Viva España!
Posted: 21 July '10 by Niall
Prawn and Chorizo paella
OK, so Spain winning the World Cup is a very thin excuse for making one of our favourite dishes again – a wonderfully tasty Prawn and Chorizo Paella.
Spanish cuisine is incredibly varied and is certainly wider than just paella recipes, but thanks to the tourist trade that has been flourishing there Spain has become synonymous with the rice dish. I say “the rice dish” as if there is only one recipe, but in reality there are lots of different takes on the recipe. It was traditionally made with whatever ingredients were available so you’ll find recipes that use rabbit, chicken, snails, seafood..
We are lucky enough to have a paellera but you certainly don’t absolutely have to have one of these special pans to make your own paella – a good big frying pan will do.
Here’s our own recipe, one that’s always served us well both as a mid-week meal for Kelly and I or when served at dinner parties.
Remember! Once you’ve added your chicken stock don’t stir the rice – it’ll start to break down. You want to end up with a little liquid and individual grains of rice, not a clumpy, mushy porridge.
You can see the photos here:
Makes 4 good portions
Ingredients
- 225g piece chorizo, sliced into rounds
- 240g x 2 packets of cooked King Prawns, de-veined and butterflied
- Olive oil for cooking
- 2 chillis, chopped (optional)
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbsp smoked sweet paprika
- 500g of Spanish paella rice
- 1.5 to 2 litres chicken stock, hot
- 3 red peppers, deseeded and sliced
- 4 ripe tomatoes, cut into chunky pieces
- A good pinch of Saffron
- Lemon wedges, to serve
Method
- Add a good glug of olive oil to your pan and sweat the garlic over a low heat until it has become soft and flavoured the oil.
- Add the sliced peppers, chillis (if you’re using them) and tomatoes, stirring the contents of the pan to coat everything in the oil, allowing them to cook for a minute of two.
- Add the smoked paprika.
- Pour the rice into your pan and stir to thoroughly coat the grains in the oil for 5 minutes.
- Add your stock to the pan and increase the heat to medium which will allow the paella to bubble and simmer.
- After 10 minutes your can add the chopped Chorizo to the pan along with a good pinch of Saffron, sprinkling across the whole pan.
- Continue to cook the other paella for 5 minutes and add the prawns, placing them on top of the bed of rice, allowing them to steam.
- After another 5 minutes you should taste the Paella – the liquid should have all but evaporated and the rice cooked but with a little bite to them.
- Take the Paella off the heat, cover the pan with a clean tea-towel and allow to stand for 10 minutes for the rice to finish swelling.
- Spoon portions of the Paella into deep dishes and serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over.
Enjoy!
Other information
Paella is a rice dish that is now synonymous with Spain but which probably originated in Valencia. Paella got it’s name from the dish in which the meal is cooked – a large, low-rimmed pan called a “paellera”.
Traditionally the paella is eaten at lunch-time, but due to the level of tourism in Spain it’s also become popular as an evening meal.
Tags: recipe, spain, spanish food
Categories: Recipes
Love the recipe and the top tip as well, never stir the rice, a fatal mistake made by many. Great post :)