Paella

I love starchy rice, especially risotto & paella because it has plenty of seafood in it & the flavour is fantastic but the preparation & cooking time is tedious though !

This is not an every-day meal, too indulging even though deep in my heart I am hoping I could have this frequently & get an over dose of seafood, yummy yummy.......
The last time I cooked this was in March so I decided I should cook ourselves another pot last Friday. I planned my time well, was shopping for the seafood last Tuesday & I got Tina to chop all the ingredients accordingly after I've done the shopping.

Ingredients :

12 Mussel halves, scrubed (I've used frozen ones)
300g Prawns, peeled & deveined
150g Calamari, cut into rings
150g Fish fillet, cut into pcs
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 Rasher bacon, finely chopped
4 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Small red capsicum, finely chopped
1 Can diced tomatoes in juices
1/2 Cup Frozen peas
90g Chorizo or pepperoni, sliced
1 Cup short-grain rice (calrose)
Pinch saffrons strands
2 Cups hot chicken stock
2 Tbsp chopped parsley

Infuse the saffron strands in the hot chicken stock for the flavour & natural colour to develop. I never use tumeric to cheat & I hate it. So I make sure I'll always have a little boc of saffron strands in my pantry.

In a large frying pan, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil or butter, add prawns, fish & calamari to the pan & cook for a min. Remove & set aside.

Add bacon, onion, garlic to the pan, cook for 5 mins or until onions are soft & bacon browned. Add the chorizo or pepperoni, salt & pepper to taste, add the tomatoes & capsicum. Add the white wine & rice, stir to mix well.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock to the rice, bring to boil, cover the pan & reduce the heat to low & simmer, stirring occasionally & adding more stock until it's absorbed & rice almost cooked. At this point, add the frozen peas. With the last addition of stock, place the prawns, calamari, fish & mussels on top of the rice, continue to cook over low heat until rice is cooked through. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.