Visit to coastal Portuguese city inspires seafood rice
The minute I had this dish on a recent trip, I knew I had to re-create it when I got home.
Today’s recipe is my attempt. It’s seafood rice, also known as Arroz de Marisco.
Last month, I spent two weeks in Portugal, a week in Lisbon and a week in the Algarve and while there overloaded on fish and seafood. Today’s recipe was a meal I had in a Lisbon restaurant and it was chalk full of prawns, clams and mussels.
My version has clams, shrimp and scallops. I purchased my seafood frozen. The shrimp was deveined but the shell was left on.
Be sure to cook the seafood first because it cooks quickly and would be overcooked if put in the pot with the rice. The Arborio rice has a sticky texture and absorbs water quickly so keep your eye on it as it cooks to ensure it doesn’t stick to your pot.
This dish is tasty with the seafood and has typical Portu-
guese flavours of paprika, white wine, tomato paste, tomato and bay leaf.
It’s similar to a Spanish paella in a pot without the meat but more like a stew in its consistency.
The Piri Piri hot sauce can be purchased in most well-stocked grocery stores but I bought mine at Torreense, a Portuguese store on Mill Street in Kitchener. I also purchased the Knorr bouillon cube — a caldo de marisco — which means seafood cube.
You can use a fish bouillon cube but the caldo de marisco is definitely more flavourful. I kept the reserved broth and froze two containers of it.
Seafood Rice
Broth 15 mL (1 tablespoon) butter 1 Knorr bouillon cube 1 garlic clove, cut in half 60 mL (quarter cup) white wine 1 bay leaf 1 litre of water, enough to cover seafood 500 mL (2 cups) bay scallops 26-ounce bag of white shell clams 14 large shrimp, deveined with shell on Sauce 60 mL (4 tablespoons) olive oil 1 large onion, diced 2 large garlic cloves, minced 30 mL (2 tablespoons) tomato paste 1 large tomato, diced 5 mL (1 teaspoon) paprika 125 mL (half a cup) white wine Sea salt to taste 45 mL (3 tablespoons) parsley, diced and more for garnish 15 mL (1 teaspoon) Piri Piri hot sauce 500 mL (2 cups) arborio rice 1 litre plus 250 mL (5 cups) water Juice of half a lemon To make the broth: In a large pot, heat the butter until melted. Add the Knorr cube and with a wooden spoon stir until the cube dissolves. Add the garlic clove, white wine and the bay leaf. Pour in the water and let boil. Then add the clams and shrimp and cook for about 10 minutes, until the clams open and the shrimp is pink in colour. During the last three minutes, add the bay scallops. Then drain the seafood in a strainer and keep the broth. In a pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the onion. When soft, add the garlic and fry. Add the tomato paste, tomato, paprika, white wine, sea salt and Piri Piri hot sauce. Stir. Add the rice and mix. Pour in four cups of reserved broth and parsley and cook. (Be sure to discard the chopped garlic and bay leaf). Add the last cup of broth as the rice cooks. The rice will absorb the liquid. When almost done, add the seafood and carefully mix. Turn off the stove top and let sit for about five minutes. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the rice. Serve with fresh parsley on top of the rice.