Seafood Paella EN

In Spain we tried many paellas and my favourites were the homemade ones.

The best paella cook for me is Ginés, the husband of my friend Eva! He made us a paella with pork ribs and chicken ..... wonderful !!!

In Greece we believe that paella should only be with seafood but is not true! We also believe that it should be seafood with rice and normally it is rice with some seafood.

The rice on the fry pan should be almost a layer and I am still trying to do it. That is why they use a very wide pan.

It takes a lot of practice to learn the right way and become a paella cook (I'm still learning).

Fish and seafood broth is very important!

What I do is ask for the bones of the fish I buy filleted and put them in the freezer raw.

In this paella we will need the bones of a fish and the heads of the shrimps that we will chop.

Just boil for 15' the bones of the fish with 1 small onion and half leek and for another 10' with the heads of the shrimps salt, pepper and saffron.

Today's recipe is for two people and I made it in a pan with 30cm diameter.

If it is for first course then it is for 4 people.

Ingredients:

2 crayfish

4 large shrimps

3 medium squid cut into medium pieces

6 large shrimp tails in medium pieces

200g Arborio rice (the ideal is Bomba rice)

6 mussels (I used frozen)

About 600ml broth:

Bones and head of 1 fish

1 onion

1 leek

Heads from the 6 shrimps that we will chop for the recipe

Safran

Salt

Pepper

For the sofrito (sauteed vegetables "sauce")

1 garlic clove

1/2 chopped green pepper

1/2 chopped red pepper

2 ñoras (Spanish small peppers) or 1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 tomato grated

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper

For serving

1 lemon

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 - 1 clove of garlic

For the broth:

In a small saucepan, boil the fish bones, the whole onion and the leek in large pieces in 1 1/2 cup water for about 15 '. Add the shrimp heads, salt, pepper and a pinch of saffron and cook for another 10'. If necessary, add water. Strain and about 600ml of broth should be left. If it is more, boil for a while longer. The broth should fall into the paella hot.

For the sofrito:

In a small saucepan, lightly sauté the garlic, add the peppers and sauté some more.

Add the tomato, parsley and paprika, salt and pepper. Continue cooking for 3-4 minutes and after all the ingredients have been cooked, remove from the heat and blend with a hand blender.

Paella:

In a pan with a diameter of 30cm, sauté the crayfish on high heat with some oil. Take them out of the pan and keep them for later.

Saute the shrimp in the same oil. Keep them in a plate for later.

Saute the squid in the same oil for a very short time. Add the rice and fry for 2' more.

Add the blended sofrito and after 2-3 minutes add the broth. Spread the rice and from now on do not mix the food at all. Once the broth has started to boil, add the chopped shrimp and lower the heat to medium-high. Taste and add salt and pepper.

The rice I use needs 15-17' to be cooked. If yours says more minutes you should add some more water.

5 minutes before the end of cooking, place the crayfish and shrimp symmetrically on the paella.

2 minutes before the end of the cooking, place the mussels symmetrically.

When the paella is cooked, all the broth should have been absorbed. Cover it with a lid or a kitchen towel and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Add the garlic to the mayonnaise (as much as you like) and cut the lemon into eighths.

Before serving the paella, we should add some lemon juice and mix it.

On the plate everyone will get a small amount of mayonnaise and with each paella bite they will get a small amount of mayonnaise with garlic if they want.