Forgive me - paella

Paella is an all in one dish, full of flavour, and very impressive on the table. The paprika and garlic flavours give a light punch, with a squeeze of fresh lemon giving a lovely zingy edge. Saffron gives a pale buttery yellow colour...  turmeric can be substituted, but a very small amount, the flavour of saffron is light and turmeric in too large a quantity may leave a slightly bitter taste.

Rice dishes like paella and risotto can end up like a savoury rice pudding if you’re not careful. So I looked at an assortment of recipes carefully. As usual I’ve made a combo of several, and cooked what’s sometimes called free-style paella. It mixes chicken, chorizo and prawns. What is particularly nice about this recipe, is that you can do most of the cooking in advance.

I made a vast amount, to fit in my long owned but never used paella pan, 60cm across. The principle is the same whatever size pan you use. Of course, when cooking on gas, a smaller pan makes things easier. I doubt you'll have any leftovers.

If you use skinless chicken thighs, you can buy it off the bone, or get it with bones in and use them to make stock. You don’t want any skin, so use this and the bones to make stock if you like, or use bouillon if you like.

I marinaded the chicken in garlic, paprika and lemon the day before. I didn't marinade the prawns... but might next time.

Paella rice is round, like risotto rice. Delia Smith gives the lowdown on rice here http://www.deliaonline.com/ingredients/ingredients-a-z/ingredients-p-r/Rice.html. Like any specialist rice, you can buy very expensive types or medium expensive: I opt for the latter because I’m a cheapskate and a culinary vandal. Disculpeme, lo siento etc… remember, paella is easier to make than you might think.

I’m giving a quantity you can make in a large frying pan for four. If you’ve got a good size paella pan, scale it up and enjoy yourself.

INGREDIENTS

150g piece chorizo, halved lengthways and sliced

4 large chicken thighs, skin removed, boned and cut into large chunks
12 large prawns, or as many as you want to include

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Pinch of saffron (about 15 threads)

1 tbsp smoked sweet paprika

300g paella or risotto rice

1 glass white wine

1 litre chicken stock (and a bit), hot

1 red peppers and 1 yellow peppers, deseeded and sliced

75g frozen peas (a mugful)

1 tin chopped tomatoes (or 3 large fresh ones, chopped)

1 bunch (min 25g pack) chopped flatleaf parsley, stems discarded

1 lemon cut into wedges, to serve

Marinade for chicken

1 tsp paprika

Large pinch salt

Generous grindings black pepper (I sometimes use mixed red/pink/green/black peppers)

1 clove garlic

Juice of 1 lemon

METHOD

Cut the chicken thighs into large pieces (put skin and the bones aside if you have them), mix with marinade and set aside, leave for at least an hour, or overnight.

• Prepare your stock, with a slug of white wine, adding the saffron once you have taken it off the heat, to infuse
•  Put a large, deep frying pan on a medium heat
• Add the chopped chorizo and cook, stirring occasionally, until some of the oil has been released
• Remove and set aside, leaving fat in the pan
• Cook the diced chicken in the chorizo fat for 3-4 minutes, stirring, until coloured on all sides
• Remove, leaving fat in the pan and set aside with the chorizo
• Pour a little olive oil into the pan, and add the onions and peppers, until they soften, about  5 minutes
• Add the garlic and paprika, together with a handful of chopped parsley, and cook for about a minute
• Add the tinned tomatoes and cook for another minute, stirring
• Add the rice and mix gently with the veg, until it’s mixed with the veg and oil

PREPARE IN ADVANCE UP TO THIS POINT IF YOU LIKE

you’ll have the meat, the stock and the rice mixture ready to go

• In the pan over a medium heat, stir the rice mixture gently, add the hot stock and simmer for ten minutes, stirring occasionally
• Return the chicken to the pan, pushing it into the rice mixture, and cook for 5 minutes, adding a little more stock or hot water if necessary
• Season and gently stir in the chorizo, thawed peas, and prawns the chorizo and the rest of the parsley
• Continue to cook for about 5 minutes (or until the prawns are cooked) without stirring – a little stickiness on the underside adds to the flavour

Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over

Eat

not christmas dinner - vietnamese style spicy rice noodles

It's Christmas Eve, and I'm cooking the Christmas meal today. So last night the last thing I wanted was anything heavy. I'd had a luxurious day, fretting about last minute presents and going to the theatre. 


Actually I went to two theatres, at the Barbican I saw Flyboy is alone again this Christmas, a delightfully dark series of tales, performed with a rich musical accompaniment. I was with my own delightful troupe, beautiful daughters of mine, three beautiful daughters of others and handsome husband. Daughter three got over her worries of abandonment, provided the artiste with sweets and won a glow-in-the-dark badge, competitive and Christmas spirit intact and endorsed at the age of 15. The show enchanted all of us - if your'e interested there's info about Flyboy's creator here.


At the Cambridge Theatre I snuck around the back and got some illicit wares from a man wearing much more alluring make up than me. Definitely the better woman. Emerging from Covent Garden tube into Christmas mayhem had made my head spin, but once I had carrier bag accompaniment it all made sense, especially carrying something wonderful from Denise and Dudley.


Back to food. I find chopping calms me down. I was just catering for two, as all the daughters had dispersed. A glass of wine at hand and I set to. 


I love the lightness of Vietnamese cooking. I think I may have become addicted to lime juice. The most complicated thing about this recipe is the chopping, and the result is filling and still light. I used prawn and chicken, but you can use any combination of meat, just don't use too much. I substituted white cabbage for bean sprouts, both because it was what I had at hand and I like cabbage. I didn't have any spring onions, so I did without... but they would have been good, so I've left them in the recipe.


Chicken and Prawn Spicy Rice Noodles


Ingredients
Two nests wide rice noodles
1 chicken breast
10 large prawns
1/3 small white cabbage
1 medium carrot
handful of raw peanuts
3 spring onions
3 spoonfuls chopped coriander 
1 lime
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsps fish sauce
2 tsps sugar


corn or peanut oil


Method

• Soak the noodles in boiling water while you chop the meat and veg.

• Prepare the ingredients as follows, setting each one aside, ready for last minute assembly:
• Finely slice the chicken breast.
• Devein prawns if necessary - I use frozen raw prawns that have been deveined, so I just make sure they are thawed, otherwise they add too much liquid to the dish.
• Finely slice cabbage.
• Peel the carrot and grate on the coarsest bit of the grater.
• Get the coriander ready - chopped as fine as you fancy.
• Peel and chop the garlic, peel and grate the ginger.
• Squeeze the lime and mix the lime juice with the fish sauce and sugar. 
• Chop up the peanuts a bit.

• Drain the noodles, which should be soft, but not pappy. 

• Heat a wok or large frying pan, when it's hot add a few swirls of oil.
• Quickly cook the chicken and prawns, for about a minute. They should colour up.
• Add garlic, ginger and lime juice mixture to the pan and cook for another minute.
• Add all the other ingredients and cook for two minutes, stirring to mix up, but not breaking up the noodles.

Sprinkle with spring onion and serve. Delicious


Tips
If you don't have fish sauce you can use soy sauce, or an anchovy fillet mixed up with the lime juice and a spoonful of water.
You can make a veggie version, using tofu or just substituting the meat with more sliced veg, and adding more peanuts.
If you don't have penauts to hand, use a spoonful of peanut butter, but make sure it breaks up in the cooking, coming across lumps is just unpleasant.