Boiled rice cereal is an excellent garnish for a variety of dishes, but there are quite a few of them in which the very meaning is to cook rice with additional ingredients.
Paella is rather an intermediate between these two options. Along with all kinds of pilaf recipes, European cuisine is also not far behind - paella is cooked with vegetables, various kinds of meat and even seafood.
It would be strange if the great grocery stores and seafarers - the Spaniards, avoided many sea creatures that they encountered on the sea.
General technological features of cooking paella with seafood
• Traditionally, seafood paella is cooked in a special wide pan, with low even sides. In the absence of such kitchen utensils, you can use a wok or an ordinary cast-iron, fairly roomy frying pan. If there is a slow cooker, the dish can be prepared in it.
• For paella, it is recommended to use special rice varieties of Spanish origin. The most common ones that can be found on sale are “Iberica” and “Arborio”. Our usual well-soaked and indomusable rice with an average grain size that grows in the Krasnodar Territory is also suitable.
• The choice of seafood is richer. You can use already packed boiled-frozen cocktails or buy seafood separately in fresh frozen form. It can be mussels, squids, small cuttlefish, ocean shrimp, scallops. Moreover, shrimps and mussels go into the dish both peeled and in their original form - shrimps with heads and in their shells, and mussels in shells.
• Seafood must be thawed before use. To do this, they are laid out in advance in a bowl and placed in the refrigerator. The liquid accumulated at the bottom of the pot is drained. Seafood is pre-quickly fried in vegetable oil, then spread out from the pan and added to the almost ready dish. • Vegetables are an equally important part of the paella. According to traditional recipes, it is cooked with onions, green peas, juicy bell peppers, green beans. Hot peppers, garlic, canned corn and fresh tomatoes can be added.
• Saffron - a spice, without which the dish will resemble rice porridge. It is he who paints paella, giving the dish a golden hue. To make saffron more color, it is poured with boiling water and allowed to stand for some time.
• Paella with seafood is served on the table in the pan in which it was cooked. But this does not happen immediately on readiness. First, thin lemon semi-circles are laid out on its surface and allowed to stand under the lid for about 20 minutes.
Paella with seafood and green beans
Ingredients:
• seafood cocktail - half a kilo;
• 40 ml of olive refined oil;
• bitter onion head;
• 300 gr. rice for paella;
• green beans - 150 gr .;
• 200 gr. tomato puree;
• frozen peas - 100 gr .;
• small, sweet, preferably red, pepper;
• a quarter of an average lemon;
• a quarter of a spoon, or even a little less saffron.
Preparation:
1. You need to take care of seafood in advance. Put them in a bowl and leave in the common chamber of the refrigerator until it is completely thawed.
2. Fill saffron with a glass of boiling water and leave for a quarter of an hour to infuse, after which we filter and bring to a boil.
3. Pour oil into a wide pan, let it warm up well. From the bowl of seafood, decant all the liquid and transfer them to the pan. At maximum heat fry for two minutes, and shift to a suitable dish.
4. In the same pan, add a little oil and pass on it the diced onions to amber.
5. Pour rice over the onions, fry for no more than 3 minutes, until the grains have a transparent effect.
6. Pour in hot “saffron water”, add more boiling water, add to your taste. The liquid should be above the surface of the rice on the finger.
7. Set the fire a little less than average, prepare 10 minutes. Put the tomato, and even ten minutes later, green peas, beans and chopped sweet pepper pulp. 8. When all the water is gone and the rice is fully prepared, lay the previously fried seafood on top of it. Additionally, decorate the paella with thin half-golems of lemon, close the lid and soak for about fifteen minutes before serving.
Classic paella with seafood
Ingredients:
• king prawns - two in their shells with their heads, eight peeled;
• rice cereal - 150 gr .;
• 120 gr. fresh squids;
• Bulgarian, large and juicy pepper - 1 pc .;
• garlic;
• three sprigs of parsley;
• two large tomatoes;
• saffron thread;
• small onion head;
• 1/2 thin-skinned lemon;
• a quarter cup of olive or other quality oil;
• four mussels in the shells.
