Easy spanish paella

Caroline Marson: Food writer

Paella is a great vehicle for using up any leftover cooked meat or sausage that you've got in your fridge. The saffron spice gives this dish a wonderful authentic flavour and 'mellow yellow' colour.

Ingredients: serves 4

1 tbsp oil
1 onion (chopped finely)
1 pinch of saffron (optional)
1 garlic clove (peeled and crushed)
1 red pepper (deseeded & cut in chunks)
1 yellow pepper (deseeded & cut in chunks)
200 g risotto rice
250 ml white wine
500 ml chicken stock
350 g mixed seafood (frozen)
leftover pork (or turkey)
2 spicy sausages (sliced)
125 g frozen peas
salt
black pepper

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes. Meanwhile soak the saffron in 2 tbsp hot water, if using.
Add the peppers, garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Stir in the rice, wine, hot stock, saffron mixture and seasoning. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring occasionally until almost all the liquid has disappeared, add the seafood, leftover meat and spicy sausage, cover, turn the heat down and simmer for 5 min, taking the lid of every few minutes to give it a stir.
Add the peas and cook for a further few minutes until the liquid has evaporated. Season and serve immediately.

Recipe tips:

As rice is relatively cheap, it is easy to get in the habit of throwing too much into the pot. Your standard tea mug is a handy tool for measuring uncooked rice. A full cup (approx 300ml) of rice will feed 4 adults.