Before the Paella Purists harangue me, I’m aware that this recipe isn’t a traditional paella; you’d never find prawns and chorizo in a short-grain rice recipe in Valença, for example, nor peas in the mix anywhere else in Spain. I doubt too that the short cooking time will allow that all-important, authentic crust to develop on the bottom of the pan (if it does, that’s a bonus.) But hey-ho, this ‘paella’ is as good as it gets for the average British home cook – and it’s totalmente tasty, too.
Ingredients (serves 4)
Olive oil
80g cooking chorizo, chopped into bite-sized chunks
1 red and 1 green pepper, both deseeded and chopped into bite-sized chunks
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
300g paella rice
750g chicken or vegetable stock
A pinch of saffron
300g peeled, frozen king prawns
150g frozen peas
To serve: freshly-chopped parsley; lemon wedges
Method
Drizzle around 1 tbsp olive oil into a large, lidded frying or paella pan and place on the hob over a medium heat. Before the pan has even started to heat up, add the chorizo and allow it to slowly start to sauté as the heat builds up. As soon as the chorizo has released its fragrant, orange-tinted oil, remove with a slotted spoon and set to one side.
Add another drizzle of olive oil to the pan and sauté the peppers for around three minutes, adding the smoked paprika and garlic for the last minute. Add the chorizo back to the pan followed by the rice, stir for a couple of minutes to allow the rice to absorb all the flavours around it, then add the stock and the saffron. Bring to the boil then simmer for around 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding the odd splash of water to loosen things up if necessary.
Add the prawns and peas to the pan, stir well, cover with a lid and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the prawns have turned pink.
Serve immediately, topped with freshly-chopped parsley and lemon wedges for spritzing.
