Summer food - Paella

[mechsympathy]

Got to take advantage of the weather while it's here and one of my abiding childhood holiday memories is of watching someone making a huge paella for a festival. Unfortunately all I can remember of the recipe is the vast quantity of olive oil that was used.

So, has anyone got any recipes and/or tips?

[Nefarious]

Paella
1lb (500g) chicken thigh fillets or rabbit
Lots of fresh black pepper
1 heaped teaspoon hot paprika or cayenne pepper
Lots of olive oil (at least enough to cover your pan 1 cm deep)
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic, chopped and crushed
1lb (500g ish) Long grain rice (easy cook style)
1 red pepper
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 pints fish stock
1 tbsp ground turmeric
100g cooked and peeled prawns
200g seafood cocktail (mussels, calamari, scallops, prawns)
50g baby octopus (optional, but I reckon it’s the nuts)
A few large prawns or langoustines to serve

1)Cover the chicken (or rabbit) with the pepper and paprika (or cayenne pepper) at least 20 mins before starting, to let the flavour get into the meat
2)Heat a little olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan, and fry off the onion, garlic and chicken.
3)Add the rest of the oil (don’t be shy here – it looks like an awful lot but it all gets absorbed), and the rice. Mix until all the oil is soaked up and cook for about 5 mins
4)Add everything else except the seafood, cover and cook on a medium heat for 20 mins
5)Mix in the prawns, seafood cocktail and baby octopi. Place the langoustines on top, replace the cover and cook for another 10 mins.

Doesn’t really need much with it, but you could serve with a tomato salad if you wanted.

[mechsympathy]

Nefarious said:

Lots of olive oil (at least enough to cover your pan 1 cm deep)

As I said:

Unfortunately all I can remember of the recipe is the vast quantity of olive oil that was used.

Cheers.

[Greenie]

Nefarious said:

Paella
1lb (500g) chicken thigh fillets or rabbit
Lots of fresh black pepper
1 heaped teaspoon hot paprika or cayenne pepper
Lots of olive oil (at least enough to cover your pan 1 cm deep)
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic, chopped and crushed
1lb (500g ish) Long grain rice (easy cook style)
1 red pepper
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 pints fish stock
1 tbsp ground turmeric
100g cooked and peeled prawns
200g seafood cocktail (mussels, calamari, scallops, prawns)
50g baby octopus (optional, but I reckon it’s the nuts)
A few large prawns or langoustines to serve

1)Cover the chicken (or rabbit) with the pepper and paprika (or cayenne pepper) at least 20 mins before starting, to let the flavour get into the meat
2)Heat a little olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan, and fry off the onion, garlic and chicken.
3)Add the rest of the oil (don’t be shy here – it looks like an awful lot but it all gets absorbed), and the rice. Mix until all the oil is soaked up and cook for about 5 mins
4)Add everything else except the seafood, cover and cook on a medium heat for 20 mins
5)Mix in the prawns, seafood cocktail and baby octopi. Place the langoustines on top, replace the cover and cook for another 10 mins.

Doesn’t really need much with it, but you could serve with a tomato salad if you wanted.

You have missed the 3 things Paella must have in my opinion. Calasparra rice, saffron & chorizo. Cayenne, paprika and turmeric have no place in a Paella.

[entwisi]

and I thought teh idea was to add stock a small amount at a time rather than in one bit lot.

I like arborio rice personally although one of teh nicest dishes I ate in Barcelona was a noodle based 'paella'

[mechsympathy]

entwisi said:

and I thought teh idea was to add stock a small amount at a time rather than in one bit lot.

AFAIK that's risotto, in paella it all goes in in one.

[mechsympathy]

Greenie said:

You have missed the 3 things Paella must have in my opinion. Calasparra rice, saffron & chorizo. Cayenne, paprika and turmeric have no place in a Paella.

Good points(s), but paprika is a big part of chorizo.

[Greenie]

mechsympathy said:

Greenie said:

You have missed the 3 things Paella must have in my opinion. Calasparra rice, saffron & chorizo. Cayenne, paprika and turmeric have no place in a Paella.

