Paella

Paella

Paella originated in Valencia, the truly original Paella is made up of ingredients that are easy to obtain local ingredients, such as green vegetables, snails and eels. This is just my version of the original dish, you may vary the ingredients as you desire, adding different seafood or you may wish to add chicken cut into portions, diced pork.

people_outline
access_time
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 chorizo sausages sliced
  • 400g monkfish fillet (membrane removed) cut into 12 small medallions
  • 12 large tiger prawn, peeled
  • 4 large tiger prawns shell on
  • 1 medium squid cleaned and cut into rings
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced
  • 125g olive oil
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 400g Valencia or short grain rice
  • 750ml fish, chicken or vegetable stock
  • 100ml white wine
  • Pinch of saffron threads
  • 1 medium tomato diced
  • 120g stringless beans, chopped into 3
  • 2 tbsp. of minced flat leaf parsley

Method

  1. Seafood and Chorizo: Heat the oil in a paella pan, large frying pan or wok. Cook the monkfish for a minute on either side so that it is sealed and remove from the pan. Sauté the prawn until they turn pink, remove from the pan. Sauté the squid rings and set aside. Saute the chorizo until just cooked and set aside.
  2. Rice: Preheat an oven to 180°C. Sauté the onion in the pan until it is soft. Add the rice to the pan and cook for a minute. Add the stock and wine to the pan with the bay leaf and saffron and leave to simmer for around 10 minutes until 2/3 of the stock has reduced.
  3. Paella: Mix the tomatoes and beans into the rice. Add the prawns, monkfish, chorizo and squid to the rice burying it in well. Place the pan uncovered in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
  4. Remove the paella from the oven when the stock has dissolved and the rice is just tender, cover the rice with foil and leave for 5 minutes.
  5. To Serve: Remove the foil from the paella and sprinkle the parsley over the top of the paella. Serve the paella at the table with a leaf salad. You may also wish to give each person a side plate for the shells and a finger bowl with water and a slice of lemon to wash their hands.