Paella

If you love paella and would like to make it, please follow this recipe. My mum lived in Spain for many years and she taught me this dish. Everyone I cook it for falls in love with it and I cannot remember how many people have asked me how to cook it. This is the perfect dish for entertaining. It's very easy to make so please give it a try - all your friends and family will thank you.

Ingredients

1 pack of diced chicken

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

4-5 garlic cloves (you do not need this many but I like to use quite a bit)

1 onion

1 pack of cooked king prawns

2 chicken stock cubes (I use Knorr)

1 pack of paella rice (please use Sainsbury's brand as this is the best - see picture)

Approx. 8 saffron threads

Firstly you will need a paella dish. I purchased mine from The Paella Company on line and highly recommend this website.

Step by step guide: (apologies if it sounds like a bit of a dummy guide but I will literally explain this to every last detail).

1. Fill your kettle and boil

2. Place the saffron threads in a mug and pour in some hot water, about half a cup full and leave on the side for half an hour.

3. Place one chicken stock in a large measuring jug (see attached pic) and pour in boiling water to about 1200ml. Leave for half an hour along with the saffron.

4. Chop the onion, red pepper and green pepper into small squares. Crush the garlic cloves and set aside.

5. Cook the chicken in a separate frying pan with a little olive oil (or whichever oil you prefer). Cook on a low heat, turning occasionally and set aside when slightly brown.

6. After the half hour is up and the saffron has been set aside, place the paella pan on the middle of all four hobs (evenly as possible). Turn all hobs on, evenly heated where possible. At this stage a fairly low heat. Put 2 tablespoons of oil in the dish and fry the garlic for 30 seconds. Then add the onions and peppers. Fry for a couple of minutes until soft.

7. Add the packet of rice to the dish and pour in the cup of saffron. Stir for a few seconds. Then add the jug of chicken stock. Everything will be floating around, give a quick stir and then leave. Do not put on a high heat, leave to simmer on a medium - low heat for about 15 minutes. Add a few pinches of salt and stir. Adding salt (I also like to add a bit of pepper also) is vital, you must season this. After 15 minutes add in the chicken.

8. Turn the heat up to a medium heat and leave to cook. In the meantime prepare another jug of chicken stock as you will need to add more water when the dish becomes dry. I would say you will need to add more water about 25 minutes in from this stage but to be honest it depends on how fast the dish is cooking so its a bit trial and error. Its gonna be your guess when to add more water. I tend to add perhaps another half a jug (not the full jug). All in all the dish should take no longer than 45 mins - 1 hour. Keep testing and checking the rice. Keep on stirring and seasoning.

9. About 5 minutes before the dish has finished add in the cooked prawns and give it a good stir. You can add in other types of fish, such as mussels but I stick to prawns and chicken.

10. I add a salad and either french or garlic bread as side dishes.

GOOD LUCK

What my mum told me: No paella dish is ever the same, it will be different every time.

Thanks mum xxx