A friend wanted to make seafood paella for a birthday celebration. Wanting to be sure my recipe concept worked, I made it at home first. Not only was our meal delicious, but theirs was as well. That is a winner in my books!
Head straight on to the Recipe For ♥ Seafood Paella ♥
During the Covid Chaos, Dave and I had a lot of airline vouchers. We had booked flights to Italy and The Netherlands. Dave booked on Air France as that ticket included a luggage allowance. And I used KLM as we could book the light fare which is for hand luggage only. When our trip was cancelled we took the voucher option, as they are our airlines of choice. The minute travel opened up again we booked to go and to see Mark. Having accumulated air miles that needed using up I booked Dave’s flights using those. And my ticket was booked using my KLM voucher. The flight and seats did not come to as much as the voucher and so a new one was issued. Concurrent to this, we also had Turkish Airline vouchers issued as this was the recommended solution. We were meant to fly last December but Omicron ….
Today’s inspirational recipe from Lavender and Lime ♥ Seafood Paella ♥ #LavenderAndLime Click To Tweet
Knowing we would have no choice but to use our Turkish Airline Vouchers, I requested a refund from Air France. We would not financially be in a position to use the voucher as the Turkish Airline trip is costing us double what we would normally pay to go to Italy. Air France were amazing, and issued the refund within 48 hours. But getting the same from KLM proved to be a lot more difficult. On their side it did not show as a Covid voucher but thankfully I had kept the email stating it was. They are fantastic on WhatsApp and I eventually managed to chat to a consultant who sorted out the refund. This was done with days to spare before it expired. And for that I am so grateful. Have you managed to get your Covid Chaos refunds sorted out, if you had any?
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Seafood Paella
Ingredients
- 45 mls olive oil, divided
- 25 mls paella spices, divided
- 12 prawns, deveined, divided
- 1 onion, peeled and finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 190 g paella rice
- 100 g baby tomatoes, cut in half
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
- 500 mls vegetable stock
- 500 g seafood paella mix
- Chopped parsley to garnish
Method
- Place 15 mls of the olive oil into a large frying pan and heat over a medium to high temperature
- Add 5 mls of the paella spices, and cook until fragrant
- Peel the shells and remove the heads of 6 prawns and add to the pan
- Cook until nicely toasted, crush the heads then remove and discard the heads and shells
- Add 15 mls oil, heat and add the onion
- Lower the temperate and sauté the onion until soft then add the garlic
- Sauté until soft then add 15 mls of the paella spices and cook until fragrant
- Add the rice and toast until it is nicely coated with the spices
- Add the tomatoes, season generously, then add the stock
- Increase the temperature, bring to the boil then reduce the temperature and simmer for 20 minutes
- Add the seafood mix plus the peeled prawns and gently stir to combine, without disturbing the bottom of the pan
- Season and leave to simmer for 20 minutes
- Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over a high temperature and add the remaining spices
- Cook until fragrant then add the prawns
- Cook the prawns and when done, arrange them on top of the rice which should be cooked by now
- Remove from the heat, garnish with parsley and serve
View the previous posts on December 15:
- 2021: Rudi Blaauw Interview
- 2019: The Rosie Result
- 2017: Extruded Pasta
- 2014: Blueberry Cake
- 2013: My Husband Next Door
- 2012: Chilli Cheese Maize Bread
- 2011: Ostrich Fillets With ClemenGold Juice
- 2010: Cranberry and Cointreau Ice Cream
Today is my last working day and tomorrow we leave for our annual anniversary get away with friends.
i would love to be eating this tandy! i love prawns. thank heavens we had no air flights to worry about during covid…
I hope you give this a go at home 🙂
Seafood paellas are wonderful. Light yet so very satisfying! And this reminds me, it’s been too long since I’ve had one. Just one question: What are “paella spices”? I suppose it must include Spanish pimentón with some other spices mixed in?
I use La Dalia spice blend which has saffron, salt and paprika. I see from the comments made that this is not common around the world. One lives and learns. I shall make a spice blend for the blog and post the recipe soon!
That paella looks fabulous. Happy Birthday. 🙂
Thank you Jeanne 🙂
What a fantastic looking dish Tandy! I always try a dish at home first before making for friends. Luckily…no COVID issues here, flights are so crazy expensive I can’t imagine being able to fly. They are up 200% or more so a tix that would have been like 500 just a few years ago is now over $1500. Like literally would cost our family 6-10K to fly anywhere. Makes me sad but what can one do?
That is terrible that the prices have gone up that much!
This looks lovely ! To me paella is a dish I make for a crowd iduring the summer months. In a huge pan with everyone sporting a big glass of wine standing alongside 🙂 ! Seafood on its own is fine but I choose my own paella spices separately and make certain I have the best saffron in hand . . . and my favourite turmeric ! Love it if I manage the perfect soccarat – we do cook the dish for that, don’t we ;_ . . . ?
I have a special paella pan to ensure the perfect soccarat – usually, but not always 🙂
I adore paella Tandy, and keep meaning to make it. I’ll have a look for spices sold specifically as paella spices, although I’m sure I could make my own if I need to. I’ve stored this recipe away Tandy looks amazing. It’s so good to know Air France were good to deal with, I have found Whatsapp very useful when traveling overseas. So pleased we’re not flying anywhere over Christmas.
We usually never go away over Christmas but we have made exceptions of course 🙂
The spice sellers that I favor don’t actually list a paella spice mix. I know the most prominent flavor is saffron, but I would like to see what other spices are used. The online recipes in my usual sources call for several spices (I use American recipes because I have to shop at an American market). I guess things are different in your area.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
That makes total sense Mae 🙂 I use La Dalia paella spice blend which comes from Spain and contains saffron, salt, paprika and spices (according to the container)
HI Tandy, fortunately, we do not book our flights that far in advance so we didn’t loss anything due to Covid. We did take a bath on our recent flights to the UK which we cancelled three days prior to leaving. The airline is only refunding 25%. Anyhow, next time Terence will be more careful when booking and ensure we are at least able to postpone our flights. Thanks for this recipe. My mom is a big fish fan. I’ve tried a few paella recipes but not loved any of them so a new one is welcome.
I hope you try this, and I am sorry to hear you have cancelled your UK trip! And such a pity about the refund situation 🙁
This is one beautiful paella. I have only made one once, after my daughter returned from living in Spain. And it was good. Much better than the one I had in Spain, in fact!
I have not been to Spain, but I can well imagine that yours would have been fantastic 🙂
Haven’t had Paella for ages – this looks so beautiful and inviting!
Thank you Ben 🙂
We don’t eat seafood, but we just took a cruise where the highlight dinner of the week was seafood paella. Yours looks delicious.
Thank you Judee. I wonder what a vegetarian version would be like?