My Paella

I can’t think of anything I enjoy more than sharing recipes, whether it is one of my own or someone else’s, that I have tried. I’ll certainly be the first to admit that my love of food and recipe books is borderline obsessive and whilst I would never label myself as a chef, I would like to consider myself as quite knowledgeable in the matters of the kitchen, whether that is true or not I can’t say for sure and I wouldn’t therefore sit and preach about kitchen do’s and don’ts, after all what do I really know? I know what I have taught myself from books, T.V programmes and Youtube, you can find anything on there it’s amazing that’s how I learnt how to fillet a fish and pipe cupcakes. This far from makes me an authority on food though, I pride myself on being the best I can be in my own kitchen that’s it. I make mistakes mostly due to misreading a recipe or forgetting a vital ingredient or technique. I love sharing my ideas though and if asked I’ll offer advice or hints and tips that I have learnt over the past few years. I would never presume to know best, nor would I say to someone that their cooking method or recipe was wrong, just because my method was or is different to theirs, after all what’s really in a technique? The main thing is that the end result is edible and you are happy with the finished product it shouldn’t matter how you got there.

Nothing annoys me more than know it all amateur cooks… For example; I made a paella – it was far from perfect, the rice was cooked to al dente so pretty much spot on, but the rest of it was too wet and the wrong colour. It was too wet because I made a mistake with the type of tinned tomatoes I bought, they were saucy almost like ketchup, so there was too much fluid in it and as for the colour, I totally mishandled the saffron. I had never cooked with it before and just sprinkled the saffron straight into the paella, I hadn’t realised that you are supposed to soak it in boiling water first, to bring out the colour. How did I learn this? By reading another recipe book and another recipe that used saffron in it, since then I have found lots of recipes that all say to do the same thing, extract the colour through boiling water. Now I know I won’t make the same mistake and in fact I have used it a couple of times since.

‘Traditional’ is a word that really bugs me too, when it comes to recipes. Everyone’s Paella, shepherd’s pie or lasagne is supposedly the ‘original’ one made in the ‘traditional’ way. Which brings me back to those really annoying comments like “Did you make it from scratch or out of a packet?” and my favourite of all time “Oh no it’s not paella unless you put turmeric and cumin in it, what are you using saffron for it’s too expensive?” and apparently you HAVE to put peas in it. I hate peas, my ex used to put them on my plate (My face is screwed up in disgust as I type) out of a jar, YUCK, YUCK, YUCK… snot coloured, soggy peas gross!!! So I still have a few issues with peas, I will eat cooked frozen peas, with a little butter and salt and pepper that is it, I hate them covered in any kind of sauce so why would I add them to my paella? I use green beans instead, I prefer them but because I like my vegetables, piping hot all the way through but still crunchy (Thanks to those jarred peas I hate soggy veg, full stop) I blanch them and chuck them in after I have taken the paella off the heat so they don’t cook anymore. This person told me that because I had used saffron and put beans instead of peas I hadn’t made paella?

My Paella

 

Olive oil                                                      200g clams

2 raw chorizo in pieces                              200g mussels

300g belly pork 1cm pieces                      300g paella rice

1 green pepper, chopped                         1 red pepper, chopped

200g jarred roasted red pepper                5cloves garlic, crushed

400g tinned tomatoes                             1 onion, chopped

1 litre chicken stock                                flat leaf parsley

12 large prawns shells on                       sea salt and ground pepper

150g squid                                               generous pinch of saffron

150g green beans                                   1 lemon, cut into wedges

1.       In a large heavy based skillet, unless you have a paella pan, it would make sense to use that. Heat some olive oil , when it is hot add the chorizo and the belly pork, stirring every now and again, cook for about 10 minutes, when the fat in the chorizo starts to ooze out add the peppers, garlic, onion and parsley, season with salt and pepper. Put the saffron in boiling water to release the flavour and colour, and then add that to the pan; gently cook until the veg start to soften.

2.       Next add the rice and the roasted peppers, stir until all the rice is coated in the cooking juices, then add the tinned tomatoes, being careful not to add too much of the juice and about half of the stock, season again, bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes while continuously stirring.

3.       Add all your shellfish and a little more stock if it looks to dry, in a separate saucepan add the beans to boiling water and cook until they are really hot all the way through and then drain keeping them warm if necessary. When the clams and mussels start to open and the prawns are pink, add the squid as they only need about 5 minute, squeeze a little lemon juice over the top and serve, with the lemon wedges.