Made a homemade paella the other day.
Took some onions, pepper and some pancetta, and fried them together in a large heavy pan with a splash of olive oil.
Add some diced raw chicken.
I then added the paella rice, and it always makes sense to use paella rice, and never any other kind of rice.
Ensuring the rice was coated in the onions, pepper and oil, I would have added a splash of white wine, but alas there was no wine in the house.
So I then added saffron and chicken stock. The saffron I had infused in hot water. This helps to bring out the traditional yellow colour in the paella. I also added half a tin of chopped tomatoes. In case you wonder what to do with the other half, I made a spicy tomato sauce for patatas brava.
Simmer for twenty minutes adding more stock if required.
A few minutes before serving add raw prawns and slices of chorizo. I was using cooking chorizo which I had cooked separately. A handful of chopped parsley adds flavour and colour.
The dish was the put together and served.
I would have liked to use more shellfish, but all I had was prawns to hand, nice to have used squid and mussels.
