Arroz del Senyoret | Naked seafood paella
This is a seafood paella for people who don’t fancy getting their hands dirty peeling shellfish. Senyoret means ‘lord’ in the Valencian dialect and, back in the day, the lords wanted their food prepared and neat. This recipe relies heavily on the flavour of your fish stock. Ingredients in the Spain’s Levante are of the highest quality and full of flavour, whether it is an onion or the fish they make the stock with. These ingredients are incomparable to the ones you will find elsewhere sadly, but never mind, I have the solution. Whether you buy it or make it from scratch, you will need to give it extra flavour by adding more ingredients before you allow your rice to drink it. This is fundamental to any good rice dish or paella.
INGREDIENTS
100ml olive oil
1 tbsp salt
2 fresh squid (weighing 600g, cleaned (ask your fishmonger to do)
200g cod cheeks (or monkfish tail)
1 small Spanish onion, very finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp sweet pimentón (sweet smoked paprika)
2 tomatoes, grated
330g Spanish paella rice, such as Bomba
12 fresh whole king prawns (or 20 langoustines), heads and shells removed and diced
Salt
1.5 litres Shellfish stock
0.3g saffron
Preparation
I believe that the only way to achieve the flavour that a master arrocero in Valencia will get into his paella is by making a shellfish stock with a previously made fish stock. I know it feels like you’re doubling up but, seriously, it is the only way to get the intensity and depth of flavour. Check my recipe here: https://www.thespanishchef.com/recipes/shellfish-stock
Infuse the shellfish stock with the saffron over low heat until needed.
Add the oil and salt to a large wide pan over a high heat and fry the ñora pepper on both sides for 2 minutes, then add the squid. When it starts to pop a little bit after 4 minutes, lower the heat to medium and add the onion. Fry for 5 minutes before adding the garlic. Continue to fry for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly, then add the sweet pimentón and 20 seconds later the tomatoes. Fry all together, stirring constantly, for about 4–5 minutes, or until the tomato has reduced down. Scrape the bottom of the pan while the tomato is cooking to release all the sticky bits.
Increase the temperature to its highest setting and add the rice. Give it a good stir to coat it in the sofrito and sear for 2 minutes. Pour in the boiling stock, give it a good stir and boil for 10 minutes. Check the seasoning for salt and rectify if needed.
Roughly chop the prawn tails and the cod cheeks and scatter them over the pan, shaking the pan a couple of times to distribute them. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 8 minutes, or until the rice is cooked. Ideally a layer of toasted rice will form on the bottom of the pan, which unfortunately you cannot see but you can judge by the noise and smell of the pan – it should sound like it is crisping up and the smell should be toasty.
Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving. If everything has gone well you should be about to eat an exceptional paella.
NOTE
You can add mussel meat or other shellfish to this rice, as long as it’s cleaned from the shells.
