Zarzuela is a dish of Catalan cuisine, also called as "paella without rice". It's a ceremonial, complicated and expensive dish, requiring a large number of ingredients. Zarzuela is stewed fish fillets, sea shellfish (mussels, squid, cuttlefish, etc.) and crustaceans (all kinds of shrimp, lobster), filled with a thick sauce based on fish broth. The more varieties of fish and seafood used, the better. Unlike paella, zarzuela is not cooked on a flat frying pan, but in a clay pot.