Spanish Paella brightens up a cold miserable January. (Rice & Pasta Dishes)

Member Name: magenta23

Product:	Rice & Pasta Dishes
Date:	25/01/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tasty, filling, good for you

Disadvantages: None, really

Rice and Pasta are the easiest and most versatile foodstuffs - I love cooking with them, also very comforting and filling in these cold winter months. Even better nice and cheap for these tighter times!

One of my favourite rice dishes is paella. It's so tasty, filling and not bad for you either. The recipes I use is very easy to make and takes around an hour. The thing that's great about paella is that you can add whatever you like so if you don't like what I put in mine, put in whatever veggies or meat you like. I think cooking is lot about playing around with recipes, not just following them to every detail. I think they key with a paella is getting the rice just right and lots of seasoning so it's got bags of flavour.

This recipe will make enough for four hungry people, but adjust the quantites to suit you. I usually make more than I need and put the rest in the fridge. Add a little more stock and it's just as good heated up the next day. Or, as I do put a little in a container and have it as a packed lunch cold, like a cold rice salad - it's just as tasty.

Anyways here's how I do SPANISH PAELLA...


You will need...

Olive oil
1 Onion
3 cloves garlic (or as garlicy as you like it!)
2 large tomatoes, chopped or a tin of chopped tomatoes with juice drained off
1 large red pepper
2 skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp paprika
300 g (11oz) long-grain rice
Large pinch saffron
1.2 pint (2pts) vegetable stock
Salt & Pepper
12 raw or cooked prawns
100 g (31.2oz) frozen peas
A handful of mussels (I use frozen mussels from Tesco, shelled and cheaper than fresh)
Large handful fresh flatleaf parsley
1 lemon

And here's what you do ...

Prep -
Chop the onion and garlic finely
Chop pepper into strips
Cut chicken into chunks
Chop parsley

Method -
Heat the oil in a very large frying pan and add the onions, fry until soft.
Stir in the garlic, tomatoes, pepper, chicken and paprika and heat gently for 10 minutes, keep stirring!
Stir in the rice for a minute or two until the grains are well coated.
Add the saffron and stock.
Season lots and bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring until almost all the stock is absorbed.
Stir in the prawns and peas and mussels over the top of the rice and cook for 3-4 minutes until the prawns are pink (if using raw, if using cooked, just until they are warmed through).
Finally scatter the parsley over the top and squeeze over some lemon juice.
Serve with a lemon wedge on the side.

This is really easy and tasty, I think kids and adults alike will love it, all my family do.

Summary: Yum!