Paella Recipe

[hammerman]

Hi. This Thursday, i'm going to be making my first Paella. At the moment, i have a small Paella pan with king prawns, chorizo, pre cooked chicken, onion, red pepper, peas and Paella rice.....together with a schwartz Paella sachet.

Anything to add to that?....maybe some mussels or clams, tin chopped tomatoes, glass white wine? I hate sticking to recipes and i'm always looking to tweak things so if anyone has that magic thing that'll make my Paella sing, i'd love to hear about it.

Cheers, HM

[hc4361]

Chicken or fish stock. White wine would be good but not tinned tomatoes

[Islay]

Have you already put the pre cooked chicken in?

[-SharonA-]

I tend to put squid and mussels in. Do not put tinned tomatoes in, just add more stock if needed. If it is not yellow enough a pinch of turmeric will do.

[hammerman]

@Islay....not doing it until Thursday this week

[Islay]

ahhh octopus then

[murraymints]

put pre cooked ingrediants in last..would have mussels..whelks any shell fish really

[theshedman]

I have used the Tesco recipe below a few times and found it to be quite good. There may be an ingredient in that you may want to add.

https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/paella.html

[EcclesCake]

I'd certainly add a couple of skinned chopped tomatoes or a spoon or two of tinned chopped ones.

Def some wine.

Personally I wouldn't go down the poor mans route of using turmeric for colour, prefer saffron for flavour.

No idea what is in the Schwartz paella mix, so my comment above may be redundant.

[pastafreak]

I'd use an authentic recipe rather than a spice sachet
I could email my Cuban SIL and get her recipe ;-)

[woofgang]

I agree about the saffron comment, I use saffron and fish or chicken or veg stock. I don't add wine. Not chopped tomatoes please. Secret ingredient. You need a lid for your pan...I use a big shallow lidded frying pan, a clean teatowel and a lemon...about I lemon per 4 servings. Have the lemon ready juiced. Once the paella is done, turn off the heat and quickly drizzle the lemon juice evenly over the paella and then cover the pan with one layer of the clean tea towel and put the lid back on. Let it sit for around 5 minutes while you warm the serving plates. Then serve.

[malagabob]

Tinned tomatoes no. A good Paella rice, Bomba if you can get it. Once it’s all simmering away resist stirring I’ve been told.

[woofgang]

that's true malagabob, I never stir mine. I give it one good stir when I add the veg and chopped whatever to the rice and stock, then bring to a good simmer, arrange the posh stuff (king prawns in shells, mussels in shells and so on) prettily on the top, cover and leave to simmer.

[237SJ]

I am the only person who finds paella completely tasteless?

[Togo]

Saffron not Turmeric.

[Togo]

Just seen your post Eccles. Agree.

[237SJ]

Have you ever managed to taste the difference between a pinch of saffron and an pinch of turmeric in a large pan meal? I haven't. The only difference is the cost

[woofgang]

if you can't taste saffron and find paella tasteless, maybe you have got a sinus issue? I find when my sinuses play up, I lose sense of taste because so much of it is smell

[237SJ]

I don't have a sinus issue. I am used to highly spiced food which is probably why I don't like Paella.

[woofgang]

ah...killed your tastebuds then.

[-SharonA-]

I agree 237. It is the price of the saffron and turmeric does a good job. And it is good for you.