Ingredients
Units Scale
- olive oil
- 10–12 fresh tiger prawns (you need the heads and shells for the stock)
- 1 onion
- 1 fennel bulb
- 4 tsp tomato puree
- 1 big tomato, chopped
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 cup brandy
- a few sprigs of thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 2
litres of water - 1 onion
- 1 red pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 250g squid
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 400g rice (Bomba or Calasparra–short grain rice)
- 300g mussels
- 300g chorizo (you can add other seafood in its place)
- lemon wedges for serving
Instructions
- Start with 10-12 fresh tiger prawns.
- Lob off their heads and peel the shells and cook them (the heads and shells) in a good dollop of olive oil in a large stockpot for 2 minutes. The actual prawns get set aside in the fridge for the paella.
- Next add 1 onion and 1 fennel bulb, both sliced n’ diced for 10 minutes until caramelised.
- Whip in 4 tsp tomato puree, 1 big fat chopped tomato, 1 tsp smoked paprika and 1/2 cup brandy.
- Stir it all together, toss in a bunch of thyme sprigs, 2 bay leaves and add in 2
litres of water. - Bring all of this to a boil, then bring down to a simmer, and leave for 45 minutes until reduced to half the amount of liquid.
!Paella
- Dice 1 onion, 1 red pepper, and 1 green pepper.
- Slice 3 garlic cloves, and set aside 2 bay leaves.
- Clean 250g squid and slice into rings.
- Spoon out 1 tsp paprika and measure out 400g of rice (Bomba or Calasparra is apparently best).
- Have your little saffron packet ready.
- And clean any other seafood. They called for 300g each of mussels and clams, but we added a handful of mussels and chopped chorizo instead.
- When the 45 minutes of stock brewing is done, strain the liquid into a bowl, ready to be used.
- Fire up the stove, add the paella pan and a good drop of olive oil.
- Now, add everything, with 2 minutes in between each item, and stirring each item in. Onion, 2 minutes. Both peppers, 2 minutes. garlic, 2 minutes. Squid, 2 minutes. Bay leaves, 2 minutes. Paprika, 2 minutes. Rice (mix it in well), 2 minutes.
- Add the saffron and most of the stock, bring back to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.
- Now, do. not. stir. This is your first time? Don’t worry, you’ll probably burn the bottoms for sure. But it’ll still taste good.
- After 10 minutes, push in the rest of the seafood into the mixture. Prawns? check. Mussels? check.
- If it’s getting too dry, add a little more of the stock, but in 8 minutes, you’re finishing cooking paella and it should be a drier dish ( you’re not aiming for soup).
- Set aside for 5 minutes with al-foil over, before serving with lemon wedges.
