One forkful of this paella will bring to mind sun-drenched days in Spain…
If you prefer, you can swap the chorizo and chicken and create a seafood paella – just add raw prawns, squid and mussels for the last 3 minutes of the cooking time.
Alternatively, you could make it a vegetarian dish by replacing the meat with cubed sweet potato and marinated artichoke hearts.
Ingredients
- 1 red pepper, halved
- 4 large tomatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
- 150g chorizo, sliced
- knob of butter
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2tbsp sweet smoked paprika
- 300g paella or risotto rice
- pinch of saffron, soaked in 2tbsp hot water
- 1 large green pepper, chopped
- 2 lemons
- 850ml hot chicken stock
- handful chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
1 Grill the red pepper under a high heat until the skin is blackened. Put in a bowl, cover with clingwrap and set aside. Score crosses on the bottoms of the tomatoes and plunge them into a bowl of boiling water for 30 seconds, then peel, quarter, deseed and roughly chop. Peel the red pepper and roughly chop.
2 Heat the oil in a paella pan or large frying pan. Fry the chicken for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden all over. Add the chorizo and cook for 2 minutes until it is crisp and has released some fat. Remove the chicken and chorizo with a slotted spoon to a plate (keeping the fat in the pan) and keep warm.
3 Add the butter to the pan and gently fry the onion for 10 minutes, or until soft. Add the paprika and tomato purée and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the saffron and its soaking water, the tomatoes, the red- and green peppers, the juice of 1 lemon and half the stock. Cook for 10 minutes.
4 Return the chicken and chorizo to the pan and add the remaining stock. Cook for a further 10 to 15 minutes, until all the stock has been absorbed and the rice is tender. Serve garnished with chopped parsley and the remaining lemon, cut into wedge
