SPANISH PAELLA

19 Μαρ SPANISH PAELLA

Spanish paella, suits a lot with these cool March evenings. Paella, red wine, authentic plates and of course good friends in your kitchen,is a great idea for Saturday evening positive emotions.

What we need:

1. Rice 750mg –it should be medium grain. The most traditional rice for paella is Balilla, Bomba, Senia, but you can use rice for risotto which is available in local supermarkets.
2. 1 big onion – finely chopped.
3. 3-4 medium juicy tomatoes peeled and blended.
4. 1 pinch of smoked paprika – you can use the plane one as well.
5. 2 big pinches of saffron threads – add them to 500ml of warm water to open them
6. 1 liter of stock – for the very classic paella we need chicken stock, I prefer a vegetable one
7. 500 gr of cleaned shrimps, foradditional beauty you can leave the tails on.
8. 2 garlic gloves
9. 1 small chilipepper
10. Roughly chopped parsley for garnishing
11. 500gr of chorizo, chopped in small pieces

How to cook:

1.Heat someolive oil in a large skillet or wok. Stir in the finely chopped onion and a pinch of smoked paprika (it can beplain paprikaas well). As soon as the onion starts to soften, add chopped chorizo and stir about 5-7 minutes until chorizo is well fried.

2.Add the whole amount of rice and stir for 2 minutes. The rice will absorb all the aroma of onion, paprika and chorizo.

3.Pour over the water with the opened saffron threads and mix all ingredients until all liquid is gone.

4.Add the blended tomatoes and the stock. Cook for another 5-7 min on high heat and uncovered.

5. Put the lid on, leave on low heat and stir occasionally. It needs to be cooked nearly for 1,5 – 2 hours (the rice should become tender and fluffy).

6. In another frying pan, heat some olive oil with a tablespoon of butter.

7.As soon as butter melts, add mashed garlic, finely chopped chili pepper and shrimps.

8.Cook on high heat. Shrimps should be cooked not more than 3 min, because if you overdo them, they will become of rubber consistence.

9.One hour before paella is ready do not forget to put the red wine in a decanter to let it breathe.

10. Add the shrimps to the prepared rice, season with salt and pepper and add some roughly chopped parsley.