My mum’s incredible seafood paella

In Season: Peas (& Cod)

April – November

I’ve never been in any doubt as to where my love of cooking has come from (my Dad can just about fry an egg, just…), so when my Mum produced this absolutely beautiful seafood paella I had to take some pictures to show just how much of an inspiration she has always been! If pictures say a thousand words then here is a 4000 word essay on how great she, and this paella, are. Packed with prawns, cod, chorizo and sweet peppers, this dish epitomises her style of cooking completely – lots of flavour and lots of love!

Serves 5

• 200g paella (or long grain) rice
• 2 fillets of sustainably caught cod
• Handful of small, sweet peppers
• 1 large onion
• 2 large garlic cloves
• 100g chorizo
• 2-4 oz prawns
• 2 large handfuls of frozen peas
• Large pinch of saffron threads soaked in 3 tbsp hot water
• 1 1/2 pints chicken stock
• Fresh parsley & lemon wedges, to serve

1) Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy bottomed deep, non stick frying (or paella) pan. Add the onion and garlic, both finely chopped, to the heated oil and fry gently until coloured.

2) Add the rice and the chorizo (chopped into small chunks) to the pan, stirring for a few minutes to coat it all. Throw in a good pinch of salt and pepper here too and a good glug of white wine.

3) Spread the rice evenly over the bottom of the pan then scatter over the chopped sweet peppers. Pour over the saffron liquid and the stock, which you can mix together beforehand then cover the pan with a tent of foil. Simmer the rice gently for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and add the prawns, peas and chunks of cod. Place the foil tent back on the pan and leave to cook for a further 10 minutes, by which time all ingredients should be cooked and the rice tender.

4) When cooked and ready to serve, add wedges of lemon and scatter with a handful of fresh, chopped parsley.

Note: If your pan doesn’t have a thick base, it is better to cook it in the oven otherwise the rice may get stuck to the bottom. You can put the pan in a 175 degrees C oven for 20-25 minutes as opposed to cooking it on the hob…