Zarzuela

Zarzuela is a type of fish and seafood stew that originated in Spain, a very rich dish made out of mixed seafood such as mussels, scallops, lobster, prawns, clams, fish, squid and / or crabs cooked in a good stock coloured with saffron.

I am not sure what’s so magical with mixed seafood but there’s something in it that makes me want it always.  Is it the different diverse flavours, is it the array of textures or is it the vibrant colours and shapes whatever reason it is they always top on my favourite dishes list and this dish is nothing different the Zarzuela.

Zarzuela is a type of fish and seafood stew that originated in Spain, a very rich dish made out of mixed seafood such as mussels, scallops, lobster, prawns, clams, fish, squid and / or crabs cooked in a good stock coloured with saffron.  As you can see everything in the traditional version of dish might cost a little bit of money like prawns, lobster, crabs, scallops and even saffron (the most expensive spice in the world, here it costs $9.79 / 0.5g  as of this post) but I think it’s all worth it and I will be happy to eat this everyday if someone supplies me the ingredients for free :).

The name of the dish came from a type of comic opera, which in turn was named after the Palace of Zarzuela where opera was first performed.  That palace was then named after its thorny location filled with zarza (bramble, a thorny bush).  Now you might ask how the dish was related to the bush, it is because the traditional Catalonian version of this dish contains some spiny lobster.

For this post we haven’t used the traditional ingredients so we omitted lobsters and crabs so we can call this the economical version (even with the pinch of saffron in there), but having said that, trust me it still tastes great!

Zarzuela

★★★★★ 5 from 9 reviews

• Author: Raymund
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 35 mins
• Yield: 4-5 1x
• Category: Main Course
• Cuisine: Spanish

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Description

Zarzuela is a type of fish and seafood stew that originated in Spain, a very rich dish made out of mixed seafood such as mussels, scallops, lobster, prawns, clams, fish, squid and / or crabs cooked in a good stock coloured with saffron.

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Ingredients

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Stew

• 15 pcs large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 300g monk fish (any fleshy white fish) fillets, cubed
• 15 pcs mussels, cleaned
• 2 large squid, sliced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups clam juice or seafood stock
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 large white onions, chopped
• 3 pinches of saffron
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• parsley, chopped

Picada

• 2 pcs toasted baguette slices
• 1 dozen almonds
• 2 clove garlic
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp minced parsley

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Instructions

1. In a large pot add oil then sauté onions, cook until onions are soft.
2. Add the wine, tomato paste, clam juice, saffron then bring to a boil. Bring to simmering heat.
3. Season your seafood with salt and pepper then start to add the seafood one type at a time. Cover the pot, simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
4. While waiting prepare the picada by mixing all the picada ingredients in a food processor until it becomes a paste.
5. Stir the picada sauce into the stew, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper then turn heat off.
6. Garnish with parsley and serve.

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