Super simple paella

I’ve always used my traditional paella recipe, starting with making a sofrito, but this needs fresh tomatoes. A couple of weeks ago, I didn’t have any fresh tomatoes, but we still fancied a paella so I used tomato purée instead with the chicken flavour soup mix as stock and it tastes amazing.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/kosher/osem-chicken-soup-400g

Ingredients (serves 3)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1/2 chorizo, chopped

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Large pinch saffron

2 large breasts chicken or pack chicken thighs

3 handfuls of paella rice (1 handful per person)

1 heaped dessert spoon chicken flavour soup powder

2 tbsp tomato purée

500ml boiling water + additional

Prawns (optional)

Peas (optional)

Fresh parsley, chopped

Lemon but into wedges

Method

In a large frying pan or sauté pan, heat the oil over a medium heat, gently fry the onion until soft. Add the chorizo and fry until it starts to release the oils. Add the chicken pieces and fry until starting to brown. Sprinkle over the paprika and saffron and rice, mix well.

In a jug mix the soup powder into the boiling water and whisk in the tomato purée, pour this over the rice mix, add additional boiling water until chicken is just covered, stir well, then turn to low simmer.

Keep an eye on pan and turn chicken after 10 minutes. Cook for another 10 minutes, add peas and prawns and make sure you stir gently to stop it catching on bottom. If using thighs, check by inserting sharp knife through to bone and seeing if cooked (you shouldn’t see any pink/blood if cooked).

Leave cooking until liquid has evaporated. When chicken is cooked, check if rice is cooked by tasting, you may need to add more water if rice isn’t cooked. It normally takes about 30 mins in total.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with a wedge of lemon on each plate.

When I use the soup mix, I don’t need to add any extra salt, if you substitute normal chicken stock, you may need additional seasoning.

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Chicken stuffed with chorizo and wrapped in pancetta

 We've made this with chicken breasts too, but actually find the chicken thighs very easy and we think they actually taste much better.
If you want a really easy dinner that involves very little preparation but tastes amazing, then this is a really easy meal.
We've discovered that Waitrose sell amazing skinless and boned chicken thighs in large packs at very reasonable prices. They also sell packs of ready chopped chorizo crumb these come in pairs. So this dish is extremely simple to create.

Ingredients

1 pack of pancetta
6 chicken thighs
1 section of chopped chorizo

Method

Preheat oven to Gas 5.

Take a small roasting tray (I use a non-stick liner), but you may need to grease it if you don't.
Lay out the pancetta in 2's or 3's so the slices just overlap - (you need to count the slices and divide by 6). I don't leave any left and split the pancetta evenly.
Take one piece of chicken and lay along the first set of pancetta, starting at one end. Split the chorizo into six parts and pile one part onto the middle of a chicken thigh. Fold the chicken over to cover the chorizo, take the pancetta and start to roll it around the chicken, keep rolling as tightly as you can until the chicken is completely covered. Pop onto roasting tray. Repeat for each chicken breast. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes.
Leave to stand for 5 minutes.
Serve by slicing into 1cm slices.
I served with a mushroom risotto.

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Paella

If you want a special dinner, then this makes a great dish. There are quite a few ingredients, but I've discovered some quick cheats when shopping to make this easier.

Ingredients

Sofritto:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/2 chorizo chopped (can buy ready chopped pack)
1 large pinch of saffron
1 teaspoon paprika
1 pack of chicken pieces
1/2 packet of paella rice
1 chicken stock pot made up to 1 pint with boiling water
1 pack of frozen mixed shellfish (M&S contains, prawns, squid and scallops defrosted)
Frozen peas
1 tablespoon flat leaved parsley, finely chopped
1 lemon cut into wedges.

Method

In a non-stick frying pan, gently fry the sofritto together until the olive oil starts to separate from the mix, this can take 10 minutes.
Move the sofritto to the side of the pan and add the chorizo to the other side of the pan, let this fry off and release it's wonderful oils, add the paprika and chicken pieces, cook for 5 minutes stirring the chorizo side of the pan separately from the sofritto, cook until you have browned all the chicken. Mix everything in the pan together. Now sprinkle over the rice and stir in well to the mixture. Pour over the stock and add enough water to cover the chicken with liquid. Stir well and reduce to a simmer.
Stir gently occasionally, cook for 20 minutes. If the pan is drying out, you may need to add more boiling water.
Check the rice, you want it to be just soft and the chicken is cooked. Add the seafood and the frozen peas, stir well and continue to cook for another 5 minutes (add liquid if necessary), the prawns should be pink when fully cooked.
Sprinkle over the parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

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Chicken - Riverford style

Typical evening. Come home after busy day at college, it's chicken but not sure what to do with it.

Step 1

Low effort is the key, so one pot meal is a bonus.

Step 2

2 legs and 2 wings are left on the carcass, so start by jointing these into drumsticks and thighs.

Step 3

What veg are left to use up in our box from last week?

Yellow pepper, vine tomatoes, onion, sweet potato.

Step 4

Raid fridge - chopped chorizo

Step 5

Additions from supplies

Olive oil

Garlic

Passata

Chopped fresh basil

Begin recipe creation.

Lucious olive oil, frazzle onions, garlic and chicken, sauté pepper, add rest of ingredients, cook gently for 30 mins

Garnish with chopped fresh basil

Serve and wait for seconds to be demolished.

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