Preparation:
1. Saffron pour a glass of hot water, let it brew for a quarter of an hour.
2. Press the three teeth of garlic lightly with the blade of the knife. Peel the skin, cut the teeth into small pieces. In parsley, we separate the stems from the leafy part and cut them into small pieces. Shred the onion into half rings, and the Bulgarian pepper, peeled from the seeds, into large slices. Cut the tomatoes in half and rub on a large grater - leave the peel.
3. Choose the two largest shrimps. Carefully, with a toothpick, remove the entrails, wash the shellfish in cold water. The remaining shrimps are cleaned, we fold the heads and shells into the pan. Add 600 milliliters of water and wait for boiling. Boil three minutes, remove from heat, filter the broth and save.
4. Wash and scald squid with boiling water. Remove all the chords, cut the carcasses into rings.
5. In a special pan, pour two spoons of butter. Warming up, we drop into it two unpeeled prawns, part of the squid and all the mussels in the shells. Fry seafood on medium heat for two minutes.
6. Put onion and paprika in the pan. Stir for two minutes, then add the chopped parsley and garlic stalks. After about a minute, we take out mussels, fill it with saffron water and add half a liter of prawn broth.
7. Sprinkle, add about a third of a spoonful of pepper. Bringing to a boil, pour the rice. Tomim on a small fire for a quarter of an hour and mix everything with the remaining shrimp and squid. We bring paella to readiness with the same heating for 10 minutes, until excess moisture is evaporated. 8. In the center of paella, put half a lemon, sprinkle the dish with parsley and letting it stand for a quarter of an hour, serve.
“Marinara” - Spanish paella with seafood (with fish)
Ingredients:
• pink salmon (fillet) - half a kilo;
• 250 gr. medium grain rice;
• mussels - 120 gr .;
• half a liter of vegetable broth (replaceable with boiled water);
• 130 gr. peeled shrimp;
• half a large lemon;
• 100 gr. frozen peas;
• large onion;
• garlic;
• two spoons of oil: olive or sunflower, refined;
• a small pod of hot chili peppers;
• Five saffron stigmas.
For vegetable broth:
• large onion;
• a third of a small celery root;
• large carrot;
• stems of parsley and dill - 5 pcs .;
• stalked celery - 2 sprigs.
Preparation:
1. Cut two peeled garlic cloves into small pieces. Squeeze lemon juice and mix it with two tablespoons of butter, add garlic.
2. Put small pieces of cod fillet in a bowl, add marinade and leave in it for half an hour.
3. Cooking vegetable broth. We clean all the vegetables, cut them into pieces. Omit together with the stems of greens in a saucepan with 0.7 liters. water and give boil. Reduce heat and cook for about half an hour. Strain the vegetable broth through a sieve.
4. Cut the onion finely and three cloves of garlic. From the bitter pepper we select all partitions with seeds, grind its flesh. Fry everything together in a pan, topping up with a little olive oil, not longer than five minutes. Stir periodically so as not to burn.
5. Put the rice to the fried components and continue cooking for five minutes. The seeds should be saturated with oil and become transparent.
6. Slightly add some hot vegetable broth and pour it over the rice. Add saffron stigmas, mix and leave under the lid, setting the minimum heat.
7. After about 10 minutes, take the fish out of the marinade and spread it over the rice. Marinade also sent to the pan. Protomy about five minutes, put seafood and green peas. We bring to readiness within 4 minutes, remove from heat.
8. Before serving, decorate the seafood paella with thin slices of lemon.
Paella with seafood and chicken wings
Ingredients:
• assorted seafood - 250 gr .;
• five chilled chicken wings;
• 300 gr. rice groats for paella;
• slightly less than 1/3 tsp. crushed saffron;
• two medium onion heads;
• garlic;
• 100 ml of dry, exclusively white, wine;
• carrot - 2 medium root vegetables;
• refined oil;
• pitted black olives - 8 pcs .;
• two tablespoons of frozen green peas.
Preparation Method:
1. Fry the thawed seafood for two minutes with a little oil. Put the seafood in a bowl and, after washing the pan, pour in a couple of spoons of oil. We place on the big, but not the maximum fire.
2. In the heated, almost heated, fat, lower the chicken wings and fry them on all sides until golden brown. Remove the chicken from the fire, put in a suitable dish, rub with chopped garlic.
