This is a big-pan, feed-a-crowd, glass-of-wine-in-hand kind of paella. Don’t get too hung up on exact quantities – the beauty of paella is throwing things in, letting the rice do its thing, and trusting your instincts.
Serves 8 –10
Ingredients
A big paella pan
A very generous glug of EVOO – we use Peppery
2 large onions, chopped
2 red capsicums, chopped
8–10 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped or sliced
Around 6 fresh chorizo sausages, sliced into chunky pieces
Chicken thighs, chopped into big bite-sized pieces
Paella rice – about half a packet
A good pinch of saffron
Chicken stock – enough to generously cover the rice. Have this warm with saffron in and ready to pour
Frozen peas – a couple of big handfuls
King prawns – as many as the budget and pan allows
NZ mussels, scrubbed and debearded
Fresh parsley, roughly chopped
Lemon, cut into wedges
Salt and pepper
More EVOO, for finishing
Directions
Get the charcoal going. Get a good bed of hot charcoal going. You want plenty of heat to start with, then a nice steady heat once the rice goes in. Put your big cast-iron pan on the BBQ and get it properly hot.
Saffron stock
Warm your chicken stock and add a good pinch of saffron. Let it sit for a few minutes so the saffron turns the stock a gorgeous golden colour and releases all that lovely flavour. Set aside and have it ready to go when the rice needs it.
Chorizo & chicken first
Add a very generous glug of EVOO, then chuck in the chorizo. Let it sizzle until it’s nicely browned and has released all those gorgeous spicy juices into the oil.
Add the chicken thighs and give them a good colour on the outside. They don’t need to be cooked through yet. Take the chorizo and chicken out and set them aside. Leave all those delicious juices in the pan.
Into the same pan go the onions and capsicum. Season with a little salt and pepper and let them cook down until they’re soft and sweet. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes until everything is smelling ridiculously good.
Rice
Chuck in the paella rice and give it a good stir through the onions, capsicum and garlic, making sure every grain gets coated in all that lovely olive oil and chorizo goodness. Let it cook for a minute or two.
Now bring it all together. Pour the saffron-infused stock into the pan and add the browned chicken and chorizo back in. Scatter over the frozen peas.
Now give the whole thing one really good stir – just enough to make sure the rice, meat, peas and stock are evenly distributed. Spread everything out nice and evenly across the pan.
And now… LEAVE IT ALONE.
No more stirring.
This is where the charcoal BBQ earns its keep. Let the paella gently bubble away and let the rice absorb all that gorgeous saffron, chicken and chorizo-infused stock.
If one side is cooking faster than the other, rotate the pan. If the rice looks like it needs more liquid before it’s cooked, add a splash more hot stock.
But otherwise? Hands off. Seafood goes on top. When the rice is getting close to cooked, nestle the mussels into the rice and arrange the king prawns over the top.
Pop the BBQ lid down if you’ve got one, or loosely cover the pan with foil, and let the seafood steam through.
The mussels should open, the prawns should turn pink and juicy, and the chicken should be cooked through. Any mussels that stay firmly shut at the end get binned.
The good bit
Once the rice is cooked and everything is looking spectacular, take the pan off the heat.
Let it sit for 5–10 minutes. You want the bottom to have developed that gorgeous golden, slightly crispy crust – the socarrat.
If you hear a little gentle sizzling underneath towards the end, that’s exactly what you’re after.
Finish with a big handful of fresh parsley, a generous drizzle of your best olive oil and plenty of lemon wedges.
Take the whole pan straight to the table.
Big pan. Big flavours. Charcoal smoke. Good olive oil. No fuss.
And whoever gets the crispy bits at the bottom is the winner.
