Hi everyone, today I am going to show you how to make Spanish seafood paella(paella de marisco).
Let's go over the ingredients first. It's a complicated dish, so we have a lot to prep.
The two main ingredients are seafood and Spanish style Chorizo, along with some chicken thighs.
First, let's talk about the most important ingredient in this recipe, rice.
I bought this online, and it’s paella rice from Spain.
The grain is very short, with a relatively high content of starch.
If you cannot find this paella rice, you may substitute with Italian risotto rice, or our Dongbei rice with shorter grain.
The hero of a paella is saffron.
You can never make a real paella without saffron.
It's a little expensive, but you don’t need a lot. Today I am making a paella for three, so just a little pinch of it will be enough.
Set saffron and rice aside for later.
Now let's do some prep for the veggies.
Press the garlic.
Dice red bell pepper.
Peel red onion and chop into small pieces.
You can use white onion instead.
Chop up fresh parsley.
Do as we always do in my videos, separate the leaves and stem first, and then chop.
I will use some of it first in the dish, and then the rest of it will be saved for later as a garnish.
Put the tomatoes in boiling water, score across the top and then peel.
Get rid of the stem head, and then cut into small pieces.
All veggies are done, and set them aside. Next, slice Spanish Chorizo.
This Spanish sausage is called Chorizo. It's aromatic and it's full of spices, so it will add a lot of flavors into the rice.
Next up, seafood. Today I have mussels, squid, scallop and large shrimps. You can choose whatever seafood you like in your paella.
First, clean up mussels. There are some thread-like stuff attached on the shell, remove them and then scrub the outside until they are clean.
And then, pull the organs and guts away inside squid, peel off purplish skin to leave only the white meat, and then cut into rings.
There is a hard beak over its eyes, and discard it as well.
As for scallops, they come pretty clean already from the market. But check again and cut away some black tissues and organs if any.
Devein the large shrimps with kitchen scissors.
Use a toothpick to remove the main central vein inside the shrimp. Clean and strain everything once all the seafood are ready, and set aside.
Finally, we finish all the prep work. Now let's get ready to cook.
Here I am using a traditional paella pan, which is larger than a common skillet. You can use a skillet instead, but choose one that is shallow and wide.
My paella pan is about 30cm in diameter, so I can make 3 servings at a time.
Preheat the pan, add in 2 tbs. of olive oil.
Add in diced onion.
When onion becomes translucent and browned after 2-3 mins, add in garlic.
Add in chopped parsley as well.
Remember to save some for final garnish.
Give it a little stir, and add diced sweet pepper.
And diced tomatoes, stir together in the pan.
Cook over medium heat until fragrant, and then add in smoked paprika.
You can use regular paprika here.
Or chili powder. I am using smoked paprika for a little smoked flavor in it.
Now add rice and saffron.
Just add in raw rice, and give it a little stir.
Move them around the pan so that can coat more sauce.
Pour in a little white wine.
Add in Spanish chorizo coins.
Stir them in and allow the alcohol to evaporate.
When the alcohol is almost gone, add in stock. I am using a seafood stock here, but you can use chicken stock instead.
A seafood stock is made of fish bones and shrimp shells.
Heat until warm, save a little seafood stock for later, about 50-100ml.
Pay attention to the rice, and add in stock to adjust if needed. But don’t add again and again, you'd better add in the right amount of stock at a time.
Season with salt and black pepper.
Reduce the heat to low to cook for about 10-20 mins.
Do not move or flip the mixture during the cooking process otherwise the starch will come out from rice, and that will make your paella very thick.
You can turn the pan to ensure an even distribution of the heat.
Wait until all liquid is absorbed by the rice, and then arrange the seafood on top.
At the stage, the rice is not completely cooked through yet, but no worries, because we are going to cook it for a bit longer.
Arrange seafood on top, and sprinkle some pees.
Turn up the heat for now.
Flip those seafood in the rice once in a while.
Rotate the pan to evenly distribute the heat.
Cook for about 10 mins until all the seafood is cooked, and mussels are open.
If you like to make a good presentation, but you cannot move everything around, then you will need a lid to cover.
Well I am not a presentation home cook, so I like to move the seafood around just to cook them evenly.
Once cooked, add in some lemon wedges, and sprinkle chopped parsley on top. Now it's ready to serve.
You can see that stock is absorbed and reduced, so the dish is not watery. If you have a burnt rice crust at the bottom, that's even better.
Do not make the rice completely cooked, it should be just about cooked but still has a bite.
That's what you are looking for. But you can still cook them through if you like.
The key is the amount of stock in paella. Don’t make it like a rice stew, instead, make it dry with a little burnt crust.
On the plate you can see saffron has "dyed" the rice grain into a very beautiful golden color.
It has a unique aroma as well, which is very important in a paella.
You can play with the ingredients to you liking. If you don’t want seafood in it, add in chicken or any other proteins instead.
I hope everybody enjoy this complicated but very tasteful Spanish Seafood Paella, and thanks for watching.