Jordan Ryan, head chef at The Weeping Willow, in Barrow, near Bury St Edmunds, shares his own version of the Mediterranean dish paella
Hello and welcome back, I hope you’re all enjoying the summer as much as I am,
So, for this article I’ve decided to go with something a little different to what I have on the menu at the Willow and instead I’m doing something inspired by my current holiday in Spain – and that is Paella Mixta.
I chose this beautiful dish because, well, I’ve eaten a fair few of them while being here but also because I think it really highlights what I believe food is all about – it has a story, it’s personable, it’s humble and it’s delicious.
Spanish cuisine is my absolute favourite. I enjoy sharing food and having multiple dishes at once, it’s also my favourite way to cook. At home, my friends absolutely love coming round for dinner as it’s always served ‘family style’ and what better dish to have family style than paella.
Before getting into my recipe I want to talk a little about paella and Spain in general as I think with a dish like this it’s super important to understand its heritage and the different variations. As I said, this is my variation of paella so it won’t be incredibly authentic but as it’s one of the most popular global dishes, how authentic can a young lad from Suffolk really make it!? So let’s get into the history of paella.
There are three main versions – Paella Valenciana, Paella De Marisco and Paella Mixta.
It is said there are more than 200 different variations globally and that just shows it really does come down to personal preferences. My favourite is the Paella Mixta, which is a combination of meat and fish, however my brothers are more on the Valenciana side and my partner prefers Paella De Marisco (seafood paella), so as you can imagine, cooking it at home is always exciting. ..
Paella originates in eastern Spain in the Valencia region. This is one of the country’s major rice producing regions, it’s estimated rice has been grown here for more than 1,000 years, which is incredible to think about.
Paella was created for farmers and farm labourers as a lunchtime meal, traditionally cooked over a wood fire in large pans called ‘la paella’, hence its name. Traditionally, it is served in the pan you have cooked it in, which is incredible because you can really get into the depth of flavours the dish has from the little things, such as garlic and onion, to the wine used to deglaze the pan or the oil from the chorizo that has given the rice a beautiful orangey red colour and injected buckets of flavour into it, down to the beautiful subtle taste of the mussels or clams.
The dish started with a few simple ingredients such as tomatoes, onions, snails and beans, but with special occasions came special ingredients, such as duck, rabbit and saffron, now the most expensive spice in the world.
As Valencia is on the coast, it is easy to see how the De Marisco version came about. The seafood here is incredible, super fresh, super tasty and also super affordable, which reflects the dish’s very humble beginnings.
The idea that paella started out as a workers lunch and has now become a global phenomenon, if you like, is crazy to me, but then it’s so easy to see why it is.
My experience of Spanish cuisine has always been simple local ingredients done incredibly well and always enjoyed with a beer or two… now that I can get behind!
Let’s get into the recipe,
I’m not going to give quantities for some of the ingredients as I think it can be as much or little as you want and it’ll depend on how many people you want to cook it for.
As I said, this is my recipe of how I like to cook and eat my paella and as always it can be easily adapted.
For example, if you don’t want rabbit, you can swap it for chicken, or if you want to have the Paella De Marsco, then just follow the main method and add seafood instead of meat. It might sound confusing, but once you’ve read the recipe it’ll all make sense.
As always I’d love to see what you guys come up with, and hear any of your thoughts. I hope you enjoy making these as much as I do. See you all in September.
Paella Mixta
Chorizo (finely diced)
Pancetta (finely diced)
1 rabbit or whole chicken
Mussels
Raw prawns (can be crevettes or any prawn in a shell)
Clams
Squid
1 fresh chilli x
1 bunch parsley
1g saffron
1kg paella rice (you won’t need to cook all of it, rule is 1 part rice to 3.5 parts liquid, so for example, 100g of rice will need 350g of stock)
Chicken stock
50ml white wine
Maldon sea salt
Lemon juice
• So this depends on if you’re having chicken or rabbit – chicken will take about an hour in the oven at 190C, once it’s cooked pull it apart. It’s the same process for the rabbit but it won’t take as long, roughly 45 minutes.
• While the meat is cooking, put the finely diced chorizo and pancetta in a large pan over a medium high heat, the idea is to really draw the fats and oils, add a pinch of salt as this will draw out more moisture which in turn will release more colour.
• Once you think you’ve got most of the colour out and the meat’s crispy, add the finely diced onions and garlic and sweat down, again add a little salt to help break down the onions and garlic. Once you think your nearly there, add roughly 10ml of the wine and de glaze the pan, getting all the bits that have stuck to the bottom back into the mix.
• Start getting your stock ready, have that on a low heat so you can add when you need to. You can either add the saffron to this or add it into the pan when you add the rice.
• Once the onions are translucent add the rice and stir well making sure you’re coating the meat and onions, then add the rest of the wine and de glaze the pan.
• When the wine has evaporated, slowly add the stock. Now again this comes down to personal taste on how you like your rice, I don’t like mine really soft with not much texture so I’ll cook my rice a little less. Just make sure you’re constantly stirring the dish, adding stock little by little until you are near enough to your desired texture of rice.
• Once you are nearly there, add all the fish and the pulled meat into the pan along with some sliced chilli and more stock. Cook until the fish is cooked and you have reached your desired texture of rice. If I was cooking this for two people as an example I wouldn’t be cooking my rice for much longer than 10/15 minutes before adding the rest of my ingredients, but I’ll always be taste testing to make sure I am where I want to be with it.
• When it’s nearly complete, add in a nice squeeze of lemon juice, a little salt (if needed) and the chopped parsley, give it a good stir and enjoy! As I said, enjoy it with a couple beers, I can’t recommend that enough.
