With my summer holiday just around the corner my thoughts are turning to time with the family, and hopefully some relaxation time. This year has been pretty full on with stacks of changes at Whisk with more planned for the rest of this year so a summer break is perfectly timed. As in previous years we are heading down through France to a small, quiet coastal village just north of Barcelona in Catalonia, Northern Spain. A major part of our time involves food either cooking, eating or replenishing supplies at the wonderful local markets. Suki and Betsy love the fish market, wandering around for a considerable time asking about the vast array of freshly caught fish. One meal that is always on the menu is Paella, this dish varies from region to region and is a firm favourite with the whole family. It is such a versatile dish and always impresses when brought to the table steaming hot. I bought a paella pan some years ago and they have been a popular line in the stores for a number of years (even in winter time, a paella on a cold winters night conjures up vivid memories of lazy summer lunches in hotter climes maybe!), if you don’t have a paella pan they are relatively inexpensive but as an alternative a large fying pan will suffice. My pan will be making the return trip to Spain again this year, my life would not be worth living if it got left behind and I will also be taking the following recipe. I have cooked this version so many times I have lost track and it is a sure fire hit. The recipe belongs to Local Food Writer Lindsey Bareham and was published in her book “The Fish Store”.
Ingredients
1 large onion
4 large garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
100g sliced chorizo
2 red peppers
1 large beef tomato
2 very generous pinches of saffron stamens, softened in 1tbsp of hot water
1kg monkfish tails and 500g prepared squid
350g calasparra or amborio rice
1 litre fish stock or 2 chicken stock cubes
8 large shell-on cooked prawns or 12 medium sized ones
1 large lemon
1tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
Keeping separate piles, peel, halve and finely chop the onion and garlic. Sprinkle the garlic with ½ tsp salt and use the flat of a small knife to crush it into a paste. Heat the oil in a 35cm paella pan or in two large frying pans placed over a medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes before adding the chorizo. Cook for a further couple of minutes to release some of the fat and flavour from the chorizo. Meanwhile, dice the peppers, discarding the core, seeds and white filament. Pouring boiling water over the tomato. Count to 20, drain and remove the skin. Chop the tomato. Add the peppers to the onion. Stir well and cook for 5 minutes before adding the tomato and saffron. Leave to cook while you remove any trace of the slimy membrane covering the monkfish and chop it into kebab size pieces. Stir the fish into the onion mixture. Increase the heat slightly and cook for 5 minutes to seal the fish. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the unwashed rice and cook for a couple of minutes while you heat up the fish stock or dissolve the stock cubes in 1 litre of boiling water. Stir the stock into the pan, return to the boil, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook for 20 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed into the rice and the grains are swollen and tender Fold the food together rather than stir it, encouraging the paella to cook evenly. Garnish with the prawns and lemon wedges and leave to sit, covered, for 5 minutes before scattering over the parsley and serving the paella from the pan.
I have often cooked the paella on the barbeque in the summer whish works really well.
Enjoy the summer!
Ingredients
1 large onion
4 large garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
100g sliced chorizo
2 red peppers
1 large beef tomato
2 very generous pinches of saffron stamens, softened in 1tbsp of hot water
1kg monkfish tails and 500g prepared squid
350g calasparra or amborio rice
1 litre fish stock or 2 chicken stock cubes
8 large shell-on cooked prawns or 12 medium sized ones
1 large lemon
1tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
Keeping separate piles, peel, halve and finely chop the onion and garlic. Sprinkle the garlic with ½ tsp salt and use the flat of a small knife to crush it into a paste. Heat the oil in a 35cm paella pan or in two large frying pans placed over a medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes before adding the chorizo. Cook for a further couple of minutes to release some of the fat and flavour from the chorizo. Meanwhile, dice the peppers, discarding the core, seeds and white filament. Pouring boiling water over the tomato. Count to 20, drain and remove the skin. Chop the tomato. Add the peppers to the onion. Stir well and cook for 5 minutes before adding the tomato and saffron. Leave to cook while you remove any trace of the slimy membrane covering the monkfish and chop it into kebab size pieces. Stir the fish into the onion mixture. Increase the heat slightly and cook for 5 minutes to seal the fish. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the unwashed rice and cook for a couple of minutes while you heat up the fish stock or dissolve the stock cubes in 1 litre of boiling water. Stir the stock into the pan, return to the boil, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook for 20 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed into the rice and the grains are swollen and tender Fold the food together rather than stir it, encouraging the paella to cook evenly. Garnish with the prawns and lemon wedges and leave to sit, covered, for 5 minutes before scattering over the parsley and serving the paella from the pan.
I have often cooked the paella on the barbeque in the summer whish works really well.
Enjoy the summer!
