Paella a la Nik

 2-3 weeks away from the blog means spam overload at 5am in the morning when I cant get back to sleep.  As you can see, I still have been cooking, just not writing about it.  I have also reverted back to the standard iphone camera as well.  Instagram cost me a bucket last month, I love my blog- but not that much.

So the inspiration for this dish comes from Jamie Oliver.  I used similar ingredients as his My favourite paella but cooked it my way.  I winged it.  Everyone who ate it said it was the best paella I have ever cooked. 

Ingredients

300 grams of paella rice or Arborio rice.

1/2 a large jar of char grilled capsicums sliced- around 340grams

1 can of tinned tomatoes (Watties crushed and sieved is recommended)

1 onion diced

400 grams of pork belly

350 grams of Chorizo

12 cockles

200-300 grams of  uncooked prawns

1 litre of chicken stock

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
2 heaped teaspoons of garlic

2 teaspoons of smoked paprika.

a good pinch of saffron

2 tablespoons of oil

The wine was for personal consumption. I just wanted to be a label basher. 

Method

Add the stock to a saucepan and boil.

Heat oil and fry the pork belly till its sealed on both sides on a medium heat .  Remove from the heat and slice finely.  Once all sliced add back the the frypan and fry till crispy. 

 Add the chorizo and fry till cooked through.  The chorizo flavours should cover the pork belly well.  Remove from the fry pan and set aside. 

 With the left over oil fry the onions on  medium heat till transparent.  Add the saffron, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika and garlic and fry till all the flavours are combined and fragrant. 

 Add the rice and fry for about 3 minutes, the rice should take on a white chalky colour as it cooks through. Add 1 tablespoon of oil if needed.

 Add 1/2 of the Chicken stock and the peppers.  Add the tinned tomatoes.  Once the rice starts to expand the the stock starts to disappear, add more stock.

  Boil some water just in case you need to add more liquid to the paella to cook the rice. 

Wash the cockles and discard any that are open. Make sure you scrub the shells well to remove any unwanted stuff. Get a saucepan with about 1.5 cm's of water and add the cockles on a medium heat.  This should help them open.  The Little neck clams that I use have a super thick shell and this is the most effective way of opening them. Discard any that don't open.

 When the rice is almost cooked, add the prawns.  Once the prawns are cooked through add the pork belly and the chorizo to the pan.  Add the cockles and serve.

Images by me!