6 cooked half shell mussels
100g/4 oz each monkfish and squid
350g/12 oz Venus clams.
Peeled king prawns
½g saffron stamens
250g/8 oz paella rice
275g/9oz skinned chorizo sausage
(all above available from The Fish Society)....
... Also:
4 nice pieces of chicken with the skin on
1 red pepper
2 garlic cloves
2 lemons
450g/1 lb onions
125g/4 oz tomatoes (or tinned, chopped)
50ml/2 fl oz olive oil
l tsp paprika
Salt & pepper
¼ bottle dry white wine. |
1 Defrost all the frozen items, ideally overnight in fridge.
2 Soak saffron in an eggcupful of wine or sherry for 10 mins, then pour into ½ pt boiling water.
3 Soak rice in cold water for 30 mins then rinse and drain.
4 Chop squid into rings (discard the "quill" if you find one) and chicken, chorizo and monk into 2.5cm / 1 inch cubes. Season chicken and monk. Finely chop the onion. Deseed pepper and chop into strips. Skin, deseed and chop tomato.
5 Gently heat olive oil in a very large (or use 2) and ideally, heavy, frying pan. Brown chicken, remove. Cook onions until opaque.
6 Return chicken to pan. Stir in rice, crushed garlic, paprika, red pepper, saffron and its soaking liquid. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer and stir for 5 mins until most of liquid is absorbed.
7 Add 200ml / 1/3 pt boiling water and wine, squid, monk and sausage. Ensure mixture is simmering IT MUST NOT BOIL. Add clams, mussels and raw shell-on prawns, if using. Do not stir.
8 Cover with foil, cook 7 mins. Uncover and stir. Add any shelled or cooked prawns. Cook for a further 5 mins. Test. Cook a little longer if necessary. Serve with halved lemons. |
