Kusina Maria

Seafood Paella by Ria Jose

One of Daddy’s favorite dishes is Seafood Paella. When I made it for his birthday, I almost failed because there was just too much seafood that the oven’s heat wasn’t enough to cook the rice.

But I have cooked it twice already. Successfully.

Paella is a specialty from the Valencian region of Spain. This is probably why most Filipinos call and know Paella or similar rice dishes as Valenciana.

A lot of Filipinos have tasted Valenciana prepared the way most Filipinos prepare it, using sticky or glutinous rice and using atsuete and or just tomato sauce for flavor and color.

Traditionally though, Spanish Paella is made with short grain rice and saffron for flavor and color. Saffron, however, is a very expensive spice. In fact, it is considered as THE MOST EXPENSIVE SPICE in the world. I’m lucky though coz my aunts have saffron in their pantries. Hehe!

My family loves seafood so when I make paella, we just do it with seafood and no other meat except chorizo bilbao which we add for extra smoky flavor.

And we use white wine for cooking the seafood coz we’re cool like that. Kidding! We use white wine for cooking most seafood dishes because it eliminates or lessens any weird fishy taste in the seafood.

Here’s an easy seafood paella recipe I use based on the tips of my aunts:

Ria’s Seafood Paella

Good for 10 – 15 persons

Ingredients:

Crabs

• 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 cups white wine
• 3 medium crabs, cut into half
• 1/2 kilo shrimps, unpeeled
• 1/2 kilo squid, cut into rings
• 1/2 kilo clams
• 1 can chorizo bilbao
• 4 cups short grain rice (California or Calrose, you may also use “medium grain” rice)
• 150 g tomato paste
• 2 – 4 cups chicken broth (1 beef broth cube for every cup water)
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 2 pcs hardboiled eggs, sliced
• Spanish paprika
• Saffron
• salt and pepper

Procedure:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a medium sized pot, saute half the garlic and onions in 1/4 cup olive oil. Add the crabs, shrimps, and clams until half-cooked. Add 2 cups white wine. When the clams are opened, add the squid and continue cooking for a few minutes. Season with salt, pepper, Spanish paprika, and saffron. Set aside.


Cooking the Seafood

3. In the paellera, saute the chorizo bilbao using the oil from the can. Move the bilbao to the side of the paellera. Using the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil, saute the remaining garlic and onions. Add the red bell peppers.


Sauteeing the Chorizo Bilbao

4. Add the rice, mix thoroughly with the chorizo, garlic, onions, red bell peppers, and coat every grain with the oil.


Cooking the Rice

5. Drain the liquid from the half-cooked seafood and add it to the paellera. Mix the liquid with the rice. The rice grains will slowly grow a bit bigger. Add the broth and the remaining wine little by little as necessary. Continue adding liquid (broth or wine) while mixing until the rice grains double in size. Add the tomato paste. Season with salt, pepper, Spanish paprika, and saffron.
6. When the rice is almost cooked (about 75% done), turn off the flame. Arrange the seafood on top of the rice.


Arranging the Seafood on the Rice

7. Cover the paellera with foil and bake in the oven for 40 minutes to one hour until cooked.


Cover with Foil

8. Garnish with blanched or sauteed green peas and slices of hardboiled eggs.

Garnish with Green Peas

SERVE and ENJOY!

Notes and tips:
If you find seafood to be expensive, substitute the seafood with pork cubes, chicken cubes, sausage, and ham slices. Instead of cooking these with white wine, saute these with just olive oil using a frying pan or sauce pan.

If you do not have a paellera, do the cooking (Steps 3 – 5) on a heavy bottomed pan or a non-stick pan, then transfer the rice on a glassware that can be put inside the oven (ie Pyrex glassware). Arrange the seafood (or meats) on top, cover with foil, and bake.

If you can’t find saffron, just use the spices you want such as black pepper, Spanish paprika, cumin, or cayenne pepper, and tomato paste.

Do you like this recipe? Or do you have your own version of this recipe? Do tell me about it.