I am trying to cut meat and eat plant-based but when it comes to seafood, I am very weak. O cannot say no to anything with prawns. I am very successful in ditching meat. I eat poultry occasionally. But today I will give a great paella recipe that you can cook easily when you are having a dinner party. So, don’t eat seafood often for your health and for the environment. But every once in a while you can cook prawns. 

Seafood Paella Ingredients

8 large prawns, (please get them from sustainable sources)

750 g monkfish, (also from sustainable sources)

500 g squid, (cleaned and obtained from sustainable sources)

125 g mussels, (debearded and from sustainable sources)

125 g clams, (debearded and  from sustainable sources)

4 peppers, 2 green and 2 red 

A glass of olive oil (appx 200 ml)

1 kg paella rice

1 large pinch of saffron

1 teaspoon paprika

extra virgin olive oil

** PRAWN STOCK

1 onion

6 cloves of garlic

olive oil

1 tablespoon paprika

2 fresh bay leaves

shells and heads from large prawns – around half a kilo.

A glass of dry white wine (around 200ml) 

2 lt fish stock

** SOFRITO

3 large onions

3 cloves of garlic

A little olive oil

Paprika

Half a glass of dry white wine (around 100 ml)

6 tomatoes (preferably ripe)

Seafood Paella Method

Cook the stock first. Chop the onion, peel the garlic but do not chop, you need them whole.  Put some olive oil in a large pan and sauté the onion, garlic, paprika, bay leaves and prawn parts for 10 minutes over medium heat. Stir.. Add the wine and fish stock, lower the heat when it boils. Simmer for 30 minutes and set aside until needed. You will reheat the stock when you are making the paella. 

To make the sofrito, chop the onions and garlic, cook them in a pan over medium-low heat w/olive oil. Sprinkle paprika. Fry until golden. Then pour the wine, cook for 2 minutes, grate in the tomatoes, cook for 5 more minutes then lower the heat. Leave to simmer for half an hour, when it is thick like sauce it is ready. Set aside. .

For paella, start with washing the mussels and clams. Get the peppers. Deseed and roughly dice. Take the monkfish, cut it into large chunks, slice the squid. Take out the large paella pan and heat half of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the peppers, stir for 5 minutes, and transfer them to a plate, set aside. Toss the fish on the pan, and cook for 10 minutes.Do not forget to season it well. Set aside the fish and cook the squid in the pan for 2 minutes and set it aside, too.

Saute the rice with the remaining olive oil in a pan. Stir for 5 minutes over medium heat. Heat the prawn stock but do not boil. Get the sofrito, cook it with the rice for three minutes,  pour in the hot prawn stock, cook until it is boiling. 

Season the rice with saffron and paprika, reduce the heat to low. Let the paella simmer, but do not stir. Cook it for 12 minutes, rice shall absorb the liquid.

Put the peppers, monkfish, squid, prawns, mussels and clams on the top of the paella evenly. Cook the paella for 10 minutes. You need to turn the prawns halfway through.  When the mussels and clams have opened, your paella is ready.

Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and cover the pan to rest for 5 minutes then serve.

Bon appetit.