Easy Peasy Paella
Spanish Paella. Smokey with chorizo and smoked paprika, sweet with tomatoes, red pepper and prawns, savoury with mussels and spinach, rich and moist with soft rice.
Easy peasy to make.
Before you start, make up (or heat your own) 300ml chicken stock and add a pinch of saffron to it to give it time to infuse the stock.
Take a length of chorizo sausage and slice it. You can cradle it in your hand like I did, if you like.
Heat 1 tsp oil in a large saute pan and fry off the chorizo until it’s browned and crispy. Remove it from the pan and keep to one side. Leave the orange oil in the pan for the next step.
Finely chop 1 onion and add it to the pan. Grind some salt over it and cook until softened and coloured.
Crush 2 cloves of garlic, and measure 1 tsp smoked sweet paprika and a sprinkle of crushed dried chilli. Add them to the pan along with 1/2 a red pepper that you have thinly sliced. Cook those down, stirring well to avoid the spices catching.
Then add 150g paella rice to the pan and stir it in well to coat the grains of rice with the beautiful oil.
Add a 390g pack or tin of chopped tomatoes, then the saffron-infused stock and stir in well.
Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and cook for 15-20 mins or until the rice is just tender. Stir it occasionally during this time. Check the seasoning; you might not need more salt, but it can stand a lot of ground black pepper.
Add 2 big handfuls of washed spinach leaves and put the lid on again for a couple of minutes.
Then add a 235g pack of mixed seafood (mine had king prawns, mussels and squid) and the reserved, fried chorizo slices. Carefully turn it into the rice. Cover with the lid again to give the spinach time to start wilting.
Once it has started to wilt, remove the lid and keep turning the paella over with a spoon to encourage everything to heat through.
Once the spinach has wilted and the seafood is piping hot, go ahead and serve it. This served 2 adults and 1 child, generously. Would have been even more generous if a certain child hadn’t pinched both adults’ squid.
De-lic-ious.
Easy Peasy Paella
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1/2 a chorizo sausage, sliced (or more if you like)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 red (bell) pepper, finely sliced
1 tsp smoked sweet paprika
sprinkle crushed dried red chilli
390g pack of tin chopped tomatoes
150g paella rice
300ml chicken stock, into which you have dropped a pinch of saffron and allowed to soak for 15 mins
235g pack mixed seafood (prawns, mussels and squid)
bag of spinach
Put a pinch of saffron into the chicken stock and let it sit for 15 mins.
Heat 1 tsp oil in a large saute pan and add the chorizo.
Fry until brown and crispy. Be aware, this causes a lot of smoke.
Remove from the pan, leaving the coloured oil behind.
Add the onion to the oil and sprinkle with some salt. Fry until coloured and soft.
Add the garlic, paprika and chilli along with the sliced red pepper. Cook those down, stirring well to avoid the spices catching.
Then add the paella rice to the pan and stir it in to coat the grains of rice with the beautiful oil.
Add the chopped tomatoes, then the saffron-infused stock and stir that in.
Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and cook for 15-20 mins or until the rice is just tender. Stir it occasionally during this time. Check the seasoning; you might not need more salt, but it can stand a lot of ground black pepper.
Add the washed spinach leaves and put the lid on again for a couple of minutes.
Then add the seafood and the reserved, fried chorizo slices. Carefully turn it into the rice. Cover with the lid again to give the spinach time to start wilting.
Once it has started to wilt, remove the lid and keep turning the paella over with a spoon to encourage everything to heat through.
Once the spinach has wilted and the seafood is piping hot, go ahead and serve it.
This served 2 adults and 1 child, generously. Would have been even more generous if a certain child hadn’t pinched both adults’ squid.
See, now I’m confused. On the one hand I love, love, love half the ingredients in this dish. On the other I have an irrational hatred of seafood (barring fish of course). Is there a variation on this for the squeamish among us? If you switched seafood for ham would you get a) a delicious jambalaya or b) a horrible mess? x