Paella

Firstly, Nigel would like to say thank you for all the birthday greetings and good wishes he received from literally all round the world! He is not one for wanting to be in the spotlight and was therefore overwhelmed by all the publicity, but he was most appreciative nevertheless. :-)

A couple of weekends ago, I bought some Mozambican prawns from the seafood trader at the Saturday market.  I got home and then wondered what I was going to do with them!  I decided that paella sounded a good choice, despite being short of some of the ingredients I would usually use.  I found the following around the house.

Ingredients
About 10 cms or 4 inches chorizo, cut into thin slices
110g/4oz pancetta, cut into small dice
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 tsp soft thyme leaves (1/2 teasp dry, if you have not got thyme in the garden)
1 small chilli, chopped
1 cup of rice
1 tsp paprika
1/2 cup dry white wine
About 3 cups of chicken stock, hot
3 chicken breasts, each chopped in large bite size pieces 

2 to 3 fillets of white fish cut into bite size pieces
1 cup of frozen peas 
1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter
6 to 8 Large cloves of garlic, separated and peeled
12 prawns, in shells, preferably raw

5 tbsp chopped green parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Heat half the olive oil in a paella dish or heavy-based non stick frying pan. Add the chorizo and pancetta and fry until crisp. Add the garlic, onion and pepper and heat until softened.
 Add the thyme, chilli  and  rice, and stir until all the grains of rice are nicely coated and glossy. Now add the paprika and dry white wine and when it is bubbling, pour in the hot chicken stock, add the chicken pieces and cook for 5-10 minutes.  

Add the pieces of fish fillet. Sprinkle in the peas and chopped tomatoes and continue to cook gently for another 10 minutes.

Note - I always have hot water on hand, in case the rice takes up more liquid than expected, and I just add a little if the ingredients look a bit dry.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil  and butter with the garlic cloves in a separate pan and add the prawns. Fry quickly for a minute or two then add them to the paella. 

Scatter the chopped parsley over the paella and serve immediately.

For my usual recipe with all the normal ingredients see Here

Add the chorizo and pancetta

 Add the thyme, chilli  and  rice

Chicken, fish and peas added

Fry the prawns and the garlic

Add the prawns to the main dish and serve.

Bon appétit.  

 

See also - My Life Before Charente Updated 18/11/12

Some Like it Hot - we do !!

SWEET CHILLI SAUCE

Courtesy of Galloping-Gourmets

I have been blessed with a gigantic crop of chillies this year and decided this is one of the best ways of preserving them.  I have also dried some, and  frozen some more, but freezer space is short, so it is out with the jars!!

1 kg of peeled chopped de-seeded tomatoes (masses in the garden this year)

2 table spoons of grated or finely chopped fresh and juicy ginger
A whole head of garlic, peeled and chopped

18 large red chillies - (the original recipe said 8 but I decided it need more kick!) use your discretion !
4 Tbs of Fish Sauce (Nuoc Mam in France)
600g sugar
200ml of vinegar (I used tarragon white wine vinegar but apparently any sort works)

After peeling, deseeding and roughly chopping the tomatoes, put in a blender.  Blend lightly, then add the ginger and the garlic and blend for a couple of minutes.

Chop up the chillies, seeds and all, leaving the stalks – advisable to wear gloves for this!

Add all this to the tomatoes and blitz to a puree in a processor -

Add the 4 tablespoons of fish sauce.

Put all this mixture into a big pan, then add 600g of sugar and 200ml vinegar

Stir well and bring to the boil.  Cook on medium heat for a while stirring occasionally, as it thickens, turn down heat to simmer.  A small froth or scum will form - skim this off and discard

Keep simmering stirring occasionally.  When the sauce has thickened and reduced, pour into the jars; seal and label.   Best to leave for a month before using. It will probably make about 4 normal size jam jars full. As you can see I am using up whatever bottles I have available!

I might add that my Father-in-Law who says he has lost his taste with age thinks this sauce is wonderful, he can taste it!!!  Beware, très fort (very hot).

 Enjoy.