Paella de Marisco
What to prep in advance
The Paella
Scrub the clams and mussels to get any bits of dirt off the shell, then trim the beards and rinse them well. Discard any clams or mussels that have broken shells or are not tightly closed. Set aside in a bowl.
Cut the cleaned squid in half and ensure that the beaks have been removed. Then slice them into 1-inch pieces and place them in a separate bowl. This is a good video to learn how to clean your squid and remove the cartiledge and beak.
Rinse the shrimp, and remove the shells if desired, leaving on the tails for ease of eating. Place them in a separate bowl. Put all your seafood in the fridge until you are ready to cook.
The Sangria:
Slice the orange into rounds, slice the apple and the peach into wedges, and place them all in a shallow 9 x 9 inch baking dish. Slice the strawberries in half, add them to the baking dish, and top with the blackberries.
Drizzle the fruit with the rum and the balsamic. Cover the dish with plastic wrap, place in the fridge, and allow the fruit to macerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.
Kitchen Utensils
Paella Pan (this recipe is for a 36cm / 6 servings or 38cm / 8 servings pan. With the increase in popularity of paella, you can find pans at most kitchen stores. We also sell paella pans on our website just click here.
Have numerous small dishes ready to hold your ingredients once they are prepped. The beauty of this dish is it is very social, once prepped, you can chat with your guest and easily cook the paella adding the ingredients at the appropriate time.
Pitcher for Sangria
Large saucepan for the stock
Paella de Marisco, Pan con Tomate and Sangria
Servings
6-8
Prep Time
1
Recipes courtesy of Emily Lycopolous from her cookbook: Spain Recipes for Olive Oil and Vinegar Lovers
About Paella
The number of paella recipes out there, authentic or otherwise, is a little mind-boggling. The variations are endless. You’ll find shrimp, scallop, and seaweed in some; quail and mushrooms, or lamb and red peppers in others; and duck, olives, and Sherry as is traditional in Seville. You can also find paella made with black rice.
You might be surprised to learn that paella is traditionally made with rabbit and snails. The snails have typically eaten rosemary bushes for most of their life, so they are plump and very herbaceous in flavor. Cooked over an open wood fire in the rice fields in Valencia, this dish has now become a classic in tourist destinations and known throughout North America as a traditional Spanish food. It’s not entirely accurate, but such is culinary life.
The trick to amazing paella is the socarrat, the crisp rice on the bottom of the pan. Ensuring your pan is evenly heated and not stirred once the liquid is added ensures this will form and add so much character and complexity to the final dish.
This version of paella is made with a mixture of shellfish and white fish, as is traditional in seaside communities. If you’re a shellfish person, feel free to substitute more shellfish for the fish, and, of course, vice versa. A paella pan is the only way to go for the paella recipes.
Pan con Tomate
The simplest of dishes somehow always end up being the most delicious. It’s generally believed that this Catalonian dish was originally created to liven up stale bread and use up extra juicy tomatoes. A special bread called pan de cristal (literally, crystal bread), which has extra-airy pockets for more tomato-soaking-up potential, and tomatoes specifically grown for the express purpose of rubbing on freshly toasted bread are traditionally used for this in Catalonia. The ingredient list is very small, so do use the best ingredients you can: homegrown or market-fresh tomatoes at the peak of ripeness, fresh bakery bread (I like a hearty sourdough for this), and the best extra virgin olive oil you can find.
Ingredients
1 orange
1 apple
1 peach
4-6 large strawberries
4-6 large blackberries
⅓c rum or brandy
¼ c Grapefruit white balsamic vinegar
1 bottle of fruity red wine
2c soda water
4 large slices (each ¾–1”) bread, or square ciabatta buns
4 Tbsp robust extra virgin olive oil
4 fresh Roma tomatoes, halved
Sea salt
12 clams
12 mussels
6 small squid, cleaned
12 jumbo shrimp or 18 small shrimp
1 lb white fish, such as cod, cleaned
6 cups warm fish stock
6-8 strands of saffron
2 sprigs rosemary
1 small red onion
6 cloves garlic
2 red bell peppers
4 Roma tomatoes
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
2 ½ cups short-grain rice
2 tsp sweet paprika (type of Spanish paprika: pimentón dulce)
2 tsp sea salt
Curly parsley for garnish (optional)
Sangria
Pan con Tomate
Paella de Marisco
Directions
Sangria
Slice the orange into rounds, slice the apple and the peach into wedges, and place them all in a shallow 9 x 9 inch baking dish. Slice the strawberries in half, add them to the baking dish, and top with the blackberries.
Drizzle the fruit with the rum and the balsamic. Cover the dish with plastic wrap, place in the fridge, and allow the fruit to macerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.
When ready to serve, carefully pour the juice and the fruit into a large pitcher. Top with wine and stir to combine. Serve in glasses with a few ice cubes topped with some soda water.
Pan con Tomate
Preheat the broiler or grill.
