The heart of a Paella and most of its big flavour comes from the Sofrito, this is the starting point to any good Paella. Traditionally onions, garlic, tomato, olive oil, paprika and saffron for the yellow colour and flavour (I substitute this with turmeric as it’s a lot cheaper, but if you can please use saffron. A good pinch in some warm water to infuse before adding to the sofrito) There is nothing quite like the flavour and aroma of saffron.
Ingredients
Sofrito
1 large Spanish onion diced
4 chopped cloves of garlic
1 red capsicum finely diced
3 tomatoes diced or half a tin of chopped tomatoes
Pinch of chilli (optional.) (Not traditional, but mine isn’t. I like the kick of a chilli)
1 tbs of paprika
1 tsp of turmeric or a good pinch of saffron
Small handful of chopped coriander (had it lying around to use. It works well with the flavours but again optional)
½ tsp fennel seed (cos I put them in everything)
Glug of olive oil for frying
Salt and pepper
The Rest
2 cups of Arborio rice
250g chicken thigh cut into chunks
2 chorizo diced into chunks or cut in rounds
5 cups of chicken stock
200g frozen seafood mix - prawns, mussels and calamari (if you can, sub the frozen mix for prawns in their shells, fresh mussels or NZ green lip mussels in the half shell)
salt and pepper
½ cup frozen peas
1 lemon wedged for garnish
Instructions
To cook your sofrito put everything in a pan and gently cook until it becomes almost sweet and saucy
Add the chicken and chorizo and cook until it has some colour
Add the rice and warm it though with the other ingredients
Add the stock and give it all a stir till it comes up to a gentle simmer for about 15 minutes (after this if you need to, give the pan a shake, no more stirring - you actually want the bottom of the Paella to develop a crust called a Socarrat)
Add the seafood in the last 5 minutes of cooking, pushing it lightly into the rice (if using fresh mussels and prawns, arrange the prawns on top and push the mussels into the rice (once open they are ready. If they don’t open don’t eat them) and cover with foil
Pull off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes to rest, then serve with wedges of lemon
Recipe by Places We Go at https://placeswego.com/recipe-spanish-paella-on-the-campfire/