3. Warming up on low heat, in the same, but again washed pan two spoons of oil, fry until amber dyeing half rings of onion with finely chopped carrot.
4. Fall asleep to the fried vegetables rice. Cooking, stirring often and without reducing heating, for two minutes. Then pour the wine and continue cooking until it is completely absorbed into the grain.
5. Fill the contents of the pan with hot water. Add the saffron, bring to a boil. Having established heating slightly below average, we slightly add salt, spread fried rice to the rice, mix and level the surface. Cover the pan with a lid, simmer for about 20 minutes at minimum heat. Stir during this time twice and very carefully.
6. Add seafood and frozen peas. Mix well, cook paella for another five minutes.
7. After removing from the heat, add olives cut by the rings into the dish and let it stand for some time. It is advisable to withstand paella before serving under the lid for at least 20 minutes.
Paella with seafood, green peas and corn in a slow cooker
Ingredients:
• mussels, peeled from shells - 350 grams;
• a glass of rice;
• 200 gr. shrimp (peeled);
• liter of broth; • onion head;
• four large tomatoes;
• ground saffron - a small pinch;
• 40 ml of refined oil;
• canned peas and corn - 350 ml each.
Preparation:
1. Put frozen mussels in a colander and pour boiling water over them. Then we thoroughly rinse with warm water and leave in a colander in order to decant its residues.
2. Put tomatoes in a bowl, fill with hot water. After waiting two minutes, we place under a stream of cold water, let the tomatoes cool in order to easily peel them off.
3. Turn on the slow cooker, setting the frying mode, pour the oil. Slightly warming, lay out a small shredded onion in it and fry until transparent. It does not make sense to close the lid, as the onions must be constantly stirred so as not to burn.
4. Cut the pulp of tomatoes into medium-sized cubes and add to the sprouted onions. Fry the vegetables for 10 minutes, without changing the established regime, after which we spread rice to them. We continue to cook, stirring regularly for another five minutes, and pour hot broth or water into the thicket. Salt, add pepper and saffron to taste.
5. Transfer the previously set mode to “Pilau” or “Rice”, prepare paella with the lid closed for 40 minutes.
6. Open the lid, mix the contents of the bowl with canned corn and peas. Again, close and bring to readiness, setting the previous mode for another five minutes.
Simple seafood paella
Ingredients:
• peeled thawed shrimps - 100 gr .;
• two glasses of mid-grain rice cereal;
• a pound of peeled mussels;
• 300 gr. fresh tomato;
• frozen squid rings - 250 gr.;
• half a teaspoon of ground saffron;
• 1 onion;
• half a lemon;
• three tablespoons of special olive oil for frying;
• 200 gr. scallop
Preparation:
1. All seafood is laid out in a colander. Substitute a suitable size bowl under it and wait for them to be completely thawed.
2. Tint the water with saffron. To do this, fill it with an incomplete glass of boiling water and leave it for at least 20 minutes. Enumerate rice cereal, shred onion. 3. Thawed seafood fry for two minutes in a frying pan, adding a little oil. Seafood is transferred to clean dishes, and in the remaining oil until transparent, we pass the onion. Next, add rice cereal and stir-fry for about two minutes.
4. Pour in saffron water brought to a boil and pour a little more broth or water. Make sure that the liquid covered rice approximately an inch.
5. Bring to a boil and at this moment add salt and a little pepper. Reduce the heat to medium, cook for 20 minutes, without stirring, and then add chopped tomato pulp to the rice (without peel).
6. After waiting for all the moisture to evaporate, try the rice for readiness. If it doesn’t crunch on the teeth, turn off the stove and spread the previously fried seafood and thin lemon semicircles into the pan. Give the dish to brew for half an hour.
Useful tips and small tricks of cooking seafood paella
• Paella rice is not usually soaked. And yet, if your culinary experience suggests that you cannot achieve the desired degree of readiness, you can use this trick.
• If there is no time to cook vegetable broth or broth, do not take bouillon cubes. Better fill the rice with regular drinking water.
• It is considered special chic to make paella with a crust on the bottom. To achieve this effect, at the end, when the rice is ready, paella is kept for 30 seconds at maximum heat and only then removed from the stove.
