Easy Aussie Paella from Peter Howard

Easy Aussie Paella

Serves 4 main courses

INGREDIENTS

2 tblspns olive oil
4 chicken legs
1 medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 bacon rasher, rind removed and roughly chopped
1½ cups long grain rice
1 red capsicum, seeds removed and roughly diced
1½  cups chicken stock mixed with a ½  cup of white wine
and with a ¼ tspn of saffron powder stirred in (or use real saffron –say 10 strands soaked in the stock for 30 minutes before use)
1 medium size spicy sausage, roughly diced (chorizo or pepperoni)
500 g seafood marinara mixture, fresh or freshly thawed
salt and cayenne pepper (both optional)
3 tblspns chopped parsley

METHOD

1.    If you have a paella pan, use it but of not available, use a wide open heavy based pan (an electric frying pan is great) for this dish; heat the pan and add 1 of the tablespoons of oil – when hot, brown and cook the chicken legs for 5 minutes. Remove them from the pan, add the rest of the oil and reheat.
2.    Add the onions, garlic and bacon – cook for 3 minutes and stir all the time. Add the rice and capsicum - stir for a minute to coat it with the oil.
3.    Pour the chicken/wine/saffron liquid over the rice and stir in over medium heat – add the sausage and seafood and mix them evenly through the rice. Push the chicken legs into the rice mixture and evenly around the pan and reduce to a low to medium heat – add salt and pepper now if you’re using them; cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the rice is cooked. If the rice is still not cooked through, add a little more stock or wine and cook until done.
4.    Serve with the chopped parsley sprinkled over and with a cooked green vegetable of your choice – freshly cooked peas are good here and you will find some paella recipes which use them in the cooking. I find it better to serve them as a side vegetable.