Spain Main – Paella

For the Spanish main course, it had to be paella! This was a great opportunity to make a proper pescatarian dish and make full use of some beautiful seafood.

A good paella lives or dies by the quality of the stock and the saffron. We used a generous pinch of saffron steeped in a little warm water before adding to the pan — this gives the rice its characteristic golden colour and unique flavour.

The base was built in a wide, flat pan — sofrito of onion, garlic and tomatoes cooked down until thick, then smoked paprika added before the rice was stirred in to toast briefly.

The saffron stock was then added all at once and the rice left to cook without stirring — this is important for developing the coveted socarrat, the slightly crispy rice at the bottom of the pan.

King prawns were added towards the end of cooking and pushed into the rice to cook through in the residual steam.

Served straight from the pan with wedges of lemon, this was an absolute showstopper! The socarrat was a real triumph too.

Let us know if you give paella a go — it’s well worth the effort!