Slice the bread or buns in half and toast well on each side.
Drizzle each piece with ½ Tbsp of olive oil while it’s hot. Rub a tomato half onto each piece, ensuring you get all the way to the edges, squishing as much flesh as you can into the toasted bread. Sprinkle with sea salt and enjoy immediately.
Paella de Marisco
Start by making a fire in a charcoal BBQ with 80-90 bricks. While the grill heats up, prepare all the ingredients. See Oven Method Below
Scrub the clams and mussels to get any bits of dirt off the shell, then trim the beards and rinse them well. Discard any clams or mussels that have broken shells or are not tightly closed. Set aside in a bowl.
Cut the cleaned squid in half and ensure that the beaks have been removed. Then slice them into 1-inch pieces and place them in a separate bowl.
Rinse the shrimp, and remove the shells if desired, leaving on the tails for ease of eating. Place them in a separate bowl.
Rinse and clean the fish, then cut it into large bite-size pieces. Place them in the bowl with the squid. Put all the seafood in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.
Place the stock in a large saucepan and add the saffron threads and rosemary, bring to a simmer then turn down the heat to low to keep the stock warm.
Finely chop the onion and crush the garlic, leaving the cloves in large pieces. Place the onion and garlic in a separate small bowl.
Chop the peppers and tomatoes, and place each in separate bowls as well.
When the fire is hot and the coals are white, place your paella pan on the grill and drizzle in the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and sauté for 2-3 minutes, until tender. Sprinkle them with the 2 tsp salt, add the peppers, and continue to cook, stirring, for an additional 2-3 minutes.
Add the wine vinegar. Allow the onions to soak it all up and scrape up any bits sticking to the pan. Add the tomatoes and sprinkle with the paprika, continuing to stir until the tomatoes are soft and have broken down. If the pan is completely dry, add a little more olive oil. Add in the rice and stir well to ensure that it’s well distributed and incorporated into the vegetables. Spread the rice around the paella pan in an even layer, and then place the pieces of fish and the squid evenly on top.
Gently pour 4 cups of the stock over the rice. It is very important from this point on that you don’t stir the rice. Socarrat is the crispy golden rice that forms at the bottom of the dish, and it won’t form if the rice is stirred.
Let the paella cook for 10-15 minutes uncovered, until the rice is almost completely tender and only has a bit of crunch left and the pan is almost completely dry.
Nestle the clams and mussels evenly around the rice. If you’re using jumbo shrimp with the shell on, then add them now. If you’re using small, shelled shrimp, then wait to add them. Pour the remaining 2 cups of stock over the rice and cook for another 5 minutes, covering the grill with a lid to allow the steam to cook the clams and mussels. If you’re using small, shelled shrimp, add them now. After 3 to 5 minutes, check the rice to see if it’s tender, add a little more stock or water if it still has a crunch to it. If its tender, then cook for an additional 2 minutes to ensure the socarrat is well formed. Remove the paella from the grill, cover with foil, and let sit for 5 minutes. Garnish with the parsley (if using) before serving.
Oven Method
- Preheat your oven to 375°F, and place the oven rack in the lowest position.
Add ¼ c of the olive oil to a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and sauté for 2-3 minutes, until tender. Sprinkle them with the 2 tsp salt, add the peppers, and continue to cook, stirring, for an additional 2-3 minutes.
Add the wine vinegar. Allow the onions to soak it all up and scrape up any bits sticking to the pan. Add the tomatoes and sprinkle with the paprika, continuing to stir until the tomatoes are soft and have broken down. If the pan is completely dry, add a little more olive oil. Add in the rice and stir well to ensure that it’s well distributed and incorporated into the vegetables .
Spread the rice around the paella pan in an even layer, and then place the pieces of fish and the squid evenly on top.
Place the paella pan in the oven, gently and carefully pour in the stock, and then bake for 20 minutes. Check the rice to see if it’s tender and if the bottom is caramelizing.
Add in the shellfish 5 minutes before the paella is finished to ensure the seafood doesn’t’ over cook.
Add more stock if needed or remove from the oven if done. Let stand for 5 minutes, then serve and store as directed above.
Recipe Note
Pan con Tomate:
Keep the leftover tomato skins to add to vegetable stock for extra flavor and a touch of color.
Note: There is lots of controversy over whether the tomato should be cut in half and rubbed on the bread directly or if the tomato should be grated, spooned onto the bread, and then rubbed in. Emily loves to serve this dish deconstructed. She puts a basket of freshly toasted bread, whole tomatoes, a bottle of olive oil, a dish of sea salt, and a little paring knife on the table so that everyone has the chance to make their own. If I’m feeling adventurous, I’ll add a bottle of Sherry vinegar and a few cloves of garlic to the table, letting people play with different flavor combinations.
Paella de Marisco
Seafood paella doesn’t keep well, so enjoy it the day it is made. That said, with the seafood removed, the rice will keep up for to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.