Midweek Paella
1 x 250 grams chorizo sausage sliced into small circles
1 red and yellow pepper -diced
1 large onion diced
2 cloves garlic chopped finely
4 large tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon of pimenton picante- this is a smoked hot paprika which is available in good delis
1 teaspoon saffron
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 litre of hot chicken stock made up with a stock cube
200g green beans cut in half
150 g raw prawns, frozen ones are fine
200g mussels - you can use fresh but I cheat and use ready cooked ones which come vacuum packed in a white wine and garlic sauce.
Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan or paella pan if you have one. Add the chorizo sausage and fry until begining to colour. Add the red and yellow pepper and onion and fry until they begin to soften.
Skin the fresh tomatoes by cutting a cross in the base of each tomato and plunging into boiling water for a few minutes. Remove from the water and allow to cool for a few seconds before peeling of the skin and roughly chopping. Add to the pan with the pimenton,saffron and thyme.
Fry for a few minutes then add the rice turning it around in all the spices and juices in the pan.
Add the chicken stock cube and allow the mixture to come to the boil. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes. It is traditional in Paella not to stir the rice so that a crust forms on the base of the pan. For paella conoisseurs this is the best part of the paella. However sometimes I do cheat a bit and stir it around just to make sure that everything is cooking evenly. Also I cook this on a solid top stove which means the heat is more evenly distributed but on a gas or electric hob if you have a large pan you may need to sit it across two rings.
Add the green beans and the prawns if you are using frozen and allow to cook for another 10 -15 minutes. It may be necessary to top up the liquid in the rice but just keep tasting the rice grains to see how tender the are.
Add the mussels and allow them to cook for another 10 minutes. If you are using the ready prepared ones rinse off the sauce in a colander and add them to the pan allowing them to warm through as per the pack instructions.
When the rice and vegetables are tender and the prawns are pink and cooked through the paella is ready to eat. Serve sprinkled with some chopped fresh parsley and some good spanish wine.
