Seafood Paella

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, sliced into strips
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 200 g tinned tomatoes, grated or crushed
• a good pinch of saffron threads
• 900 ml hot fish stock
• 320 g bomba or calasparra rice
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 250 g large raw prawns, shell on
• 400 g mussels, scrubbed and debearded
• 200 g squid, cut into rings
• 100 g peas
• a handful of parsley, chopped
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Method

1. Start the sofrito

   Heat the oil in a wide, shallow paella pan and cook the onion and red pepper gently until soft and sweet. Take your time here — this base carries the whole dish.

   10 min

2. Build the base

   Add the garlic and smoked paprika and stir for thirty seconds, then the tomato. Cook it down until it darkens and no longer smells raw.

   8 min

3. Infuse the stock

   Crumble the saffron into the hot stock and leave it to steep while you carry on. Adding threads straight to the pan wastes most of their colour and scent.

4. Toast the rice

   Stir the rice through the sofrito for a minute so every grain is coated, then pour in the wine and let it evaporate. Add the stock, season, and spread the rice into an even layer.

   2 min

5. Simmer undisturbed

   Cook at a steady simmer without stirring — stirring releases starch and turns paella into risotto. After about 10 minutes, push in the prawns, mussels and squid and scatter over the peas.

   18 min

6. Make the socarrat

   When the liquid is gone and the rice is just tender, turn the heat up for a minute or two until you hear it crackle and smell toasting. That caramelised base is the socarrat, and it is what people fight over.

   2 min

7. Rest and serve

   Take the pan off the heat, cover loosely with foil and rest for five minutes. Discard any mussels that stayed shut, then scatter with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

   5 min