Recipes
olivia's paella

olivia's paella

by oliviaportrush
from born in nireland live in malaga spain.

Recipe Story

I have been in Spain for 20 years and have taken an interest in Spanish cooking. I was fascinated by paella as it looked like a difficult dish. It was even more fascinating as men seemed to think it was their territory. I realised from watching them that while there was a lot of preparation involved it wasnt so difficult.Its a case of adding the ingredients you like best and not having a set time to eat. The fun and relaxation comes in the cooking in Spain everyone gets involved and everyone has a dfferent way of doing it Its a great Sunday lunch and anyone who can make a stew can make a paella. My children are half spanish half Northern Irish and they love paella. Its a fab dish and with ingredients so readily available in uk easy and quite cheap to make.

Servings:

serves 4 humgry people

Level of difficulty:

Easy

Ingredients


8 mussels
300 grs fresh raw king prawns(where possible with heads on)
100 gr squid rings or 1 small squid
1 green pepper finely chopped
1 red pepper chopped finely
1 onion finely chopped
2 tomatoes skinned and chopped
2 cloves of garlic
4 chicken drumsticks
150 grs pork pieces
600grs white rice (get best available eg calaspara)
200 ml olive oil
1 ltr chicken stock
2 large glass white(another for cook)
1 -2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp saffron
black pepper
1/2tsp paprika
parsley
1 bay leaf
2lemons

Method


Clean mussels and steam till open in 2 cups of water 1 glass of white wine 1 clove of chopped garlic and a handful of chopped parsley Shake pan after a minute to help mussels to open. Remove all mussels with slotted spoon discard any unopen ones and reserve.
Add a bay leaf to the stock and add the peeled prawns(reserve shells).
When prawns just turned pink remove(less than 1 minute) Add shells and prawn heads to stock add another cup of water and simmer for 10 minutes.
In a paella pan heat 2 tbs olive oil cook the chicken and pork till browned remove. Add the onions red and green pepper to the oil more oil can be added if needed. Fry for 3 mins on high heat then reduce heat and allow to cook 10 minutes till soft.Then turn up heat and add tomatoes and more oil if necessary Cook on a medium heat until mixture resembles a stew. Add 1 clove of chopped garlic and squid rings and fry for 3 or 4 minutes.
Add paella rice use 1 handful per person plus 2 handfuls for luck cook till translucent then add a glass of wine and cook off wine.

Strain the fish liquid and add to chicken stock
and heat add to pan when warm with the chicken and pork pieces.Add saffron, paprika salt and pepper at this stage and stir till all mixed.
Cook on a medium heat stirring every 5 mins.
(the spanish think this is sacrilege they leave it alone at this point)
After 15 minutes oooking time or when most liquid is absorbed (make sure rice is almost cooked)
add the prawns and frozen peas.place the mussels round the sides or top After a further 5 minutes remove from heat decorate with lemon quarters and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rest for at least 5 mins to get everyone to the table. Serve with alioli,crusty bread and lots of wine. A paella should take as long to eat as to prepare.
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