Quick and easy seafood paella

Preparing this delicious Spanish dish was always on my “to-do” list. But I always felt intimidate it by all the ingredients and the steps it looks hard and complicated and I will end up with a big mushy big mountain of overcooked rice.

And it turns out I had nothing to worry about! This dish is very easy to make and incredibly versatile.

I tried few recipe version before I decide on an easy recipe with easy steps but you can really use any combination you have on hand. Mine was based on keeping this recipe simple with easy to find ingredients and pregnancy friendly with no processed fatty kind of meats but yet filled with delicious fragrant saffron rice and packed with seafood and veggies.

This is a terrific mid-week lunch and the left overs are also great to grab for dinner and it is still also very impressive as a dish to serve to guests.

So what is paella?

Paella is a Spanish dish. It is a beautiful yellow rice dish made traditionally with Spanish bomba rice and seasoned with saffron garlic and onion. Add to this some colorful veggies and some protein, often chicken, seafood or chorizo or some of all the three.

Now while bomba rice and the chorizo is the traditional choice it is not the easiest rice to find and chorizo is a Spanish sausage that is processed, high in calorie, high in fat and high in sodium kind of food that I would like to avoid during pregnancy or any other normal day of my life honestly. I tried this recipe and I however find a delicious paella CAN be made without any of the fancy stuff. I substituted the Spanish rice for risotto rice because it is similar in shape and easier to find but you can totally also use long grain rice I tried both and both turned out good, but the risotto rice give similar texture to the authentic paella.

For the protein to make this recipe easy and not overwhelming I stick with one type of protein seafood. I mixed some shrimp, fish and squid. You can mix and match you can add chicken to the mix, or any kind of seafood you like. It is really a very versatile recipe that you adjust to your taste but my version is just a simple easy way to start cooking paella without having to overwhelm yourself with a lot of steps and ingredients. Especially if you meal paper many meals at the same day!

The paella is a full balanced meal that doesn’t need any side dish but you can serve it with a simple green salad on the side to keep it fresh and balanced. So let’s get started!

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Quick and easy seafood paella

Preparing this delicious Spanish dish was always on my “to-do” list. This is a terrific mid-week lunch and the left overs are also great to grab for dinner and it is still also very impressive as a dish to serve to guests.

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp neutral vegetable oil ^{see notes}
• 300 g shrimp or prawns of your choice,peeled and divined ^{(see notes)}
• 250 g fresh sea bream fish fillet cleaned and cut into medium fillet cubes ^{(see notes)}
• 250 g fresh squid cleaned and cut into rings ^{(see notes)}
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup capsicum diced (red, green, orange, yellow any color of your choice)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp sweet Spanish paprika
• 1 tsp turmeric grounded
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ½ cup tomato pure
• 1 cup risotto rice ^{(of any rice of your choice)}
• 2 ½ cup fish broth
• ¼ tsp saffron threads
• ¼ cup chopped fresh coriander
• ¼ cup Chopped fresh parsley
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

• Step 00: if you are preparing the fish stock like me at home, you can start first with it or you can even prepare in advance the night before or days before and store it in the freezer. Wash the rice and soak in water for 30 minutes.
• Step 01: heat oil on medium heat in a wide paella pan or normal similar pan. add your shrimp and cook for 2 minutes until they are cooked and pink. Remove the shrimp and add the fish and cook till crispy golden edges. Remove the fish and add the squid pieces and cook till golden brown edges. Set aside all cooked seafood.
• Step 02: in the same pan, add the diced onions and cook till tender and transparent. Add the garlic and cook through for 30 seconds until you smell the garlic. Add the chopped capsicum and cook for 3 minutes till tender.
• Step 03: add tomato paste and mix till it coats all the veggies in the pan. Add salt and all the seasonings and mix till everything is coated. Add the tomato puree and mix till you start to see some bubbles. Add washed and drained rice to the mixture and mix.
• Step 04: add the fish broth (warm), and mix. bring the mixture to boil. Lower the heat Add the saffron and simmer the mixture uncovered for 5 minutes.
• Step 05: after 5 minutes, add the chopped coriander and mix it with the rice mixture. Add back the cooked seafood. Cover and simmer on lowest heat for 7 minutes.
• Step 06: after the 7 minutes pass, turn off the heat and remove the lid add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and the freshly chopped parsley give it a stir and cover back. Let it rest covered with heat off for extra 5 to 10 minutes.
• Serve with some freshly squeezed lemon and garnish with some parsley, enjoy!!

Notes

For the seafood: You can mix and match with seafood as you like, and you can also add chicken and sausage. Just use the same steps and cook all protein first and set aside and start preparing your rice.
For the oil: in the traditional recipe they use olive oil but I prefer to use a neutral vegetable oil that has higher burning temperature like rapeseed oil. You can use any oil of your choice.
For the rice: you can use the Spanish traditional one. And for a similar shape and texture use the risotto rice it is easier to use and if you happen to have any other kind of rice you can also use.
Leftovers: you can store leftovers in airtight glass container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Just make sure it is completely cold before you close the lid.

Author: annacookingconcept

Course: dinner, lunch, Main Course, seafood

Cuisine: spanish

Keyword: paella, seafood, spanish food