Ronald WatsonPAELLA
Spanish rice (also called “bomba” rice, calaspara rice, arroz redonda) is traditional in Paella It’s a short grain rice that absorbs more water than regular rice, without turning mushy.
INGREDIENTS
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion 1 green (or yellow) pepper 2 cloves of garlic 5 oz paella rice 1 large tomato Turmeric Saffron Herbes de Provence Any other herbs you like eg rosemary Chicken thighs (1 pack in Tesco contains 6 - 8) Sea food, (prawns, scallops whatever you enjoy) 1 mugful frozen petits pois 1 stock cube (fish or chicken) METHOD
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Ronald Watson
Ron Watson was born Thornaby on Tees; Educated at Middlesbrough High School; Prepared for ARCO with Conrad Eden at Durham Cathedral. National Service in RAF 1954-7 mainly at Seaton Snook; employed Tarslag Ltd, Middlesbrough Corporation, Chas Tennet Contractors. Organist St John's Middlesbrough, Moved to Norwich 1968 as Snr Lecturer in Construction at Norwich City College. Organist St Giles Norwich. Formed and directed Lyrian Singers and Sine Nomine.
Ronald writes: Here in the northern climes no-one in their right mind would have lunch on New Year’s Day on the beach. But those who are yearning for a bit of warmth might go somewhere warmer but not too far. And so it was that we took ourselves off to Nerja in Spain and walking along the water’s edge in the middle of the day was pleasantly warm. Along one stretch of the beach there was a succession of places serving paella. One, and by far the busiest, took our fancy. It was run by Ayo, a local celebrity, who, when a young boy, he had climbed through a narrow crack in a nearby rock face and found himself in an amazing cave network which was subsequently opened up and was now a tourist attraction.
Ayo, at the time we were there, was a man in early old age and could be encountered with cardboard tied around his legs to protect them from the intense heat of an enormous paella pan, (about 5 feet in diameter, under which was burning anything that would burn), into which he was throwing bucketfuls of chicken thighs, rice, seafood and other ingredients which go to make up paella. Adjacent to this were about thirty tables covered with neat table cloths around which scuttled a small army of waiters bringing platefuls of steaming hot paella to the customers along with bottles of Rosé wine and tumblers. Demolishing a plateful and desiring another helping, all one had to do was summon one of the waiters. Now, we like haute cuisine and this was about as far from haute cuisine as one could get, but this was probably our most memorable meal. What made it memorable was not only that it was delicious but what posh restaurants refer to as the ambience was perfect with the sun shining down on us from a clear blue sky knowing that back home it was one of the coldest days of the winter. Paella became a favourite for us and I still make one at least once a month when Isabel has a night off from the kitchen. And it’s easy and flexible. What we use are chicken thighs, onion, garlic, a large tomato, a green pepper, saffron, turmeric, salt and pepper and, of course paella rice. The liquid is water in which a chicken stock cube has been dissolved. Into this, seafood can be added, prawns, scallops – anything. We also add our favourite herbs, herbes de Provence, rosemary for example; ‘chacun a son gout’ as they say in places we can’t afford! Adding choriso is one of those ‘some do, some don’t’ ingredients; we don’t. Occasionally, having a good fresh fish merchant, we substitute the chicken thighs with a meaty fish, monk fish, rock eel or something similar. We find that 4 ounces of rice with the above ingredients is just the right amount for the two of us. All of this is prepared in a wok, somewhat smaller than Ayo’s! The chicken is stir fried first in just enough olive oil to cover the base of the wok, followed by the chopped onions and garlic then the green pepper and tomato and the turmeric. The liquid is added followed immediately by the rice. The rest of the ingredients are added at will until it is all simmering. The cook judges when it is ready to serve. And, for old times’ sake we have a glass (or two) of Rosé with it and dream of Nerja. |
