Nothing brings people together like a delicious paella, and no one knows that better than the Migoni-Uruena family. One of Marcelo’s grandfather’s all-time favorite dishes to make for family gatherings was paella. He had mastered the recipe and took the time to teach Marcelo from a young age how to make it. Marcelo’s love for paella only grew when we visited Spain last year, and he gathered even more tips and tricks from the experts. We don’t get the chance to make paella at home often for two reasons. Firstly, because it is a pretty time intensive dish to make; and secondly, because paella is a dish best made for several people. It’s not out of the question to make a paella for two people, in fact, they do sell paella pans for 2-4 servings. However, our pan, which Marcelo is obsessed with (it’s made by Lodge and costs about $45 on Amazon), is a medium-sized one and is best to make at least 6-8 servings.

My parents had been out of town last weekend for Mother’s Day, so we decided to celebrate with them this weekend. The weather was cooperating so we excitedly planned to make a traditional seafood paella. We got most of our ingredients including the Spanish Bomba rice, Spanish saffron, and all our seafood from Central Market. We opted for a seafood-only paella, but you can really substitute any meat you like, or go vegetarian as well. Simply adjust the type of stock (i.e. chicken instead of fish if doing poultry or vegetable if doing vegetarian paella) and add in your choice of meats/vegetables. I highly encourage you to keep the Spanish chorizo no matter which type of paella you make, as this packs a lot of flavor into the rice.

We prepped everything ahead of time and simply brought all the ingredients out to the grill when my family arrived. We prefer to make our paella outside on our gas grill. Our stovetop is too small to heat the paella pan evenly, and the gas grill works perfectly. It was such a treat to have a long leisurely lunch outside while the weather is still tolerable here in Dallas. We started with some great Spanish manchego cheese, almonds, and olives and paired with Estrella beer, a light Spanish beer from Barcelona, and a chilled Rose from Provence, while Marcelo got to work on the paella.

The first step is to make the sofrito, a tomato, onion, garlic, and bell pepper mixture, which the rice is then added to. Once the rice is coated well in the sofrito, you start adding in the remaining ingredients.

One of the most important aspects of making the paella is not stirring the rice once the broth has been added. This is where paella differs from it’s Italian cousin, risotto. Risotto takes on a mushier, creamier texture. A well-made paella should not be overly saucy and should still have a slight crunch to it. This is achieved by avoiding stirring the rice.

We like to top ours with the traditional piquillo peppers, a garlic infused olive oil, and lemon wedges. The hard boiled eggs were a nice touch, but can be omitted. The parsley adds a bit of freshness and a pop of color.

It takes a bit of time to cook a great paella, but it’s always worth it. Today’s turned out beautifully, one of our best paellas yet. My family had a wonderful time catching up with us over great food and great wine. Is there really any better way to spend a Sunday?

Try making a paella in place of your next cookout and impress your family and friends. Labor Day is coming up. This would be a great non-traditional recipe to try out on the grill!

Spanish Seafood Paella

The best way to make a paella is to have all of the ingredients prepped ahead of time and ready to throw into the paella pan. See instructions below. It is also worth noting that when making a paella for more than 4 people, it is easiest to prepare it on a large heating surface. We use our outdoor gas grill.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Cuisine Spanish

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  

• 1.5 cups Bomba rice (Arborio rice is acceptable substitute)
• 3 cups seafood or fish Stock
• 1 large yellow onion diced
• 1 large red bell pepper deveined, seeded, and diced
• 6 cloves garlic minced
• 1 cup canned petite diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 pound spicy Spanish chorizo sliced thinly
• 1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 pound mussels
• 1/4 pound calamari tubes sliced into rings
• 6 ounces halibut (or other mild white fish such as cod or seabass)
• 3 piquillo peppers, canned sliced into thin strips
• 2 eggs hard boiled
• 1 lemon cut into wedges
• 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
• 1 gram saffron threads
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup garlic aioli

Instructions

 

Prep Work

• Clean and prep vegetables including the onion, garlic, bell peppers, lemon wedges, and parsley. Set aside.
• Clean and prep shrimp, mussels, chorizo, and calamari and set aside. Heat skillet with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Pat halibut dry with paper towel and season with salt. Next, dredge the fish in the two tablespoons of flour. Sear for about 1 minute on each side to create a crispy golden crust. The fish will still be raw on the inside, but will continue cooking in the paella. Cut into bite-size cubes and set aside.
• Clean skillet and add another 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Fry 3 minced cloves of garlic until golden brown. Pour garlic infused olive oil into glass container and set aside.
• Boil eggs for about 10 minutes. Peel and slice into wedges, set aside. Slice piquillo peppers thinly and set aside.
• Heat broth in saucepan until simmering. Add in 1 gram of saffron threads and stir to combine. Remove from heat and allow to steep for about 10 minutes.

Main Instructions

• Place medium sized paella pan (about 15 in diameter) over heating surface. If using gas grill, set heat to high. Add enough olive oil to coat paella pan. If oil begins to smoke, decrease heat.
• Now you will make the sofrito. Start by adding onions to pan and cook for about 5 minutes. Add bell pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining garlic and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Add canned tomato and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
• Slowly add in rice to sofrito mixture and stir until rice is mixed into sofrito. Make sure that the rice is in an even and thin layer.
• Add about half of the broth mixture, until rice fully covered. From this point on, it is key NOT to stir the mixture, as this will create a mushy texture to the rice. If you need to readjust to help distribute liquid, simply shuffle the pan side to side. Let rice cook in broth for about 10 minutes, until the majority of the broth has been absorbed.
• Next, evenly distribute chorizo over rice and add remaining broth. Allow to simmer for another 5 minutes.
• Now you can begin adding all of the seafood. It is best to evenly distribute the seafood across the mixture. Cook for another 10 minutes, allowing liquid to further reduce. If at any point, the rice appears to have gotten very dry, you can add small amounts of additional broth.
• Finally, add frozen peas and allow to cook for about 1-2 minutes.
• Once broth has almost completely absorbed, remove from heat. Drizzle garlic oil over paella. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Arrange piquillo peppers, egg, and lemon wedges as you like.
• Serve with additional lemon slices and garlic aioli, if desired. Make sure to scrape up all the crispy rice on the bottom - this is the best part of the dish!