ES Property For Sale In Spain’s Team Paella Cook Off!

So when you think of a lovely Sunday what do you think of… Sunday papers, Sunday walks.. Sunday Roast.. Sunday Paella cook off’s??!!?…

Well that’s how we spent our Sunday .. while we may be an experienced Spanish property company we don’t pretend to be Spanish Chefs, however we do all like to try our hand at a few dishes and Paella is a popular one amongst the team! So this Sunday witnessed the ES Property For Sale In Spain Paella cook off! Naturally the event started by the opening a good bottle of Rioja before the frantic chopping and cooking began, as the wafts of chorizo and garlic passed our noses we could have been anywhere in Spain!

The front runner in the taste test is currently our Director, Emma Silvester (no sucking up to the boss – honest!) however the team are closing in with some mouth-watering takes on the traditional Paella..

So who was our ‘celeb’ reviewer.. watch this space she is soon to be revealed .....

So we thought we would share with you are leading Paella team recipe, of course every Spanish cook has their own flare and we would love to hear your ideas and feedback on what you think makes a great Paella!

Traditional Seafood Paella (Serves 4)
Preparation time 20 minutes and cooking time 25 mins

Ingredients:-

• 200g Prawns (400g if using unpeeled)
• 200g Mussels
• 100g Squid rings
• 200g Clams
• 1 medium Onion (Chopped)
• Half red Spanish pepper (Chopped)
• Half Tin chopped tomatoes
• 3 cloves of Garlic
• A pinch of Saffron
• Half teaspoon of Paprika Dulce (Hot Paprika if you like a slight kick)
• 300g Bomba Rice
• 100g Frozen Garden Peas
• Small tin of black olives
• 250ml of vegetable or chicken stock
• half glass of white wine
• Water (when required)
• 2 Bay leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Chopped Fresh Parsley
• Lemon wedges to garnish

ES Property For Sale In Spain's Method (only!)

1. Chop the garlic, Onion, pepper and vegetables
2. Pour 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in to your Paella pan and set heat to medium to high. Add onions, garlic, red pepper and cook for 3 minutes until onions are starting to soften.
3. Add the bay leaves, half tin of tomatoes, wine, vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Obviously as alwaysour team as ES Property For Sale In Spain feel the better quality theingredients the better the results.
4. Then add Paprika Dulce, Saffron (Grind up the strands with a pestle and mortar to start the flavour flowing), garden peas and stir round (at this point your mouth should be watering & senses going wild!).
5. Sprinkle the Bomba Rice evenly around the pan, stir in and bring back up to boiling andturn down the heat to simmer (add water if rice soaks up the liquid quicklyor some more wine as you go..!).
6. Cook for a further 20 minutes or until therice is soft to bite. After many attempts at mastering a good paella we are big fans of ‘shaking’ (rather than constant stirring) the pan so you get some movement but also a good crisp base sticking to the pan.
7. You can add the seafood to the pan at this point and cook for a further 5 minutes remove the bay leaves and stir in the fresh chopped parsley. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Take off the heat and cover for 5 minutes to let all the ingredients truly infuse together.
8. Serve with lemon wedges and wait for the applause!! This of course is our take on a great Paella, what’s yours?