Paella of the Sea Recipe (2024)

Delicious recipe. I halved it and it was more than enough for 4 people. Substituted equal amounts yellow onions for garlic scapes in relish. Sautéed onions in olive oil, salt & pepper until soft then partially pureed in food processor and mixed with other relish ingredients. It was all completed in a large frypan on the stovetop and allowed to sit, cool & let flavors meld before serving. Enjoyed by all!

The paella is good, but not the best. I used mussels instead of clams and large (not jumbo) shrimp. I made 1/3 the recipe because there are only 3 of us. First, I did not like the large amount of cumin in the dish. I like cumin, but it overpowered the more delicate flavor of the saffron. Also, the recipe calls for cooking the shrimp and shellfish way too long. I added them just after I added the last dollop of liquid. Finally, no socarrat probably because the recipe only calls for simmering.

This is outstanding. I cut the recipe by 1/3, cooked on the stovetop over two burners, and substituted merguez sausage for the pork butt, as the first time I made it I didn't think the pork butt added much. I served with aioli instead of the relish. It was a huge hit each time I have served it.

I've not tried this, so my comments are purely conjectural. Although the ingredient list sounds fantastic (especially the Secret Flavor Weapon!), it strikes me that cooking the clams and shrimp for 25-35 minutes is way too long. When I make paella on the stovetop I usually add the shrimp, fish or clams during the last 5-10 minutes. Am I missing something here?

Instructions say 2 hours, plan on 4-5 hours with all the prepping.

This really was amazing. I made it for friends who've lived in Spain and they praised it to the skies. I didn't bother with the relish and, following a previous cook's advice, I used merguez instead of pork butt. Since I was using merguez, I used linguiça instead of chorizo. I also didn't bother with the clams; I quartered large sea scallops instead. Terrific!

Used a pan that was a little too small, so the paella took a bit too long to cook and it was a little too full. But the flavor was sensational.

This was fantastic! We made a 1/2 recipe in a 14" paella pan and it was perfect for 8. Also subbed chicken thighs for the pork.

Made paella for the first time using this recipe as a template. WOW.... The secret flavor weapon is a deal maker. This technique made the dish. Gonna play with ingredients to get closer to that "fond" effect, but was very impressed with how good it came out.

Cut the cumin - maybe by 1/3. Very overpowering.

Way too much going on resulting in a bad meal. That simple.

I have never made paella with raw pork butt. Long grain rice is done in 25 minutes tops, but pork shoulder takes a two hour braise before tenderness. I fail to see how this recipe could work — or, on a related note, how cooking chopped shrimp for half an hour won’t yield a chewy, overcooked product. As a result, would be making adjustments on this recipe. That said the secret sauce is a great idea and will be tried.

Fabulous recipe and predictably delicious! I ordered Bomba rice off Amazon which isn't a deal-breaker but definitely added to the WOW factor. My grocery store was our of pine nuts and garlic scrapes so I did not make the relish, but I did add lemon zest at the end and it was perfect! I also followed some recs in the comments and added the seafood in the last 15 minutes of cooking - glad I did, texture was perfect! 10/10 recommend making this!

I made half recipe, and used even less than half the cumin seed and paprika called for (1 TB each), and it was still way too much paprika for my taste. I couldn't taste anything else—it totally drowned out the saffron. Maybe I used the wrong paprika but I'll be using a dash at most next time. Also, the sherry gave it an odd flavor; I might try mescal next time for more smokiness.

The flavors were incredible. Very authentic. The relish was very good on it’s own (we substituted sliced almonds), but didn’t like it with the paella. Took away from the true flavors.We did half the recipe and had plenty of leftovers as it was only two of us. Used 1T each of cumin seeds and paprika and just a good pinch of saffron. Ended up only adding 3/4 of flavor weapon in the end. As another reviewer noted, we did thru step 5 on stovetop, last 20 mins in oven at 450 degrees.

i have made it by dicing onion and grating tomato whilst the pan was on medium high with a nice amount to olive oil. you want to look for a crust. with seafood kebob, large dice red pepper, slice chorizo sausage, 2 half each hortizontally scallops, 1 squid sliced and another generous helping of green frozen peas. as you layer each, have half a cup of dry sherry to splash inbetween one of the layers and last 3/4 cup of water in espresso cup. cooked on stove med/high. serve with lemon. enjoy!

A must try! Best paella I’ve ever made!

Absolutely outstanding! We were able to use fresh scapes from our garden plus garlic harvested last summer. Littleneck clams are a dollar a piece out here in the Rockies (they must be much cheaper in NYC!) so we substituted a Costco frozen "seafood medley" bag instead. Made one-half of the recipe and it was massive. We added the shrimp and the seafood medley during the last five minutes. We've tried many other paella recipes and one compare to this one!

Does anyone have recommendations on a dry sherry to buy? New to using this ingredient. Thank you!

Beautiful recipe! Well written, easy to follow. Beautiful presentation and superb taste

Ok, I know this is sacrilege, but I do not like mussels or clams, so anyone have suggestions for substitutes? I don't want anything that tastes too "fishy". :-)

Fantastic! Cooked on the grill -- the flavor was so delicious! Used andouille sausage (what we had) and chicken thighs, cod, scallops, mussels, & shrimp. Might add a little crushed red pepper next time. This is the "go to" recipe for paella from here on out!

Original recipe in original 2013 Times print version calls for 4 POUNDS of rice, which is way too much. Glad to see the correction here! Great recipe otherwise

Outstanding paella- despite being a fair amount of work, totally do-able for a weeknight dinner party. Prepped steps 1-4 ahead of time, and steps 5-6 were easy enough to do while entertaining guests. Made entirely on the stovetop, too, so I'm looking forward to trying it on the grill to see how the flavor changes!I agree with other readers that the shrimp were better off added closer to the end of the recipe, but I recommend adding the clams as instructed so that they have ample time to open.