This recipe appeared in a camping issue of the Riverford Meat Box Newsletter, hence the use of diced chicken (instead of chicken joints which would more traditionally appear in a paella) for ease, and speed, of one pot cooking.

You will need a generous sauté pan for paella, or better still a paella pan - especially if you want to cook even larger quantities than this. If you prefer you can use green beans instead of peas, and add other seafood, such as squid. It’s all about what your own family preferences are.

Ingredients - serves 4

500g diced chicken leg/thigh meat - skinless
12 x large prawns in shells
20 x mussels, cleaned
250g calasparra (paella) rice
6 tbsp olive oil
1 glass of white wine
1 litre chicken stock
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed & chopped
a pinch of saffron threads
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 green pepper, seeded & diced
200g frozen peas
salt and black pepper
chopped parsley
4 lemon wedges

Method

Heat half of the oil in the pan over a high heat, add the chicken dice and brown all over, turn down the heat, remove the dice with a slotted spoon and set aside - the chicken will be partially cooked.

Pour the rest of the olive oil to the pan, then the onion, and cook to golden over a medium heat. Now add the diced green pepper, garlic, saffron strands and paprika and cook for a further five minutes. You are now ready to cook the rice and will therefore need to heat your stock in another pan to boiling point. Place the rice into the sauté pan and move around to coat it with the oil for a minute (as you would when making risotto) then spread it evenly across the base of the pan.

Now pour the white wine over the rice, followed by the hot stock and keeping the paella over a medium heat do not stir beyond this point. Season with salt and pepper. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes then place the part-cooked chicken back into the pan by spreading it evenly over the rice and pushing it gently down under the grains to complete its cooking. Much of the stock will now have been absorbed and you should turn the heat to low and cook for a further 5 minutes or until there is just a little stock left at the bottom of the rice and it is becoming tender.

At this point the prawns and mussels are added to the paella and it should be sealed tightly with foil and the heat turned off. Let the rice stand for 5 minutes by which time the prawns will be heated through and the mussels will have opened.

Remove the foil lid, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve from the pan with wedges of lemon.