Probably Not-That-Authentic Seafood Paella

Sooo.... kids really take a toll on my ability to blog. I can't believe it's been nearly 18 months since my last post. I have given birth to another human being since then. And in the intervening time, 95% of my cooking has been repeating things I already knew. There's just not much time to do anything else!

However, on some weekends we've had a chance to get a little fancier, and this weekend I had a real craving for paella, spurred on by a cool Spanish rice variety I bought a few weeks ago. So I cribbed from this receipe but changed it to be much less seafood-heavy. It's now actually doable in under an hour, without all that seafood prep! Still tastes excellent, too. This serves four people with salad or vegetables on the side.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (125ml) dry white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
• olive oil
• 2 brown onions, finely chopped
• 2 red capsicums (raw and chopped or roasted, peeled and torn)
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 - 1 chorizo sausage
• 2 large ripe tomatoes, halved, seeded, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons mild Spanish paprika
• 1 1/2 cups (300g) medium grain rice (such as calrose)
• 2 cups (500ml) chicken stock
• 500 - 750g marinara mix
• 1/2 - 1 cup (150g) frozen peas
• chopped parsley
• Lemon wedges, to serve

Method

I need to dig out my decent camera! My phone
doesn't really do it justice. Anyway, note the crispy
crunchy tasty base. It was amazing.

Heat the wine and saffron over a low heat until just coming to a simmer, then stir and turn off the heat, reserving for later. In a paella pan or a large, deep frying pan, fry the brown onions and raw capsicum (if using), for five minutes, until the onion is soft and beginning to go gold. Add the garlic and chorizo and fry for a further thirty seconds. Add the onion, paprika, and rice, and stir together. Add the reserved saffron wine, and chicken stock, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes over a medium heat.

Stir in the marinara mix and frozen peas, cover, and cook for a further five minutes, turning the mix a little to get it all cooked through. Resist the urge to unstick the rice at the bottom of the pan, so that you get those authentic paella crunchy bits. Scatter over chopped parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

-----------------------------------

I'm hoping in 2018 I can post here a little more. I have a funny plan for the first couple of months which I'm looking forward to sharing, along with more "fancy
 recipes from the weekend. We'll see... best-laid plans of mice and men...!