Paella
A Base paella recipe that acts as a base for you to play with
Servings: 12 people
Ingredients
- 4.5 l clam or seafood broth
- 3 tsp thread saffron
- 2 kg firm-fleshed fish
- 3 dozen mussels
- 24 large prawns in shells
- 3 small squid sliced
- Spanish sea salt
- 16 cloves garlic crushed
- 3 tbsp fresh thyme
- 6 tsp sweet smoked paprika
- olive oil
- 3 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 bunch spring onions finely chopped
- 3 red bell pepper finely chopped
- 3 large tomato skinned and chopped
- 750 g Bomba paella rice or Calasparra paella rice
- Lemon wedges
Instructions
Preparation
- Heat broth in a large pot. Stir in saffron.
- Pat fish and shrimp dry with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and let sit 10 minutes.
- Use a mortar and pestle to mash parsley, garlic, thyme and 1/8 tsp salt into a paste; stir in paprika. Add water if necessary to form a paste.
Cook the Paella
- Heat 6 tbsp of oil in 15" paella pan over medium high heat and quickly brown the fish 1-2 minutes. Do not fully cook. Remove to warm platter.
- Add remaining 2 tbsp of oil, onion, scallions and bell pepper to paella pan and cook until the vegetables are slightly softened. Raise heat, add tomato and cook until it becomes sauce-like, 2 to 5 minutes.
- Pour in the hot broth and bring to a boil. Sprinkle the rice evenly across the pan. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring rice and rotating pan occasionally.
- Add all reserved fish (but not prawns). Stir in parsley paste. Taste for salt. Do not stir after this point. Lower the heat, continue to simmer until rice is no longer soupy but enough liquid remains to continue cooking the rice (about 10 min.). Add extra liquid if necessary.
Finishing it Off
- Arrange prawns, squid and mussels over rice, placing edges of mussel shells so they open facing up. Cook, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes until rice is almost done.
- Remove pan from the heat and cover with foil. Let sit 10 minutes. Garnish with lemon wedges and serve with fresh alioli.
Notes
This recipe is taken from the La Tienda website, these are the folks I got my paella pan from
https://www.tienda.com/recipes/seafood-paella.html