First of all, I suppose I should apologise to paella
purists, because this is not a traditional paella in any sense of the word. But
a lot of people (my beloved included) don’t like the prawns and squid that
should usually be part of this scrummy Spanish dish, and this is a fantastic
alternative. It comes from Good to Know Recipes, a great little magazine
(thanks to Laura Purt and Claire Messenger for introducing me to it!) – click here to find out more. This is also a really quick and simple dish.
In this recipe the seafood is replaced by sausages, chopped
into chunks and fried in a little olive oil and some smoked paprika (I’ve
mentioned this little secret weapon before, and again, I really encourage you
to get some if you can, because the flavour is fantastic). Once the sausages
are done, move them to a plate, save all the juices in the pan and use them to
fry up onion, garlic and sliced peppers, before adding the rice and leaving it
to simmer in chopped tomatoes and chicken stock, with a little turmeric added
for colour, plus salt, black pepper and a bay leaf. The rice will plump up and
absorb all of the savoury liquid and flavours, but make sure you don’t add too
much liquid all in one go because there’s only a certain amount the rice can take
in – the idea is that when it’s cooked, almost all of the juices will have been
absorbed, leaving just enough to make the rice slippery. I would start off by
adding just enough to cover the rest of the ingredients, and then slosh a bit
more in if it starts to look too dry.
While that’s simmering, you can boil a few peas to add at
the end – I’m not sure how much they added to the dish flavour-wise, to be
completely honest, but they do make it more colourful and, of course, mean
you’re getting another vegetable in there. Mix them into the warm, fragrant
rice with the sausages and keep it on the heat for a few minutes, stirring all
the while, to make sure the sausages warm through. And that’s about it – serve
up a huge plateful, with a good glass of red wine.