Daniel Pfyl, hospitality management lecturer at Otago Polytechnic, shares some professional techniques to make your cooking easier. This month he shows us how to make a Spanish-style paella.
This paella can feed a crowd and be cooked on a barbecue or stovetop. While you can use a specialist paella pan for this dish, any large, shallow frypan or stovetop-safe dish can be used.
Spanish-style paella
Serves 10-12 (if served with other dishes)
Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
400g boneless chicken thighs, sliced
1.5 chorizo sliced
½ cup black kalamata olives
1 onion, chopped
1 red capsicum, deseeded and diced
1 green capiscum, deseeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups paella rice
½ cup white wine
6-8 cups chicken stock
pinch saffron or turmeric
pinch sweet paprika
handful of peas or beans
100g prawns
12 mussels and/or cockles
handful of chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
lemon wedges to serve
Method
1) Fry the sliced chicken and chorizo in olive oil until lightly coloured. Take out and set aside.
2) Add extra olive oil and fry off the onion, capsicum and garlic. Just colour lightly and sprinkle with paprika.
3) Add the rice, fry off a little longer and then deglaze the pan with wine. Reduce.
4) Add pinch saffron or turmeric to chicken stock. Infuse.
5) Add chicken stock to pan. Cook for 5 minutes.
6) Add back the chicken and chorizo, peas/beans and add shellfish in their shells. Cook for 5 minutes. Take shellfish out and deshell or half-shell. Return to pan.
7) Leave to sit for 5 minutes then serve with lemon wedges if desired.
If you would like to request a particular technique we haven't already shown, please let us know. Write to Cooking 101, Editorial Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 181, Dunedin or email odt.features@odt.co.nz with cooking 101 in the subject line.
• To check earlier Cooking 101 columns visit: www.odt.co.nz and search for ''cooking 101''. More information on cooking from Otago Polytechnic can be found on www.otagocookeryl4.blogspot.com
