Creamy Seafood Rice (arroz meloso con marisco)

Ingredients

• 1kg fresh mussels, scrubbed and beards removed
• ½ glass white wine (for opening the mussels)
• 1 king prawn per person
• Olive oil
• ½ red pepper, diced or finely sliced
• 1 green Italian pepper, diced or finely sliced
• ½ onion, chopped
• A handful of prawns or shrimps (fresh or frozen)
• A handful of small squid, cleaned and roughly chopped
• 4-6 tbsps fried tomatoes (tomate frito)
• 1 glass Carnaroli or Arborio rice
• Abundance of home-made fish stock
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• Fresh parsley
• Saffron threads
• Salt

Instructions:

Bring the white wine to a boil in a pan large enough to hold the mussels. Tip them in all at once, cover and simmer gently for a minute or two until they’re all opened. Remove immediately, straining the cooking liquid through a fine sieve into the fish stock. Discard any unopened shells. Separate the most attractive ones for decoration. Remove the rest from their shells and cut into halves.

Crush the garlic and pound to a paste, together with fresh parsley and a few saffron threads.
Heat the fish stock to simmering point.

Heat a wide, shallow pan and add a generous glug of olive oil. Gently fry the red and green peppers until soft. Add the onion and continue frying, also until soft. Add the squid, give everything a good stir and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the fried tomatoes. After a couple of minutes, add the rice. Stir well until it’s all coated with the veg, squid and tomato mixture. Add the crushed garlic, parsley and saffron threads.

Now, start adding the fish stock, a ladle at a time, stirring continuously. Keep on adding ladles of stock and stirring until the rice is almost cooked. Incorporate the prawns/shrimps and chopped mussels. Give everything a good stir. After 2-3 minutes, add the king prawns and the mussels in their half shells. Cook for another minute, turn off the heat and cover the pan. Rest for 3-5 minutes before serving with lemon wedges.