (discard any with damaged shells or that do not close when tapped)
For the shellfish stock:
Heads & shells from the 500g prawns and langoustines
The inner parts of the fresh squid, ink included
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 celery stick, roughly chopped
1 small leek, roughly chopped
1 head of garlic, halved
3 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 tomato, roughly chopped
50ml brandy
120ml white wine
3 white fish carcasses or 1 head of cod or monkfish (if you do not have a fishmonger then 2 good quality fish stock cubes)
1g saffron threads
Method:
First make the stock:
Heat a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a large pan over the highest heat, add heads & shells of prawns & langoustines, brown for 2 minutes.
Extra virgin olive oil, heads & shells of 500g prawns & langoustines (minus few that were left whole) |
Add reserved inner parts of squid, carrot, onion, celery, leek, garlic halves, black peppercorns & bay leaf and caramelise until vegetables are a dark golden colour, then add the tomato.
Inner parts of squid, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 celery stick, 1 leek all roughly chopped, 1 bulb garlic halved horizontally, 3 black peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 1 tomato roughly chopped |
Cook for 2 minutes and then flambé with the brandy, followed by the wine (to flambé, pour alcohol into pan and quickly light with a match, keep your face & hair well back, flames will flare up and then die down)
Continue to cook until alcohol burns off and reduces down and is completely gone, then add 3 litres of water and the fish bones/head or stock cubes. Simmer for no longer than 45 minutes.
50ml brandy, 12o ml white wine, 3 white fish carcasses or 1 cod or monkfish head or 2 fish stock cubes |
After 30 minutes, use a hand blender to blitz the stock (shells, bones included), this will extract as much flavour as possible out of every ingredient.
Simmer for a further 15 minutes, pass through a very fine sieve into another pot. You should have about 2 litres of intense, flavoursome shellfish stock. Add saffron.
If making paella straight away, return to a very low simmer to keep hot.
If making in advance, when cool refrigerate and heat gently back up before using.
1 g saffron threads |
To make the paella:
Roughly chop the squid tube, wings & tentacles.
Place your paella pan or wide frying pan over the highest heat with olive oil, chopped squid & salt.
Let the water from the squid evaporate before adding red pepper & green beans, stirring constantly to brown the ingredients nicely.
500g fresh squid, 1 tbsp sea salt flakes, 1 red pepper cut into thick strips, 200g green beans cut into 4cm pieces |
Add garlic & stir for 1 minute before adding sweet pimentón.
Stir again & cook for 30 seconds, then add tomatoes (add tomatoes earlier if garlic or pimentón start to burn).
Add the rice & stir for 2 minutes to sear the rice (this is very important, it will give a slightly crispier bite to the finished dish).
Pour over the hot stock and give everything a good stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to ensure all the caramelisation is incorporated into the stock. Check seasoning at this point, it should taste quite salty, adjust if necessary.
6 finely chopped garlic cloves, 1 tsp sweet pimentón, 2 grated tomatoes (300g), 400g paella rice, hot stock made earlier |
The rice should be ready in around 18 minutes, put a timer on and do not stir the rice again.
Let it simmer over high heat for 10 minutes or until the liquid has reduced down to almost level with the rice, then reduce heat to low, scatter the shelled prawns & langoustines, mussels &/or clams over the top of the rice. Top with reserved whole prawns & langoustines, season lightly and leave to steam gently above the paella.
500g prawns & langoustines, a couple of handfuls of mussels &/or clams |
After the remaining 8 minutes, the liquid should be gone and you should be able to hear that the rice in the bottom of the pan is starting to fry. Put your ear close to the pan without burning your hair and listen to the paella, as Omar says, it should say "I am getting crispier on the bottom, this is good but don't let me burn please."
Turn heat off and leave to rest, get everyone around the table, after 5 minutes resting, serve to your guests and watch everyone enjoy this fabulous dish.
Notes on where I source my ingredients:
Shellfish, fish heads etc from K O' Connell, The English Market, Cork
Sweet Pimentón from The Olive Company, The English Market, Cork
All other ingredients readily available
DON SANCHO DE LONDOÑO, REAL DE A 8 WHITE, DOC RIOJA 2021, from Bubble Brothers, The English Market, Cork or https://bubblebrothers.ie
(see my page above, sourcing ingredients for details of suppliers)
This recipe is by Omar Allibhoy, the Spanish Chef, Omar's books contain truly authentic recipes from his homeland, they are easy to follow and always taste amazing. If you would like to purchase Omar's books or in particular the book this recipe is taken from Spanish Made Simple, please click on one of the links in blue.
Thank you, Jacqui
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