Semi Seafood Paella

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 400g mixed shellfish (prawns, scallops, squid)

• 8 large shell on prawns

• 150g chorizo

• 300g paella rice

• 1 medium onion

• 3 garlic cloves

• 1 red pepper

• 800ml chicken stock

• pinch of saffron (approx 20 strands)

• 50g frozen green beans or peas

Method

First things first defrost your shellfish if you are using frozen. Some you can cook straight from frozen so worth checking out the packet. If you are using shell on prawns de-vein them and then pat everything dry with kitchen towel.

Then to properly start just finely dice the onions and garlic then chop the pepper into small cubes.

Peel the skin off the chorizo then halve lengthways and slice into 1 cm deep semicircles.

Now in a large frying pan put 1 tablespoon of olive oil and heat. Once hot throw in the chorizo and cook for 5 mins until starting to crisp on the edges. Next add the large prawns in shells if using and cook for about 3 mninutes turning every so often until nicely pink all over. Lastly add the rest of the shellfish and continue to cook for another 3 minutes until just done.

In the pan there should be quite a bit of liquid from the cooking process and this is great as it will flavour everything else. So with a slotted spoon remove the shellfish and chorizo into a bowl and leave to cool while you continue to build the rest. You will add it back in at the end, this allows the seafood to be cooked perfectly and you shouldn't have any overcooked tough bits.

To the pan now add the onion and sweat on a low heat for 8 minutes until soft. Then add in the garlic and red pepper and cook for another 3 minutes.

Now pour in the rice and add the saffron, turning the heat up a bit to fry it off for a minute or two until the rice starts to go a little translucent at the edges. Then pour in the stock, bring to a simmer, then cover and leave simmering away for 10 minutes. This will speed up the whole process and allows you to use less stock as the water gets absorbed rather than evaporates.

After 10 minutes uncover the pan and mix in the beans or peas, leave for 5 minutes uncovered to cook the beans and reduce down the liquid until at that point there is very little left. You should see tiny holes with little bubbles popping out al over the top and that means you are almost done.

All thats left is to mix in the precooked seafood and chorizo, lay the large prawns on top and leave on the heat covered for a minute to allow the steam to warm them through.

Then just serve and enjoy