Spanish Paella: The Perfect Romantic Dinner for Two

Paella is a Spanish dish of rice, saffron, seafood, chicken, etc., cooked and served in a large shallow pan (via Google). It’s a delicious dish filled with rich flavor and the comfort of warm rice. Because of my food allergies (I’m allergic to crustaceans), I have only been able to enjoy paella a handful of times…I can’t even recall if I had any when I studied abroad in Spain. 

My husband had the ambitious idea to create our own paella. Cooking a paella seems complicated but it was actually surprisingly fun and simple to make. I reviewed a few recipes online for inspiration and to get a general sense of the cooking instructions. Some ingredients like bomba rice were difficult to find so I used arborio rice, a short-grain rice, that can be found in most supermarkets. I wanted to make a paella that was mostly seafood-based but you can find different varieties with chicken thighs or chorizo as well. 

Tip: When making a recipe that requires sauteing various ingredients separately, turn your oven on the “warming” feature and place your sauteed ingredients on a baking sheet or sizzle pan to keep warm during the meal prep. 

 

Spanish Paella

• Prep Time: 45 minutes
• Total Time: 60-70 minutes
• Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients

• 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
• 3¾ – 4 Cups Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock
• 4oz Diced Pancetta
• 8oz Sole Fillets (or other light white fish)
• 16oz Scallops 
• 1 Dozen Littleneck Clams, scrubbed and rinsed
• ½lb Mussels, scrubbed and rinsed
• 1 Medium Yellow Onion, diced 
• 4 Cloves of Garlic, minced
• 2 Cups Arborio Rice
• 1 Cup Frozen Peas 

You can add just about any veggies or protein that you enjoy into your paella but the key is to cook most ingredients before the final step of adding the rice.

Some of my favorite kitchen items used during this meal are my Le Creuset pan and sizzle pans. My Le Creuset pan is a workhorse — I use it on the stovetop to saute and grill but I also use it in the oven to bake and braise. It’s probably one of my most prized possessions. Now the sizzle pans, this an item that you see behind the scenes in a restaurant kitchen; they don’t take up a lot of storage space but they surprisingly fit medium to large cuts of meat/fish or large amounts of veggies. Since ordering a set of sizzle pans, my baking sheets have been missing in action because I hate washing them up in small apartment sink. For more information on my favorite kitchen items, check out my post: Top 5 Kitchen Items That You Didn’t Know You Needed.

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, simmer the vegetable stock, pinches of saffron, paprika, salt and pepper. Cover and turn it to low heat to keep warm. 

2. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil on low – medium heat in a large shallow pan and cook onions and garlic until the onions are translucent (about 4-minutes). Set aside once cooked. 

3. In the same pan, cook the pancetta to the crispiness of your liking (about 3-minutes) on medium heat. Set aside once thoroughly cooked. Leave the fat that’s leftover in the pan for the rest of the ingredients that you will need to cook. 

4. Now pat dry your fish fillets with a paper towel then lightly season with salt, pepper, and paprika.  Saute over medium heat for about 7-minutes. Set aside once thoroughly cooked. It’s okay if the fish filets fall apart, it will make it easier to mix in at the end. 

5. Also pat dry the scallops with a paper towel and saute over medium heat for about 4-minutes. Scallops are one of those foods that you can overcook and make chewy real quick so keep an eye on them. Also, try to only flip them once. Set aside once cooked. 

6. Now you cook the rice in your pan on medium – high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the frozen peas, fish filets, onions, garlic, and pancetta. Slowly stir in the warm stock; introduce the liquid in ½ cups to make sure you don’t make the paella too watery. Cook for 10-minutes with a cover. 

7. Add your scallops, littleneck clams, and mussels by lightly pushing them down into the rice with your spatula.  Add any liquid reserve to your discretion to moisten the rice. Cook and cover for another 10-minutes. Your paella is ready once the rice is tender and your mussels and clams have opened. 

After letting your paella rest for a few minutes, I recommend serving family style at the dinner table for an intimate meal with a nice glass of wine. For seafood meals, the wine pairing is typically a white such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. I had a serving of paella with way too many glasses of prosecco #gluttony. This paella recipe will definitely be on the roster for whenever we have special guests over for dinner, it’s sure to impress.

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What’s a meal that makes dinner time feel luxurious?