Good points(s), but paprika is a big part of chorizo.

That's why it doesn't need to be added.

Also the "meat" you use can be anything. Inland Spain would typically use rabbit and snails whereas by the coast would be seafood and no meat.

[mechsympathy]

Greenie said:

That's why it doesn't need to be added.

True. But in the absence of meat it's necessary (one of my guests is vegetablist)

[Greenie]

mechsympathy said:

Greenie said:

That's why it doesn't need to be added.

True. But in the absence of meat it's necessary (one of my guests is vegetablist)

Give her a carrot.

[krallicious]

Don't forget the huge earthern ware dish over and open fire to cook it all in. I'm sure they are abundant in Britain. Don't forget to add peas. near the end of the cooking.

[mechsympathy]

:DThat's my kind of recipe.

[navier_stokes]

mechsympathy said:

Greenie said:

You have missed the 3 things Paella must have in my opinion. Calasparra rice, saffron & chorizo. Cayenne, paprika and turmeric have no place in a Paella.

Good points(s), but paprika is a big part of chorizo.

I think you'll find, as with most things in the UK, the typicial paella we make and serve over here (i.e. the recipe above) is not representative of paella in general and is only from certain regions of Spain, i.e. near the coast. Paella can be made with pretty much anything, and the traditional Spanish version will be different depending on which region you are looking at.

[bridgdav]

There are a couple of versions on here..

Good site for showing recipes, if you've never had a scan through.

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-paella-4

[Noger]

Calasparra, Arborio, Bomba etc are all pretty much interchangeable ... they are all short grained rices. Using long grained rice is just pointless IMHO, in either risotto or paella.

[N Dentressangle]

Sainsburys do actual paella rice, which comes with a couple of recipes on the packet.

The rice is excellent, and the recipes work well, whilst being basic enough to give you plenty of scope for creativity / using up whatever bits and bobs you can find in the fridge. Ole!

[mechsympathy]

N Dentressangle said:

Ole!

That went well. The vegetablist was running late, so there was only the two of us

[bazking69]

Cross off anything fishier than prawns and that sounds like something I will have to give a go sometime.

[Nefarious]

In a related development, I did a Jambolaya (kind of) last night, to use up a bunch of stuff in the fridge. I've done these before, but have never been that happy with using tinned toms as the base, so this time I used coconut milk, as I would when making rice and peas, and added a few chopped fresh tomatoes and a little tomato puree. Came out much much better.

Anyway, when something like this:
400g Chicken coated in cajun seasoning
6 sausages and 200g chorizo (browned in the pan first)
1 onion
1 stick of celery
I red chili
1 tin of mixed "taco" beans (black eyes, kidney beans and something else)
1 tin of coconut milk
400g rice
1 1/2 pints of chicken/fish stock
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp hot paprika
biggish sprig of thyme
blob of tom puree
2 chopped tomatoes
200g prawns
parsley to serve.

Basically the method is to brown off the sausages with the cubed chorizo, then remove and chop into chunks (I actually added a bit of smoky BBQ marinade as well). Fry off the onion, celery and chili, add the chicken, fry til brown. Add the rice and let it absorb the oil. Bang in everything else bar the prawns and parsely (inc. the sausage and chorizo) and simmer for 20 mins, stirring occasionally.

Edited by Nefarious on Friday 20th March 12:08

[prand]

I find paella delicious and really easy to make. I'm not too precious about ingredients as surely this was a traditionally a one-pot (a big one at that) dish made with whatever was to hand at the time anyway.

For meat - Squid, mussels, prawns, chunks of firm fish, chicken thighs and chorizo go into mine

For veg, I put sliced red peppers, peas, (fresh broad beans are good too), onions and rice (short grain Itlaian/Spanish/Camargue rice)

For seasoning/spice - chicken/veg/fish stock, saffron (can cheat with turmeric for teh yellow rice but it is naughty tut-tut!), perhaps some smoked paprika if I have any