I confess I am a lover of shellfish above all things—especially in paella. I know it’s pricey and that is the reason we eat it less often, but when we do, it feels really special. The beauty of paella is that you can pretty much use any ingredients, but if I had to choose one style of paella over any other I would go for a shellfish paella made with a rich and intense shellfish stock. This is a show stopper!

　　This recipe was excerpted from 'Paella' by Omar Allibhoy. Buy the full book on Amazon.

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What you’ll need

　　Chevron

　　Chevron

　　Saffron

　　$10 At Burlap and Barrel

　　Paella Pan

　　$52 $40 At Amazon

　　Ñora Peppers

　　$8 $7 At Amazon

　　Calasparra Rice

　　$26 At Amazon

　　

Ingredients

Serves 4

　　8 cups shellfish stock

　　0.4 g (large pinch) saffron

　　½ cup extra virgin olive oil

　　2 dried ñora peppers

　　2 tomatoes

　　300 g (10 oz.) squid, cleaned and roughly chopped

　　8 garlic cloves, finely chopped

　　1 tsp. sweet smoked paprika

　　2¼ cups Spanish paella rice

　　250 g (9 oz.) clams, cleaned

　　500 g (18 oz.) prawns or shrimp, heads and shells removed

　　500 g (18 oz.) langoustines

　　Salt, to taste

　　

Step 1

Heat the shellfish stock in a saucepan over a low heat and crumble in the saffron. Keep warm over the lowest setting.

　　

Step 2

Heat the olive oil in a paella pan and fry the ñora peppers over a low heat for 2 minutes. Remove the peppers from the oil and blend to a paste with the tomatoes using a blender or food processor; set aside for later.

　　

Step 3

Increase the heat to high, add the squid to the pan and sauté for about 7 minutes, or until golden in color. Season with salt. Add the garlic, closely followed by the paprika and the tomato and ñora pepper paste. Cook for about 2 minutes until the oil starts to separate from the tomato paste. Add the rice and stir for a couple of minutes, making sure all the rice gets coated with the oil.

　　

Step 4

Add the hot stock to the pan and give it a good stir to distribute the rice evenly. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Cook over a high heat for the first 10 minutes, then over a medium heat for 3 minutes, without stirring. Add the clams, prawns and langoustines, gently folding them through the rice and shaking the pan to flatten the paella. Let it cook for a further 4 minutes, without stirring, then let it rest off the heat for 5 minutes before serving.

　　Excerpted with permission from Paella by Omar Allibhoy published by Quadrille Publishing, July 2023. Buy the full book from Amazon or Hardie Grant.