Mushroom and White Fish Paella
This tasty Fish Paella is full of veggies with just a light touch of seafood, for those who aren't quite ready to tackle a full out seafood paella.
What is Paella?
Have you heard of paella?
It's a Spanish rice dish that originates from Valencia, a region along Spain's Eastern coast. It is such a traditional Spanish dish that many would consider it the national dish of Spain.
While there are three classic types of paella: seafood, mixed (meat and seafood), and Valencian (meat, green vegetables, and beans), like many dishes that are rooted in tradition, paella is more of a technique than a set recipe.
Hopefully I'm not over-simplifying things. But, looking at the dish this way helped us to take paella from a seemingly un-approachable feat, to quite a tasty challenge.
How To Make Paella
Here are the basics:
Meat is sauteed in olive oil. Vegetables and seasonings are then added and sauteed. Next, the rice is added. Finally, the water or broth is added, along with any seafood, and the dish is simmered over a fairly high heat, uncovered and undisturbed, until the rice is cooked.
(For the Valencian version the water is added before the rice and allowed to simmer with the meat and veggies to create the broth that the rice cooks in.)
This makes Paella a fantastic one-dish meal that is incredibly versatile and brings out the flavors of whichever ingredients you have on hand.
Our Mushroom and White Fish Paella Recipe
For this vegetable and fish paella, we used mushrooms and white fish, making this paella a nice introduction to paella for those who might not be up to a full blown seafood paella medley.
The combination of mushrooms and fish gives this paella a nice and mellow flavor that beautifully complements the bright tomatoes.
If you love paella, be sure to check out our more traditional shrimp and chicken paella too!
Mushroom and White Fish Paella
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 c white rice, dry
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
- 2 c chicken stock (we prefer low sodium)
- ½ c white wine
- 2 teaspoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 lb white fish (pollock, cod, etc), cut into 1” chunks
- 1 c water (as needed)
Instructions
- In a 12” cast iron skillet heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, celery, mushrooms, and garlic and sauté until soft, 5 min.
- Add rice and sauté until lightly toasted and shiny, 1-2 min.
- Add tomatoes, stock, and wine along with parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper. Mix to combine. Add fish nestling the pieces in the mixture.
- Simmer over medium heat, uncovered and undisturbed, for 10 min. If your mixture begins to dry out add a little water. After 10 minutes, lower the heat to medium low and continue cooking until the rice is tender. (When you are finished, you should have a slight crispness to the bottom layer of rice. Not burnt, mind you, just a slight crisp browning. If you start to smell burning during the cooking process, turn your heat down.)
- Remove the pan from the heat, and let stand for 5 - 10 minutes for any final moisture to absorb.
Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
Hi Sarah,
Could you please tell me whether the herbs are fresh or dried? I would love to try this!
Thanks!
Hi Leanne. We used dried here. Hope you enjoy the paella!
Hi
Your recipie has tomatoes down twice is this a misprint if so I take it that the toms go in after the rice.
Hi Peter. Thanks for catching that. We have updated the recipe. The tomatoes do go in after the rice. Enjoy!
Great tutorial! - couldn't find anything online on how to make 'fish-fillet' paella as don't eat exotic seafood. However I do love spices and so added saffron, lemon juice and Paprika to the Chicken stock along with the peas and celery. Also substituted the mushrooms with Cumberland sausages as wanted to make a meaty version - amazingly delicious!. Thanks hugely for the recipe, starting simple is so important before contemplating more challenging versions.
So glad you enjoyed it Shikira. Your additions sound delicious!
Super!
With a very limited pantry selection that included mushrooms and fish, I found your recipe.
Eeeh gads, all of the fish recipes that call for mushrooms include canned cream of mushroom soup. NOT what I was looking for.
I was initially considering some sort of soup, but paella is an easy can do.
Thanks!
So glad we could help! Enjoy!
I have always wanted to try paella. This looks so yummy and sounds pretty easy to make.
I grew up on Julia Child's paella recipe...so daunting! I love your simplified version...I'm much more likely to make it!