Before you get upset and say this isn’t Paella, remember my recipes aren’t authentic – they are just mine. The names are how I will find them in my blog…
This is a great recipe for late autumn, just into pheasant season, or a cold spring day. If you use rabbit – I joint 2 rabbits into 5 pieces (legs and saddle) for this dish, miss out the prawns and cook the rabbit to flavour the stock first. Otherwise it’s the same.
If I use a pre-made chicken stock it is from the bones of a roast – adds more flavour.
Prep: 15min Cook: 2hours if your making the stock as you go
Ingredients:
1 portion of chicken or 2 pheasant breasts
1 onion chopped
1 pepper chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
1tsp smoked paprike
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
20g chorizo finely cubed
125g prawns
25ml sherry or white wine
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves chopped
1 chopped fresh tomato
175g basmati rice
~500ml stock
Method
- make the stock – if your using chicken I put 1 leg one wing and a carcass with 1/2 tsp of bouillon in water to simmer for 90min. If Pheasant I use pre-made pheasant stock. Strain and strip the meat from the bones.
- In a wide iron dish, fry the onions, peppers and chorizo in olive oil until the onions and pepper are softened.
- Add the pepper, paprika and garlic and fry for 15sec
- Deglaze with the sherry and add the rice, stir for a few seconds to drive off the alcohol and add the stock and thyme, turn it right down, and cook for 20min.
- When the stock is almost all absorbed, add the tomato and 2min later add the prawns. Be brave, as soon as the prawns aren’t grey serve with a drizzle of lemon juice, the prawns will carry on cooking on the way to the table.
This recipe has lots of ingredients – but they all play an important part in the flavour. The thyme and chorizo are the core of flavour here, with the paprika’s just adding more depth.
It’s important not to over-cook the tomato, if the tomato breaks down into the sauce it’s too much – you want it as warm chunks. And I use basmati rice because I only keep that and sticky rice in the house – a decent long grain will do well – you want something that stays separated.
If you want to be fancy you can decorate the top with nasturtium flowers – looks impressive and the flavours go really well.