Paella probably isn’t the dish that comes to mind when you’re having an impromptu dinner party, but it should be. I can understand why you would first look at a pan of paella so beautifully decorated with shellfish, with its brilliant colours and immediately put it in the ”˜too hard’ basket but this dish is seriously easy to make ”“ I’m talking 1 pan (I used a wok actually) and no sore risotto arm. Easy 🙂

The other week, Mikee and I had Paul and Marcela over for an unplanned dinner party so we decided to cook a seafood and chorizo Paella adapted from Bill Granger’s Every Day. I’m not going to offend any Spanish people out there and say that this recipe is a true Valencian paella, because it’s not. But it’s pretty darn close to some of the better paella I have tasted in my travels to Spain!

Paul said that his mother (who is known in the Barbera circles as a very fine cook) makes paella often but this one could even vie for that number 1 position! Although, he may have just said that to be polite 😉

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

80 ml Olive Oil

1 thinly sliced Chorizo Sausage

200 g French shallots sliced

sea salt

2 crushed Garlic Cloves

2 teaspoons sweet Paprika

¼ teaspoon Cayenne pepper

500 g Calasparra paella rice (or use arborio rice)

400 g tinned Tomatoes chopped

½ teaspoon Saffron soaked in 1 tablespoon water (or powdered)

1 red Capsicum roasted, peeled and thinly sliced

1¼ Litres chicken stock

300 g chopped green beans (in halves or thirds)

13 large raw Prawns peeled and deveined, tails left intact

300 g black Mussels beards removed

2 tablespoons chopped Flat-leaf parsley

Ground black Pepper

Method:

1)   Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.

2)   Add the chorizo and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6”“7 minutes until it is crisp.

3)   Remove from the pan and set aside.

4)   Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining oil to the pan.

5)   Add the shallots and sprinkle with sea salt.

6)   Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, or until soft.

7)   Add the garlic, paprika and cayenne and cook, stirring, for another minute.

8)   Add the rice and stir to coat the grains with oil.

9)   Add the tomatoes, saffron, pepper and stock.

10)   Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15”“20 minutes until the rice is almost tender.

11)   Add the beans, prawns and mussels and return the chorizo to the pan.

12)   Cover and cook for another 10 minutes, or until the mussels have opened and the prawns are cooked through (discard any mussels that haven’t opened after this time).

13)   Stir through the parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 4-6

 

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