Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 red onions, diced
- 1 large chorizo, diced
- 2 ½ cups rice
- 3-4 chilies, sliced (sweet, and at least one with a little kick, any colours)
- 1-2 tsp of smoked paprika
- 1L stock, chicken or fish, boiling
- a cup of peas or sliced beans (use fresh if you have them!)
- salt pepper
- 300g firm white fish
- spring onions and chopped herbs to serve
PAELLA WITH CHORIZO AND WHITE FISH
Method
- To start your flavour base add a good slug of olive oil to a hot skillet or heavy open sided pan
- Add your onions, and after a stirring for a few moments add your chorizo and the garlic
- Avoid letting the garlic colour too much
- Follow with the chilies (again avoid scorching your chili)
- Add a little more oil if necessary and then the dry rice; stir until translucent
- Add a tablespoon of tomato puree and stir for a few crucial minutes to cook out the raw note of the puree and develop its inherent savouriness
- Add your hot stock and peas or beans, stir once or twice and cover with a lid or flat tray
- After 10 minutes rest your cubed fish in the top of paella
- At this point stop stirring for two reasons; one it avoids the rice breaking down and taking on a feathery, mealy consistency, and secondly it lets the paella catch on the pan to form a super chewy, intensely umami crust, just like a great biryani
- At any point add a little more stock or boiling water should your paella look to dry, but don’t fall into the trap of emulating the loose, creamy consistency of risotto
- Scatter with chopped herbs and shredded spring onions
- Serve with a sharp salad
Comments
Paella doesn’t demand quite the undivided attention at the stove side of its Italian counterpart; unlike the elegant consistency desired in risotto, good paella should catch on the pan. Chicken, pork, fish, shellfish, crustaceans, squid or octopus are all appropriate additions. Make out of that which you have on hand, including leftover meat from roasts. I make Havoc’s chorizo part of the mix; added in the early stages of cooking it imparts both flavour and colour.
