Paella de Marisco Valenciana

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Kitchen scale
• •38 to 42cm paellera for 400g rice
• •Wide gas burner, paella ring, or two-burner stovetop setup
• •Small saucepan for hot fumet
• •Fine sieve
• •Box grater
• •Clean kitchen cloth

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the shellfish

   Scrub the mussels and pull away the beards. Purge the clams, if using, in cold salted water for 30 minutes, then lift them out instead of pouring the grit back over them. Discard any mussel or clam with a cracked shell, and any open one that does not close when tapped. Nadie nace sabiendo, but bad shellfish is not where we practice.

2. 2

   Heat the fumet

   Put the fish fumet in a saucepan with the crumbled saffron and bring it to a bare simmer. Add 6g of the salt, taste, and keep the rest nearby. The fumet should taste a little fuller than soup because the rice will drink it. Keep it hot, but do not let it boil away.

   If your fumet is already salty, add less salt now. If it tastes thin, simmer prawn shells in it for 15 minutes, then strain. A weak stock gives you pale rice no matter how carefully you cook it.
3. 3

   Open the shells

   Ladle 100ml of the hot fumet into a small covered pan, add the mussels and clams, and cook just until they open, 3 to 5 minutes. Lift them out and reserve them. Strain the shellfish liquor through a fine sieve back into the fumet, then measure the hot liquid back to 1.2L with a little water if needed. Discard any shells that stay closed.

4. 4

   Sear the seafood

   Set a 38 to 42cm paellera over a wide burner or across two burners and heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Sear the prawns or langoustines for about 45 seconds per side, just until the shells turn red and glossy, then lift them out. Add the squid or cuttlefish with a pinch of salt and cook until its liquid evaporates and the edges begin to catch lightly.

5. 5

   Build the sofrito

   Lower the heat to medium. Add the garlic to the squid and stir for 30 seconds, then add the grated tomato, ñora flesh or paste, and sweet pimentón. Cook, stirring often, until the tomato turns dark, thick, and almost jammy, 10 to 12 minutes. This is the sweetness of the dish. Leave it wet and the rice boils in tomato water.

6. 6

   Toast the rice

   Scatter the bomba rice into the paellera and stir it through the sofrito for 1 to 2 minutes, until every grain is glossy with oil and tomato. Spread the rice evenly across the pan. Pésalo, no lo adivines: 400g rice in this size pan gives you the thin layer a paella needs.

7. 7

   Add fumet once

   Pour in all 1.2L of hot fumet at once. Move the rice only enough to level it across the pan, then stop. From this point, do not stir. Boil lively for 8 minutes, rotating the pan if your burner heats unevenly. Stirring now works the starch loose and takes you toward a creamy arroz, a fine thing, but not this dish.

   The liquid should bubble across the whole pan, not only in the center. If using two burners, turn the pan a quarter turn every few minutes.
8. 8

   Finish the seafood

   Lower the heat to medium-low. Arrange the seared prawns over the rice and cook 5 minutes, then tuck the opened mussels and clams on top so they warm without toughening. Cook another 4 to 6 minutes, until the liquid has disappeared, the surface looks dry, and the rice is just tender with a small bite at the center. If the pan dries before the rice is ready, add 60ml hot water or fumet around the edge, never through the middle, and do not stir.

9. 9

   Catch the socarrat

   When the rice is nearly dry, raise the heat for 60 to 90 seconds. Listen for the fine crackle at the bottom and smell for toasted rice, not burning. Slip a spoon at the edge to check for a dark golden crust. Take the pan off the heat, cover with a clean cloth, and rest 5 to 10 minutes. Serve from the paellera with lemon wedges at the side if you like, but taste the rice first.

Chef Tips

• •Use a 38 to 42cm paellera for 400g rice. If the rice sits too deep, it cooks up heavy and wet; paella needs width. On a home stove, straddle two burners and rotate the pan every few minutes.
• •Bomba is forgiving because it drinks more stock without bursting. Calasparra is the first substitute. Arborio works only at a pinch; use 1.05L fumet for 400g rice and expect a creamier grain, not quite the same dry finish.
• •Fish fumet matters more than a grand pile of seafood. Make it from fish bones, prawn shells, a little leek or onion, parsley stems, and water, simmered gently for 25 minutes and strained. Do not use chicken stock here.
• •No chorizo in a Valencian paella. It does not make the dish richer; it covers the seafood and turns the rice into another thing. Peas are not automatic here either.
• •If fresh tomatoes are pale and hard, use good canned crushed tomato. It cooks down faster and tastes cleaner than a sad fresh one. Sourcing wins.
• •Bring the pan to the table after the rest. Paella is not a dish to hold under a lid for half an hour; the rice softens and the socarrat loses its bite.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the fish fumet 1 day ahead and refrigerate it, or freeze it for up to 2 months. Reheat it fully before adding it to the rice.
• •Clean the squid and grate the tomato a few hours ahead. Keep them covered and cold until cooking.
• •Purge clams the same day you cook and scrub mussels shortly before they go in the pan. Shellfish is not a place for guesswork.
• •The sofrito can be cooked a day ahead and chilled, then warmed in the paellera before adding the rice. The rice itself must be cooked fresh. Have people wait for the paella, not the other way around.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 450g)