Why do all men think they are barbeque experts? A friend of mine is fond of saying that “behind every great man there is a woman rolling her eyes” and I believe that behind most great barbeques, there is a woman who has done all the preparation, sorry if that sounds sexist! What is that all about? Let’s abandon the burgers and cook something exciting! The Spanish won the world cup and Wimbledon, and they also know a thing or two about how to cook outside for a large crowd. Paella is an art, I feel like weeping when I see an insipid plate of boil in the bag rice, adorned with a few frozen prawns, a bit of red pepper and a chunk of chicken and someone has the audactity to call it a paella. My paella awakening occurred a couple of years ago we went to the extremely weird, but definitely worth visiting, Festival in Valencia called Fallas.
It involves a lot of very dangerous fireworks, burning effigies on bonfires, dancing, eating and drinking. On every street corner, neighbourhoods compete to build weird and wonderful wooden statues, which they end up burning. It is an incredibly social event and they make massive and I mean massive paellas, which they eat accompanied by copious amounts of wine.
What amazed me the most, was that not only could they serve up to 100 people but they cooked these enormous dishes over a wooden fire, I mean you can’t turn the gas down to simmer for God’s sake! The pure Valencian paella is with chicken, rabbit and snails, the spanish never mix fish and meat, that is for the tourists. It is chicken based or seafood based, but never “mixta”. Having seen the light, I went home and ordered a gas fired paella cooker form the internet ( I think lots of garden centres stock them now), but you can make it with a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan. This recipe is for a chicken duck and chorizo paella but you can easily adapt it for seafood, using squid, mussels and swordfish for example. The quantities are for 12 people, so cut in half or quarters depending on the size of your pan.
You need: 700g paella rice 1 jar of roasted red peppers/pimentos or 2 chopped fresh peppers, 1 can of tomatoes, 2 ½ litres of chicken stock to which you add, 1 teaspoon of saffron strands and juice of 3 lemons), 4 teaspoons sweet paprika, 1 medium onion, 4 
cloves garlic, chicken and duck cut in to large chunks, small cooking chorizos, 4 lemons and chopped fresh parsley or coriander depending on your preference.
- Heat olive oil in pan and fry meat and chorizo until nearly cooked – remove
- Make “Sofrito” – fry onion and garlic, fry until soft but not brown
- Add tomatoes
- Return meat and add sliced peppers to the pan and cook until the sauce is thick for at least 5-15 minutes
- Add the stock to the pan – taste for seasoning, should be quite salty
- Add rice and distribute evenly
- Bring to the boil – DO NOT STIR – keep heat quite high and bubbling
- After about 10 minutes, the rice should start to appear through the liquid
- Turn down the heat really low, to a simmer for a further 10-15 minutes
- Try rice, should be “al dente”
This is the scary bit….cover the pan with foil and turn heat up to HIGH for 2-3 mins to make the “Socorat” – you should hear the rice popping aginst the foil as it caramelises on the bottom. Turn off heat – when ready to serve garnish with lemon quarters , I also add coriander or parsley, but that is optional
Serve it with garlic bread and a tomato salad. Viva Espana!
The Bombay Boys 