Paella!

When my family makes Paella, we don't muck about:

I have a Spanish Aunty who has influenced our paella making skills! Mum has been kind to my non piscean eating sisters and always made her paella with much less seafood for us! Of course, the traditional way is to load the Paella up with mussels, prawns, fish pieces etc.. but we've always stuck with chicken & maybe tuna too! What's so good about this dish is that you can add as many or as little ingredients as you like, but it always tastes good!

John has been asking me to make this for him for a while...to be honest - the first (and last) time I made Paella - I was in Spain! I bought all my fresh ingredients from the local market, called my mum for the recipe over the phone & went for it! It was awesome.. but I've never attempted it again since. Well, until now....

Main Ingredients

Olive Oil
1 onion – chopped finely
1 small red pepper (capsicum) - chopped finely
1 tin tomatoes
1 tspn saffron powder
Rice (risotto sized rice)
Hot water (with chicken/vegetable stock added optional)

* ½ cup rice needs 1- ½ cups water for about 2 ppl. You can always add more water as needed during cooking so better to add too little then too much water at first.

* If you want to use stock with your water, less additional salt is required. If you do not add stock then add salt to the paella.

Ingredients As Desired:

Vegetables – cauliflower, spanish black olives, peas (frozen or fresh), artichoke hearts, mushrooms (fresh or tin), broccoli.

Seafood – Mussels, prawns, squid pieces, crabs, 1 tin of tuna (Sirena is the best).

Chicken – boned pieces or cubed chicken breast

* Paella can be made vegetable/chicken/seafood only or a combination of your choice – it’s up to you! You only need a few ingredients of each item ie. Only a handful of peas, and each vegetable, etc.
* I always put in black olives and a tin of tuna even if I’m making a chicken or only vegetable Paella to add flavour!

What To Do:

- Fry well dried chicken pieces in oil with salt & pepper. Once browned take out of pan.
- In same oil cook onion & red pepper till soft then add tomato and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add all ingredients in the pan here (chicken, rice, seafood, saffron, etc) and mix well.
- Add water (based on amount of rice added) and mix all well this ONCE ONLY.
- Let rice simmer evenly on low-medium heat (never stirring) until water is absorbed and rice is cooked (add more water if necessary as you go).
- Once all rice is cooked dish out and serve with lemon.

* With seafood, you may want to add some of the pieces towards the end, on top of the paella dish and only cook for a short time. (ie. Prawns and other seafood can be arranged in a pattern on top of the dish and as they don’t take long to cook, they can be saved till last).

- Just a note - you don't stir paella the way you constantly stir a risotto. You stir once at the beginning, then let the stock gently simmer down & evaporate - this leaves a yummy, crunchy (almost burned) yummy Paella base to the pan!