SIMPLE PAELA

INGREDIENTS

7 tablespoons olive oil
2 large Spanish onions, finely chopped
1 large red bell pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled & pressed or finely chopped
250g paella rice
1 heaped teaspoon sweet smoked Spanish paprika
900ml stock 
Salt and pepper

Simple

200g roasted red peppers, in strips
200g baby spinach, washed and drained or defrosted leaf spinach
1 lemon, cut into wedges

METHOD

Put the olive oil in a paella pan or deep frying pan and place over a high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper. Fry, stirring frequently, for five minutes, until hot and sizzling. Reduce heat to low then cook slowly for 25 minutes, stirring from time to time.  They should become soft and sweet, and the onion golden but not burnt or caramelised. Add the garlic and continue cooking for another 2 or 3 minutes. Add the rice, stir well to coat and sprinkle evenly with the paprika. Season with salt but keep in mind that if you’re using chicken stock from a cube or granules it will be much saltier than fresh. Until this point you can make the dish in advance.

About 25 minutes before you are ready to eat, heat the chicken stock until nearly boiling and let the rice mixture warm through. Pour the hot stock gently into the paella pan. Bring to a gentle bubble and leave it – the rice should not be disturbed from this point on, or it will break down and go mushy. 

Taste the rice after 20 minutes – you want it to be almost cooked but with very little bite left. When it seems just done there should be only a little liquid around the edge of the pan. Switch off the burner. Drape over the strips of roasted pepper, and then the spinach and and push down with your fingers into the sticky rice – be careful, it’ll be really hot. Cover firmly with a large piece of tin foil or large saucepan lid and leave to rest for 5 minutes, or add your chosen topping (below) to enhance. Serve with a segment of lemon. 

PIMP IT

100g chorizo cubes
400g mussels, scrubbed under running water

When the rice is nearly cooked, push the mussels (cleaned) into it before covering, cooking for a further couple of minutes then letting it rest for a couple of minutes. Scatter with chorizo too if you like.

VEG IT

1 tbs olive oil
2 handfuls mix of almonds & seeds of choice, eg pumpkin, sunflower, pine kernels or mixture
½ tsp smoked sweet paprika
Pinch sea salt

Warm the olive oil in a frying pan large enough to hold the nuts and seeds in a single layer. Roughly chop a handful of raw almonds. Mix with a second handful of seeds of your choice and toss into the pan. Cook over a medium heat, shaking and turning every so often so that they become toasted and golden but not burnt – about 5 minutes. Scatter over the paprika and salt, give another stir and sprinkle on top of your paella.