This Portuguese specialty is a richly flavored seafood soup that often includes clams and mussels. Make it your own with your favorite shellfish—canned lump crabmeat or lobster chunks are wonderful in it. For a minimum of fuss, this version has shrimp and dry (or untreated) scallops. Carolino, a Portuguese rice, is traditional, but you can also use arborio—both are readily available online and in stores.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 red or orange bell peppers, diced
- 2 serrano chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped, or one 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 6 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon pimentón, more to taste
- 2 cups Carolino rice
- 4 cups seafood or vegetable stock, more as needed (see Note)
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 4 cilantro sprigs, trimmed
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled
- 1 pound dry scallops
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions
Step 1
Heat a large Dutch oven. When hot, add the olive oil and onions, and sauté until the onions become translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the bell peppers, serranos, tomatoes, and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes.
Step 2
Push the vegetables to the sides and add the tomato paste, cooking until it deepens in color and becomes fragrant, then add the pimentón and mix everything together. Add the rice, stirring to coat, and sauté for 2 minutes. Then add the stock, wine, cilantro, bay leaves, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Immediately lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pot, and cook until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes (check after 15 minutes to see if more stock is needed).
Step 3
Stir in the scallops and shrimp; cover and cook for 10 minutes, until the shrimp turn pink and the scallops become opaque. Discard the cilantro and bay leaves, then ladle the soup into bowls, sprinkling with parsley and drizzling with olive oil.
Note: Make your own seafood stock by boiling the shrimp shells, 2 sliced carrots, 2 sliced celery stalks, 1 quartered onion, 2 bay leaves, and 6 peppercorns in 6 cups of water for 40 minutes; cool and strain.
Serves 8