- Preparation time
- 20 mins
- Cooking time
- 40 mins
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Serves
- 8 people
- Meal course
- Dinner
- Posted by
- Posted on
- August 29, 2016
Not only is this Paella entirely stunning to look at, it’s also entirely delectable to eat and relatively easy to master.
This is the type of dish you present at a special occasion. Because of course anything with seafood is always a little bit of luxury, but the rice also makes it go further, so it’s a fabulous way to feed spectacular seafood to a crowd, for less.
Enter the room with this bad girl in your arms and watch the heads turn…
Enjoy with a large salad, wine and a few of your favourite people! X
500g cleaned Calamari, thinly sliced into rings and tentacles ***
500gms Pippies or Clams
500gm peeled green king prawns – leave at least 2 per person with the heads and tails still attached (so you can suck that sweet, sweet brain juice)
2 cups Calasparra or Arborio rice
1 large brown onion – finely chopped
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
1 red capsicum – finely chopped
1 cup dry white wine
1lt good quality Fish stock
400g can crushed tomatoes
3 tbs smoked paprika
Pinch saffron steeped in ½ cup boiling water
Salt & Pepper to taste
Handful of Coriander leaves
1 lemon cut into wedges
- Heat up your paella or saute pan over a medium-high heat. Toss the calamari in oil and quickly brown in the pan. Remove immediately from the pan. Add the Onion, Capsicum & Garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the veg is starting to break down, then add the Smoked Paprika and cook for a further minute.
- Deglaze pan with white wine and cook for 1 minute to reduce slightly then add back the Calamari, Tomatoes, Saffron water & season well to taste. Then carefully pour over the rice and add the stock (making sure the rice is all covered), reduce the heat to low and allow it to cook without stirring for around 20 minutes until rice is almost cooked (this step can sometimes take a little longer depending on your stove top) but still Al dente and the liquid has reduced considerably. Don’t worry if it appears to be sticking, this will sort itself out when the rice rests later. If needed, bring the rice in from the sides of the pan occasionally.
- Add the pippes and cook for 3 minutes, before adding the Prawns. Cook for no more than 2 minutes depending on size (they will continue cooking in the steam as the rice rests). The Paella should now appear done with only a small amount of stock.
- Turn off the heat, cover completely with foil, and put in a warm place for 20 minutes. This step is very important it allows the rice to relax and soak up all the flavours. When ready to serve, sprinkle over the coriander leaves, and serve in the middle of the table with lemon wedges placed around the rim of the pan.
- *** TIP: Calamari must be cooked either super quick or slowly braised otherwise it has a tendency to become rubbery and quite inedible. Make sure you slice the calamari tubes into super thin rings no wider than 3mm (a good tip is to chuck it in the freezer for an hour to harden up before cutting), this way the protein will have a chance to properly break down and become tender in the paella.
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