Ingredients
Paella
- 1 1/2 cups Spanish short-grain rice 300 g; not instant or brown rice
- 10 1/2 oz raw shrimp 300 g peeled and deveined weight
- 9 oz cleaned squid 250 g; tubes cut into thin rings
- 3 tablespoons olive oil 45 ml
- 1 red bell pepper 150 g trimmed; sliced into thin strips
- 2 ripe tomatoes 300 g; grated, skins discarded
- 3 cloves garlic 9 g; finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 2 g
- 1 pinch saffron threads about 0.1 g
- 4 1/2 cups vegetable or fish stock 1080 ml, hot; keep a little extra hot water or stock available if needed
Optional finish
- fine salt only if needed after tasting your stock
- 1 lemon cut into wedges
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Equipment
- 14-inch paella pan or wide shallow skillet use a burner suited to its base
- Small saucepan
- Box grater
- Instant-read thermometer
- Foil for a loose resting cover
Instructions
- Warm the stock in a saucepan with the saffron; keep it hot. Pat the thawed shrimp and squid dry. Taste the stock and add optional salt only if needed.
- Heat the oil in the paella pan over medium heat. Add the pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring. Add the garlic for 30 seconds, then stir in the paprika and immediately add the grated tomatoes so the paprika does not burn. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the tomato thickens.
- Stir the rice through the tomato mixture for 1 minute. Pour in the hot saffron stock and spread the rice into an even layer. Bring to a steady simmer. After this, avoid stirring the rice.
- Cook uncovered over medium to medium-high heat for about 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue for 5 minutes. Rotate the pan carefully if your burner heats unevenly.
- Nestle the raw shrimp and squid into the rice. Cook for another 5–8 minutes, until the rice is tender with a slight bite, most liquid is absorbed, and the seafood reaches 145°F/63°C. Shrimp should be opaque and firm. If the rice remains hard and the pan is dry, add a small splash of hot stock or water around the edge and cook a little longer; do not force a crust by burning the bottom.
- Remove from the heat and cover loosely with foil for 5 minutes. Serve with optional lemon wedges and parsley, dividing the seafood evenly among four portions.
- Transfer leftovers promptly to shallow containers and refrigerate at 40°F/4°C or colder within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F/32°C. Use within 3–4 days and reheat to 165°F/74°C. Add a small splash of water when reheating; the seafood may become firmer.
Nutrition
Calories: 527kcalCarbohydrates: 71gProtein: 30.5gFat: 13.5gSaturated Fat: 2.1gSodium: 782mgFiber: 2gSugar: 4.9g
Video
Notes
Contains crustacean shellfish (shrimp) and mollusks (squid); fish stock may add fish allergens. Check stock labels. Nutrition is an estimate per one-quarter of the batch, using 300 g dry rice, 300 g raw shrimp, 250 g raw squid, 45 ml olive oil, the stated vegetables and 1080 ml regular vegetable stock. The calculation uses USA Rice dry-rice data, NOAA raw-seafood data, FDA vegetable data and manufacturer oil/stock labels. Optional salt, lemon and parsley are excluded; lower-sodium stock changes the estimate substantially. Cost allocates amounts used and is not a live store quote. Spain on a Fork's embedded seafood paella video was published June 5, 2024. It demonstrates the same shallow-pan seafood-and-rice approach; this card uses its own four-serving quantities and vegetable-stock option. Follow this card's measurements and doneness checks.