Spanish Paella from a Bristol Kitchen

Sunday night I had a hankering to christen my paella pan. Mum had bought me over some vacuum packed chorizo back from Spain so this seemed like a golden opportunity to experiment with a paella recipe. So I did a little research and thought what I might like to do and gave it a go. The recipe itself is fairly simple although the main challenge is getting an even heat across your whole pan so the rice can cook evenly, on a halogen hob this is difficult but not impossible, you just have to make sure you move it around a bit to get an even heat. Anyway without further ado this is my paella recipe. 

Paella in it's pan

You will need:

400g chunkily chopped chicken thigh fillets

Half a chorizo ring, or more if you love chorizo (who doesn't?)

300g Paella rice, although I used arborio and it worked fine, it's the short grain that counts

Half a can of chopped tomatoes

1 1/2 pints of chicken stock

Pack of runner beans trimmed and sliced in to 2 inch pieces

1/2 can of butter beans (optional) I personally found that they made the dish even more filling so not sure I would use them next time but they are traditional so up to your personal tastes.

1 red pepper cut in to cube like chunks

2 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of smoked paprika

3-4 strands of saffron (optional)

salt & pepper to taste

1. Heat up some olive oil in your paella pan, or whatever wide flat pan you can find and fry the chicken chunks for about 4-5 minutes and then remove

2. Add the crushed garlic and stir in the pan for 1-2 minutes before adding the runner beans stir well then add the chicken back to the pan and add the chorizo too.

3. Whilst the beans are cooking add the chopped tomatoes, smoked paprika and stir well then add the saffron to some chicken stock before adding all the stock until it reaches almost the top of the pan

4. Bring the mixture to the boil on a high heat for about 15 minutes and season with salt and pepper

5. Add the rice and pepper chunks and make sure it is all covered by the mix leave on a fairly high heat for 20 minutes and do not stir it when the rice has absorbed the liquid take off the heat and stir in the butter beans, if you want to use them

6. Leave the paella off the heat for about 5-10 minutes if the rice is cooked correctly the grains will be loose but slightly al dente.

7. Serve immediately to hungry people

Will feed about 4 moderately hungry people or 3 ravenous ones

paella on my plate

and another because it was just so damn tasty

Anyway give it a go if you get the chance it is a tasty recipe I cannot wait to make it again. Next blog will be a review of our lunch at Ronnie's in Thornbury cannot wait to show you the lovely photos I took, especially of the pudding.