Chicken, Chorizo & Prawn Paella

We prefer not to go out for dinner on Valentines Day to avoid all of the hype, over crowding, stretched service and those persistent rose sellers that make sales by putting guys on the spot in front of their date. So we went for a delicious breakfast instead and I decided to make a Chicken, Chorizo & Prawn Paella for a special dinner.

This was my first attempt and apart from thinking that I had ruined my relatively new induction cooktop it was a huge success. Thankfully the red marks that looked like I had somehow managed to burn the glass turned out to be burnt red paint from my Aldi paella pan and a bit of elbow grease fixed the problem.

I used my Thermomix to chop the garlic and red onion but you could also just crush the garlic and finely dice the onion. I had a couple of cups of homemade chicken stock in the freezer so I used that but you could also just use packaged stock or cubes/powder and water depending on what you have on hand.

1 litre chicken stock

pinch saffron

1 chorizo, thinly sliced

3 skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2 cm cubes
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 red capsicum, deseeded and diced
1 ripe tomato, diced

1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika

300 g paella rice
100 g frozen peas
200 g frozen peeled green prawns

Salt and pepper to taste
15 g fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 lemon or lime

Place the chicken stock and saffron into a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat a large frying pan or paella pan over high heat. Add the chorizo and cook, turning occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a plate. 

Add the chicken to the pan and cook, turning occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until brown and heated through. Transfer to a plate.

Add the onion, garlic and capsicum to the pan and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until onion softens. Add the tomato and paprika and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until aromatic. Return the chorizo and chicken to the pan and stir to combine. 

Sprinkle over the rice and and stir for a couple of minutes so it starts to absorb those lovely flavours. Pour over the chicken stock mixture. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is almost absorbed. Test the rice and add a bit more water if needed.

Scatter the peas and prawns over the rice and cook for 5-10 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and prawns are cooked. Season and remove from heat. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately with wedges of lemon or lime.