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Chicken, Chorizo & Roasted Red Pepper Paella

This is a great Paella to start with and a good base for experimenting. I have cooked this paella so many times. Its great because its simple, very tasty and doesn't contain any seafood (although you could add some if you want)

It's a step-by-step instructions that show you the basics for cooking an easy paella.

Serves around 8 portions, Use a 46cm or 50cm Paella Pan

About 800g Chicken Meat (Leg, Thigh or Breast meat diced into bite-size pieces - keep the skin & bone on for extra flavour)

800g Spanish Paella Rice

200g diced chorizo

250g Chopped French green beans

3-4 medium, ripe tomatoes or a large tin of chopped tomatoes

About 2 litres of boiling chicken & vegetable Stock

Pinch of Saffron

1 tsp of Sweet Paprika (Pimenton Dulce)

1 Red pepper (sliced & roasted if possible) or 290g jar of Roasted Red peppers

Extra virgin olive oil

2 gralic cloves

Salt

Sprig of Rosemary

Step 1

Heat a few tablespoons of the olive oil in the Paella Pan and part cook the chicken pieces a little (longer if they contain bones).

Make up the stock and add a good pinch of the saffron stamens. Let them infuse for about 15 mins.

Step2

To make the "Sofrito", one of the most important parts of the Paella, first sweat the garlic in the Paella Pan until soft.

Then add the chopped tomatoes and fry over a high heat. Keep stirring. As the mixture reduces, it will start to thicken up to a thick dark paste. When it is this dark red paste you have the perfect sofrito !

Step 3

Add the chorizo, paprika and about half of the peppers. Mix around thoroughly and continue fry for few more minutes.

Now add the hot stock to the paella pan. Taste for seasoning. It needs to be quite well salted, but if using stock cubes, then you will probably not need any extra salt.

Then add the beans and bring to the boil and leave for several minutes for all the flavours to mix in with the stock.

Step 4

Now add the rice, mix around briefly and even out in the pan ensure all the rice grain are under the surface of the liquid. DO NOT STIR the rice after this.

After about 10 minutes the rice should start to appear though the liquid. Now turn down the heat and continue to simmer for about another 10 minutes until the rice starts to dry out. (If some rice starts to appear whilst other areas still have liquid you can carefully distribute the rice around with the skimmer)

Step 5

Once most of the liquid has been absorbed, try the rice from under the top surface. It should be cooked "al dente" still with a slight nutty taste.

Now cover the Paella pan with foil and turn up the heat for a minute or so. (You will hear the rice "pop" as it is caramelising on the bottom of the pan). This is called the "Socorat" the most highly prized part of Paella. Covering the pan at this stage also helps finish off the cooking of the top layer of rice.

Turn off the heat. Decorate with the remaining red peppers and the sprig of rosemary.

Recover and leave for a good 10 minutes to rest.

Serve directly from the pan remembering to scrape to the bottom to get the "socarat"

.... and above all - enjoy.