If you read my first issue, did you try out the bread recipe? If you're new here, you can find my go-to sandwich bread recipe on my website, and welcome!
Today, I am sharing a simple prawn paella recipe. I work from home, and on the days that I work, I like to have dinner sorted before I go and collect the girls. If I haven't had a chance to cook anything before I collect them, it's always a stressful time when they get home. I am cooking, they are fighting, flying around on scooters inside, or running into John (my partner) while he is on calls, and by bedtime I am losing my marbles. With this one, I just turn the hob off, pop the lid on (so it doesn't dry out and stays warm), and leave it on the stove.
I have used my own chicken bone broth for the base (how wholesome of me), but you can use vegetable or chicken stock. I'll cover how to make a bone broth in another issue, but if you don't already do it and you cook roast chicken - you should. It is easy and really satisfying to use the whole thing, no waste, very good for you, and you can use it for loads of different things.
So, feel free to add peas or any other veg you fancy, and swap out the prawns for chicken or whatever. This is originally a Gousto recipe and it's now a staple for me. I have cooked this for friends pre children also and it went down really well.
Enjoy!
Lemony Prawn Paella
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, sliced
1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into thin strips
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Pinch of salt and sugar
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp tomato paste
160g arborio rice
750ml stock
75g frozen peas
170g raw peeled king prawns
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Small bunch parsley, finely chopped (stalks and all)
2 tbsp mayonnaise
Black pepper
Method
Deseed and slice the pepper into thin strips, slice the onion, and crush the garlic.
Heat a wide-based pan with the olive oil over a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the pepper, onion and garlic with a pinch of salt and sugar, and cook for 8–10 minutes until softened.
Once softened, stir in the turmeric, smoked paprika and tomato paste.
Add the rice and stir to coat the grains, cooking for 1–2 minutes.
Boil a kettle and dissolve your stock. Add it a ladle at a time, stirring continuously, for 20–25 minutes, until the rice is tender and has absorbed most of the liquid.
While the rice cooks, combine a squeeze of lemon juice with the mayonnaise and some black pepper - that's your lemon aioli.
Add the prawns and peas, cover the pan, and cook for a further 4–5 minutes, until the prawns are cooked through.
Take the pan off the heat. Add the juice of half the lemon wedges and half the parsley, then taste and add a little more salt if it needs it.
Drizzle over the aioli, sprinkle over the rest of the parsley, and serve with a lemon wedge.
Serving suggestion. I like to serve it with some salad leaves for a bit of freshness, and some bread to mop up. I nearly always have par-baked baguettes in the cupboard to put in the oven for this kind of thing. They are great. Enjoy!
Carla x