Spanish Seafood Paella

I am always so impressed when I see a large Paella pan filled with red rice, succulent pink shrimp, black mussels opened up, sausage and chicken, topped with parsley and lemon wedges. There is something so romantic and festive about cooking this large dish over an open fire in a special pan with a large group of friends.

I don’t have a Paella pan, I am a little embarrassed to admit, but I still think my Paella comes out pretty good in my large skillet. I usually don’t feed large crowds, rather just a handful of good friends.

My first true Paella experience was on a cruise ship on the Lido deck. We passengers lounged around the pool reading books and getting suntans while the cruise ship “lido deck” hosts conducted a massive Paella cook off contest. They used large Paella pans and delighted us with their shenanigans. We were happy to be “taste-testers” and proclaimed it “Delicious!”

Since then I have made Paella several times for my visiting guests here in Italy. It is easy to get all of the ingredients but I do allow myself certain substitutions. I substitute our local sausage for the Spanish Chorizo and I like to amp up the heat by adding more chilis.

It is always an elegant and festive dish when served with a local white wine. It can also easily be a mid week dish to make if you remove the mussels and just cook it up with the other meats. But when you really want to wow your guests, its all in!

I also made a revision to cooking the mussels, if you cook the mussels in a separate pan with a 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup white wine in the beginning of the cooking process of the Paella, you can use the broth for your rice, it really adds to the flavor! The mussels will add their own flavor and juice but don’t worry, it doesn’t taste too fishy, my husband doesn’t like “fishy” and he lived it this way. Also, if you use large shrimp or langostino with the heads on you may want to also cook hem in a little olive oil, butter and garlic separately, this way you can arrange them on top like I did in the opening photo.

Spanish Seafood Paella

Ingredients:

olive oil

1 yellow onion

1 red bell pepper

2 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

3 cups mussels stock (We will be making it)

1 can (12 ounce) diced tomatoes (Or 2 cups fresh diced tomatoes)

1 teaspoon saffron or 1 packet

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

a couple of dashes of hot chili flakes

1 teaspoon salt (if needed, depends on how salty your broth is)

8 ounces Spanish Chorizo (I used regular sausage that I sliced, don’t substitute for Mexican Chorizo, that will dissolve, we want sausage chunks)

1 pound raw deveined and shelled shrimp (or large shrimp or Langostino with the heads and shells on if you like it better this way *)

2 chicken breasts cut into cubes

1/4 pound fresh mussels (remove the beards if they have any and discard any with cracked shells) *

fresh chopped parsley

2 lemons

Instructions:

Place 2” of water in a large stock pan turn up the heat
Add the cleaned mussels, bring to a boil, cover and cook until the mussels open up (about five minutes)
Remove the mussels from the broth, pour the broth into a small sauce pan and add the saffron. keep on the stove hot, but not boiling, this is for your rice
Heat a Paella pan or a large flat skillet with oil cook the sausage and chicken until cooked through, remove from the pan and reserve in a bowl.
Add more oil to the pan and sauté the onions and bell pepper
Add rice and stir together
Add the garlic stir until fragrant
Add the tomatoes, stirring and cooking it together, add the paprika, salt, chili flakes, chicken and sausage and continue to sauté until the everything is coated with the spices and ingredients.
Add 1/2 cup of the mussel stock and saffron to the rice in the skillet and bring to a simmer, lower heat to medium and cook for 20-40 minutes stirring occasionally. Continue to add the liquid in 1/2 cup increments and stir uncovered until the rice is cooked.
Meanwhile add butter to a new skillet and melt.
Place whole shrimp in the skillet, add 1/4 cup of marsala and set on fire with a lighter. It will flame fabulously so stand back! This will cook off the alcohol
Add garlic and cook until fragrant (just a few minutes)
When the rice is “al dente”, arrange the cooked mussels and shrimp on top
Arrange lemon wedges on skillet and sprinkle with chopped parsley.