>>Recipe - Paella on the fire

Last weekend, our friends Heather and Marius came over and we made Paella. This was a first for me, and I won't lie, I was very happy to be in the company of people that actually knew what they were doing. My first attempt at adding rice, turned into rice crispies.....yup. As much as I love cooking, I have a lot to learn:-) 

So what is Paella? Paella is a rice dish that originated in the mid-19th century on the east coast of Spain. Paella mixta (mixed paella) is a free-style combination of chicken/rabbit, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes beans. Other core ingredients include olive oil and saffron, but since saffron is friggen expensive, we used turmeric and it's still amazing. Paella is a seriously attractive dish, and actually much easier to prepare than I thought. The most important thing to consider is probably timing and you also need the correct pan. The word Paella is actually derived from the old french word for pan, which in turn comes from the Latin patella, which means pan as well. The pan is big but shallow, and we put it straight on the webber.

This is a recipy I got from my mother in law (she is the most amazing cook), and its been tried and tested many times. Try it, it's great to share between friends:-) However, if you're afraid of creepy crawlies, then look away now!

Ingredients

15 ml butter
30 ml oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 chicken, cut into pieces
5 ml chicken stock (use ina paarman's powder stock, it's good)
2 cups raw rice (tastic)
2 big leeks
1 green and 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2-3 gloves of garlic
1 can (400 g) whole peeled tomatoes
10 ml tomato paste
2.5 ml sugar
pinch cayenne pepper
2.5 ml tumeric, or a pinch of saffron...
500 ml chicken stock
250 ml dry white wine
200 g fresh fish
200 g calamari
500 g mussels
500 g prawns
125 ml black olives
dash of olive oil
125 ml chopped parsley
some frozen peas

Method

Heat the butter and oil in your paella pan over the fire. Season the chicken with the powder stock, salt and pepper, and then brown the chicken in the oil and butter. Cover and braise for 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Add the rice to the pan (make sure it is not too hot, or your rice will turn to rice crispies like mine), and stir fry until golden. Add the leeks, pepper and garlic, and stir-fry until limp. Add the tomatoes, paste, sugar, cayenne pepper, turmeric, stock and wine. Return the chicken to the pan, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked. You can add more boiling water to the mix if it becomes too dry.

Once the chicken looks cooked, add the fish, calamari, prawns and mussels, cover and cook until all the seafood is ready. Add the peas and wait until defrosted and warm. Toss to blend, add the olives and oil, and top with fresh parsley.

Serve with good country-style bread and a green salad.
Delicioso!