In general, UK farmer’s markets selling lukewarm and overly-salted stodgy rice or sloppy supermarket versions haven’t exactly tickled my taste buds. Obviously, I’m painfully aware that I haven’t yet tried the real thing; drop me off in a sleepy Spanish seaside village and point me in the direction of a bustling café by the beach and I’m sure paella and me would strike up a lasting friendship. But the cynical side of me doubts that sleepy village will be easy to find. It’s not the olden days; I can’t just walk out one midsummer morning à la Laurie Lee for a plateful, so once again I have to settle for what I imagine good paella tastes like. So here is my bastardised “armchair-traveller” version. Of course, paella is flexible; you can use whatever kind of white meat or shellfish you like, by all means use mussels, langoustines, snails… I used what we had, which unsurprisingly isn’t much in West Yorkshire but it still tasted delicious.
Serves 4 (with leftovers, so really 6)
Ingredients:
½ a chorizo (about 200g), diced roughly1 large onion, chopped
400g long grain rice (controversially not paella rice; I
used this once and it was too sticky for my liking but it’s up to you)
1 sachet paella seasoning (SHOCKER: it’s fine, it’s from
Harvey Nicks. If without, use a tsp saffron soaked in a little warm water, then
a bay leaf, a half teaspoon of garlic powder, sweet paprika and black pepper)
1- 1½ pints chicken or fish stock
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 red pepper
Paprika
250g diced chicken breast (or thigh)
350g/ 1 packet of mixed seafood (I defrosted a great Marks
and Spencer’s mix of raw king prawns, calamari and queen scallops)
100g sliced artichoke hearts (I used jarred artichokes and
the vinegary taste worked well with the fish)
A handful of frozen peas
Parsley
Lemon wedges, to serve.
Method:
1)
In a very large, dry frying pan sauté the chorizo until it
begins to leak oil; at which point tip in the chopped onion and fry until soft.
2)
Wash some of the starch out of the rice by
running it under the tap in a sieve for a minute or so, until the water begins
to turn clear.
3)
Add the rice to the chorizo and onion and cook
for a moment until the rice turns translucent and glossy. Then sprinkle over
your sachet of spice mix (or the combination of spices listed above) and add
the chopped tomatoes.
4)
Pour over enough stock to cover the rice by 1cm
and then place on a lid to simmer. I always overcook rice but have found this
method to be reliable. Test the rice every now and then for seasoning and to
see if it’s cooked; if the pan is dry and the rice is still hard, pour over a little
more stock. Repeat the process until you’re satisfied the rice is cooked but
don’t stir it with a spoon or the residual starch will turn everything gummy-
always use a fork.
 |
| Paella seasoning (fincaelmonte.com) |
5)
While the rice is cooking, blacken the skin of
the red pepper either under the grill or directly on a gas ring- when
everything’s evenly coated, bung it in a sandwich bag to sweat. When cool
enough to handle, scrape off the bitter skin, remove the seeds and chop into
chunks.
6)
Sprinkle a teaspoon or so of paprika over the
diced chicken before frying in a little oil until cooked through. Feel free to
use cooked chicken if you have it.
7)
Combine the chicken, red peppers, artichokes and
peas and scatter over the rice as it comes towards the end of its al-dente
stage.
8)
As with the chicken, quickly fry off the raw
seafood in a half teaspoon of paprika but whatever you do, don’t overcook
anything; it’s safest to fry them only until the translucent-blue has worn off
the prawns, before again scattering over the rice. The seafood will finish
cooking atop the covered steaming rice and be lovely and tender.
9)
Finally, when the rice is cooked, dredge the
dish with parsley and serve with a few lemon wedges.
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