Arroz de Marisco

Arroz de marisco – Portuguese seafood rice – is one of my absolute favourite dishes to order when in Portugal. Heaps of seafood including prawns, mussels, clams and calamari are served in a brothy seafood rice, sprinkled with coriander and with optional piri piri for some heat. Pure deliciousness!

The problem is that you can only order this dish for 2 people, so I often couldn’t get my hands on it as I was eating by myself (or with my crew, who were not so much into seafood). Total frustration…! So I’m happy that I now know how to make a delicious arroz de marisco at home – and I would also definitely make a bigger portion, as it is quite a bit of work, but so worth it.

Please note: you might think it’s a lot of liquid but in fact the arroz the marisco needs to be quite brothy and wet – it’s not a paella!

Watch me make arroz de polvo on the beach in Algarve in this episode here.

 

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Ingredients

For the stock:
16 prawns
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp olive oil
400ml fish stock
400ml water

For the rice:
1 onion
1 small fennel bulb
2 garlic cloves
1 red chili
4 tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp smoked paprika
Zest of 1 lemon
225g Carolino rice
80ml white wine
20 mussels (500g), cleaned
20 clams (300g), cleaned

To serve:
Coriander, chopped
Olive oil
Piri piri sauce

Method

Serves 4

Remove the peel, the head, and tail of the prawns for the stock. Remove the back vein and discard. Put the prawns in the fridge while making the stock.

To make the stock, roughly chop the onion and the garlic clove. Once the pan is hot enough, add 1tbsp of olive oil, then fry the onion, the garlic and the prawn peels and heads until golden. Add the fish stock and water and bring it to a boil. Cover with a lid and leave to simmer for about 30 minutes, then pour the stock through a sieve and set aside.

For the rice: Finely chop the onion and the fennel. Peel and crush the garlic. Finely chop the chili (deseed it if you want). Coarsely grate the tomatoes.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and fry the onion and fennel with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes until soft, adding the garlic, chili, fennel seeds, smoked paprika and lemon zest for the last 2 minutes.

Add the grated tomatoes and fry for another 2 minutes over a high heat.

Add the rice and cook for a minute while stirring, then add the fish stock (650ml) and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the rice is al dente and almost cooked.

Add the white wine, 400ml of water, the mussels and the clams. Cover again and shake a few times, then cook for 3-4 minutes. Discard any unopened shells, then add the prawns and cook for a few more minutes while stirring, until they turn pink.

Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, add a bit of lemon juice and olive oil and sprinkle each portion with coriander before serving.

Serve with piri piri on the side.

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