Paella in the Sun

Late October cooking in the Spanish sun, gorgeous paella cooked for family and friends. i love cooking this dish it's so easy, great theatre cooking, eats so well with a jug of sangria

Weights are approx as I rarely weigh anything for recipes

Recipe
olive oil 300ml
2 diced onions and 6 cloves garlic
tinned chopped tomatoes
chorizo 200g
mixed peppers 1 of each red and green
green beans 200g
squid 200g
prawns (shell-on) 500g
mussels 1000g
tuna 300g
salmon 300g
chicken thighs and drumsticks 750g
paella rice 5-6 portions
paella seasoning 15-20g
pimenton Dulce 10g
fish stock 1 litre
chicken stock 1 litre
white wine 200ml
lemons 2

Method - Total cooking time approx 45-60 minutes, serves 6-8

1. heat large pan, i use a large paella pan but this also works with any large frying pan, but you will need a deep one
2.  once heated add oil to pan and then add chopped garlic and onions to pan, cook for a few minutes over medium heat without colouring
3. whilst onions are cooking in middle of pan, add chicken pieces to the sides of pan and cook on each side to colour
4. add chopped tomatoes on top of onions and then spread out over pan, stir every 30 seconds and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes
5. spread onion mix to sides of the pan, add sliced squid to pan with sliced peppers and green beans (sliced on an angle), continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes
6. add the diced salmon and tuna to pan, mix together well and cook for another 2-3 minutes
7. meanwhile heat some oil in another pan and once heated add prawns and cook on both sides, as you do the first turn of prawns, add the mussels to pan followed by the wine. top pan with a lid and cook until mussels have opened. discard any that do not open. remove from heat and keep warm.
8. back to the main pan and now you want to add the paella rice, seasoning mix and pimenton Dulce, stir the rice and all other ingredients together, cook for approx 2 minutes
9. add both fish and chicken stock until all ingredients are completely covered, reduce the heat and continue to cook
10. DO NOT STIR PAN FROM THIS POINT FORWARD
11. as stock reduces you may need to add more stock and keep reducing the liquid until the rice is cooked through, i like to leave mine al dente
12. as the liquor is reducing and after about 20 minutes add the cut lemon wedges to pan and then start to place the mussels and prawns on to the top of the rice
13. once cooked you can add fresh chopped parsley and coriander to pan

You will be tempted to stir the pan whilst it is cooking, but please resist the urge to do this, the idea is for a base layer on the pan to catch and slightly burn, this helps to protect the rest of the dish and creates the much-loved burnt bits known as “socarrat” by paella aficionados

Prawns and mussels can also be added directly to the pan raw and cooked with the rest of the dish, if you do this add them approx 5 minutes after adding the stock

Serve with chunks of fresh warm bread and salad

Aioli stirred in to the paella is also a very tasty addition