chicken & chorizo paella

Dayam how I wish this was in my fridge right now. After a weekend in Perth celebrating two engagements I am in  s t r u g g l e  town. At least Australia is full of sunshine, good coffee and cafes that serve bagels with real bacon and I will be soaking in as much of those things as possible before my Air Asia flight where I contemplate that Nasi Lemak. Until then, I will dream of this Paella. The Spanish nailed many things like Horchata, Patatas Bravas and let’s be honest, hot men and paella is no exception. Get. in. my. mouth.

PS for a vegetarian option, simply leave out the chicken and chorizo and cook with vegetable stock instead.

Chicken & Chorizo Paella
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1 red onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 red capsicum chopped finely
Chorizo, sliced lengthways
500g chicken, sliced lengthways
1tsp cayenne
2tbs paprika (smoked is ideal)
2tsp tomato paste
1 cup aborio rice
4 cups chicken stock
Handful of peas
handful on green beans
Handful of flat leaf parsley
1 lemon
Salt & pepper

Method
Heat a little oil in a medium sized pan and gently fry your onion and garlic. After a few minutes add your chorizo and capsicum. Fry for 6-7 minutes or until your vegetables are soft. Don’t worry about how much oil releases from the chorizo, we can clean that up later.

Add your spices, tomato paste and chicken and fry until you can smell the spices – around 2-3 minutes. Pour your rice into the pan along with 2 cups of the chicken stock and simmer on a low heat until the liquid reduced then follow with the remaining 2 cups. Scoop up the floating oil. Season and add juice from half your lemon. The rice should take around 25-30 minutes. Now, key for this dish… do not stir! The aim is to get a crust at the bottom of your pan and you cannot achieve this if you stir the rice.

Once your rice is almost cooked top with the peas, beans and parsley and fry for a further 4-5 minutes to ensure you get that crust. Serve with extra lemon wedges a glass of white wine and pretend you are in Valencia.