paella

I was watching 'Master chef' master class last week. They were making Paella and decided I would give it a go as I have never made it before.  My recipe is n't exactly authentic but close enough.  I researched a few recipes and they are all done quite differently.

This is my recipe - You will need

• 500g of Bomba rice (quite expensive but I wanted to use the real thing)
• 1.5 litre of stock, chicken or fish ( I used a combination of chicken and some stock that was left over from the mussels that I steamed when making some fritters the other day)
• 1 chorizo sausage sliced
• 1 chicken breast sliced into chunks ( thigh would probably be better)
• 15 whole raw prawns with their heads and shells on
• 250g of squid ( I bought the already prepared scored diamond patterned in a packet)
• 1 red pepper chopped 
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic
• 5 small tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon of saffron 
• 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
• 2 bay leaves
• parsley
• lemons sliced into quarters

I started off frying the chicken with salt and pepper just to get some colour on it and then removed it from the paella pan.  It was not cooked through.
Next I added the onion with some olive oil along with the pepper, chorizo and garlic until golden.

Add the stock (which has been heated in a pot), tomatoes, bay leaves, saffron, smoked paprika and lastly the rice.
Keep the temperature at the lowest setting and gently cook till the rice absorbs the stock.  You can stir it around for even cooking.  I even turned the heat off so as not to burn the bottom at times.  It is supposed to have a crunchy bottom or 'soccarat' crust.  You just don't want it burnt.

When you think it is fully absorbed or nearly add the prawns first then the chicken and squid.  I overcooked my prawns and chicken.  So I suggest you just add the protein turn off the heat and cover in foil and leave for 5 minutes.  Apparently it is really hard to overcook this rice, so don't worry about over doing it.

Finally finish up with the chopped parsley and lemons.
Don't forget to squeeze on the lemon and some ground black pepper before eating.
I really enjoyed it, it was  full of flavour and just what I felt like.