Chicken and Pepper Paella

The Recycled Cook

Chicken and Pepper Paella

Another classic dish today, "Paella" 
but this is not the dish every tourist expects. Paella is basically a leftover dish, buy all the ingredients and it will cost a lot of money but these are ingredients most Spanish households would always have always.

 I had some previously cooked Chicken thighs on the bone, red and orange peppers and some French beans.

I used a Paella pan on a tripod but a large frying pan or wok works fine. To start heat some extra virgin olive oil in the pan. 
Add chopped onions, peppers, garlic, beans (blanched) to the pan and cook until the onions start to soften.

 Add the rice and fry in the oil,stirring into the mix. Add a dash of white wine Vermouth or dry sherry (Fino or Manzanilla would be perfect). 

 Once the alcohol has burnt off add a ladle of hot Chicken or Vegetable stock, (I used both) stir in and allow to absorb the liquid. 

 Keep adding just as for Risotto but after the first stir leave it alone. You want the base to become crusty, what the Spanish call the Soccorat.
Test the rice periodically and add more stock if you feel it is drying out, remember nit to stir.

 Once  the rice is just cooked (al dente) you are ready to serve. Crusty bread works well with this and of course some Spanish wine.

 I would normally add some king prawns at this stage but lacking them  decided to opt for crispy chicken skin.
I had already saved the skin when I boned the chicken thighs so it was just a matter of frying them off and draining on kitchen roll.

 The current good weather lends itself so well to this kind of cooking, especially if you cook it outdoors but it will work perfectly fine on the hob.



Disclaimer: The suggestions and tips on these blog pages are meant to be used in conjunction with common sense. Keeping your family healthy is the priority. Do not use food that is unfit for human consumption and always follow sensible food hygiene guidelines.

  

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/homehygiene/Pages/food-leftovers-safety.aspx


Always be careful in the kitchen, we accept no responsibility for any accidents caused as a direct or indirect result of preparing any of these dishes. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Home Made Chutney

Image
The Recycled Cook By Adrian Sleeman Home Made Chutney Another great way of preserving food is by making chutney or relish. Although we think of chutney as being Asian or South east Asian in origin they in fact came from Northern Europe as long ago as 500bc. The Romans embraced the method and eventually so did the British empire who took them to tropical regions where they have since been adopted by those countries. The name "Chutney" that we use today is derived from the Hindi word "Chattni" which means "to lick", they were usually sweetened with honey rather than sugar and were added to dishes as a sweetening agent rather than used as a relish as we do now.  Chutneys can be made from almost any combination of vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices and are usually grouped as either a sweet or spiced chutney.  Natural preservatives are used to keep the chutney from going mouldy, such as vinegar,  l emon juice or tamarind paste.  You can blend t
Read more

Make more of Lentils

Image
The Recycled Cook By Adrian Sleeman Make more of L entils Here is one of my favourite dishes for using up odds and ends that makes a great alternative to potatoes or rice as a staple food. It can be used as a base for a meal or stand alone as the meal itself. Lentils originate in Asia and North Africa and are one of our oldest sources of food known to man. This humble relative of the common garden pea is a rich in protein and carbohydrates and is also also a good source of calcium, phosphorus, iron and B vitamins. There are several different varieties of lentil readily available, most commonly Brown, Red and Green lentils, although Puy and Yellow are stocked in many health and specialist shops.  Which type of lentil you use depends on the kind of dish. They are usually bought dried and it is important to rinse them well before cooking with them. You can soak them to reduce cooking time but to be honest I prefer not to as they absorb so much more flavour that way.  G
Read more

Pickling

Image
The Recycled Cook By Adrian Sleeman Pickling Over the next few blogs we are going to look at the various ways we have available to us of preserving food, that will not only make the most of your fruit and vegetables but will also add that extra ingredient to add to your meals and give them that added zing. Red Cabbage pickle One of the easiest and most satisfying methods for preserving and enhancing fresh fruit and vegetables is the traditional art of pickling which seems to have found a new following amongst today's young chefs. I have been pickling fruit and vegetables for quite some time, it is one of the most satisfying and simple things to do in the kitchen and is far cheaper than shop bought.  If you are lucky enough to grow your own fruit and vegetables all the better but it is just as easy to do with the kind of fresh produce I spoke about in my last blog. Remember the allotments, they are a great source of ingredients for this. Our ancestors picked a
Read more