Paella

Paella is a traditional Spanish rice dish that originated from Valencia, Eastern Spain but is now cooked all over the world.  There is much debate about which ingredients constitute the real, authentic recipe.  Many recipes include chicken, fish, shellfish, rabbit and even snails.  The two key ingredients that everyone agrees on are that it must use a short grain paella rice (such as calasparra or bomba) and saffron. The short grain rice absorbs the liquid and flavours of the dish without drying out and the saffron adds a delicate flavour and a golden hue.

Unlike risotto, which requires the gradual addition of stock and continual stirring, with paella the stock is added in one go at the start and is left to absorb into the rice without stirring.  At the end of the cooking the liquid should be absorbed, the meat/fish/vegetables cooked and a slight toasty crust of rice at the base of the dish.  This is called the “socarrat” and is considered a delicacy.

The ideal cooking vessel is a wide, flat bottomed paella dish.  You can buy these in various sizes so you can get the right size for the number of people you are catering for.  Failing that, the widest shallowest frying pan you have would be the next best thing.

This recipe uses chicken, chorizo and prawns.  You could add other seafood such as mussels or squid.  If you do so, I recommend adding it for the last 10 minutes of cooking so that they don’t overcook or dry out.

You need to prepare all of the ingredients before you start cooking and this and the browning of the meat is the only labour intensive part of the dish.  Once the stock is added, you can leave the paella to cook away quietly on its own!

Method

1. Put the saffron strands into the stock and leave it to steep.
2. Heat the olive oil in the paella pan over a moderate heat and fry off the chorizo cubes.
3. When the chorizo is slightly toasty at the edges move it to the side of the paella dish and add the chicken thighs, browning them on all sides in the residual oil from the pancetta and the olive oil. This will take about 5-8 minutes.
   
4. When the chicken is browned, move it to the side of the paella dish with the chorizo.   Add the onion, garlic and red pepper and salute for 2-3 minutes.
   
5. Sprinkle over the paprika and the rice and stir everything together, distributing the chicken thighs and chorizo evenly.
   
6. Add all of the stock and cook gently without stirring for 15 minutes.
   
7. Then add the tomatoes, peas and prawns, tucking the prawns into the rice and stock so that they are submerged.  Cook for another 10 minutes until the prawns are coral coloured and the liquid evaporated.
   
8. Scatter the chopped parsley over and wedge the lemon pieces around and serve it in the paella dish.