ARROZ DE MARISCO

As some of you may know, I recently moved to Portugal, so it's only right that my first recipe on here is a classic Portuguese dish.

Arroz de Marisco is a seafood classic made up of a variety of shellfish, tomatoes, fresh herbs, and short-grain rice and no, it's definitely not the same as a paella. Whilst paella is known for its dry composition, in Arroz de Marisco, the rice is cooked to have a sticky, moist texture. Traditional paella recipes also use ingredients like chorizo, chicken, rabbit and peas, not typically found in Arroz de Marisco

This might be controversial, but as a big risotto fan, I've always found paella to be on the dry side, so Arroz de Marisco sounded like a bit of me. Admittedly, I had never tried a proper arroz de marisco before attempting this, but it turned out pretty fu*king good. Before you come for me, my credentials are that my girlfriend is Portuguese, and she said it's the best she's ever had (just like me 😉). 

For this recipe, we're sticking to two types of fish: prawns and squid. However, like many traditional recipes, people switch up the ingredients list. Some recipes I found included clams, mussels, lobster, and crab meat. I'm a big believer in making recipes work for you, so what you use will depend on the ingredients you can find, personal preference, and budget. What I will say is that I think it's very important to use fresh prawns, because the skin is used as the base ingredient for the broth we're gonna use to cook the rice. So don't be a pussy and peel that shit. 

This is definitely not one of my quickest recipes to prep, but I promise it's worth the time. Pour yourself a glass of Portuguese vinho verde, shuffle the Let's Munch playlist, and get ready to cook an Arroz de Marisco that hits differently. 

INGREDIENTS

2 giant prawns (or 12 regular sized prawns) 

Stock: 

• Prawn shells 

• Heaped tbsp tomato paste 

• 1 sweet white onion 

• 1 celery stick 

• 1 large carrot 

• 1 head garlic 

• Bunch parsley 

• 2 bay leaf 

• Peels of half a lemon 

• Tsp salt (more to taste later) 

• 1.5L water 

Rice: 

• Good amount of olive oil 

• 2 Shallots 

• Half sweet white onion 

• 8 cloves garlic 

• Heaped tsp smoked paprika 

• Tsp salt 

• Tsp black pepper 

• 200g Carolino rice (or arborio rice)

• 150ml white wine 

• 8 sprigs coriander 

• 6 sprigs parsley 

• 1 squid (cut into small pieces) 

• 35ml Beirao liqueur 

• Juice of half a lemon 

RECIPE

Stock - 

Step 1: De-shell and de-doodoo the prawns then add the shells to a pot on medium/low heat with some olive oil.

Step 2: After 3 minutes of toasting the shells add the tomato paste and cook it off for about 5 minutes being careful not to burn it. Add the celery, carrots, onion, and garlic with the skins and all. Then lemon peels, salt, and water. 

Step 3: Let that simmer for at least half an hour. In the meantime salt the prawns and let them cure while the stock is simmering.

 Rice - 

Step 1: Dice your shallots, onion, and garlic as fine as you possibly can. I like to run my knife over them in a rocking motion once diced to get it fine as you want this to almost melt into the saucy rice. 

Step 2: Sear the prawns in some olive oil on medium heat, you don’t want these to be fully cooked through just yet so put them to the side just before they’re done (timing will depend on the size of your prawns, but they cook quickly). 

Step 3: To the same pan add some more olive oil as well as the onion, shallots, and garlic. Season with smoked paprika, salt, and pepper and let that become fragrant and soft, then add your rice. 

Step 4: Toasting the rice for about 5 minutes in the pan is key here, then deglaze with white wine. Once the wine has reduced by half, start ladling in the stock a ladle at a time. Add some stock, give it a mix, and let the rice absorb it then add more stock. After about 4 ladles you can add bigger amounts of stock.

 Step 5: When the rice is just about done, add the squid, coriander, parsley, and licor beirao. When it’s cooked but still has a tiny amount of bite to it, finish with lemon juice and add the prawns on top. You want to let the prawns finish cooking in the rice, which should be a saucy consistency and not dry at all. That’s it.