Paella
€3.15 │ €0.79 per portion │ Serves 4 │ 30-45 mins │ Spain
A vibrant Spanish classic, colourful rice spiced with paprika and saffron. Paella is easy to do and made to impress, whether it's vegetarian, with fish, chicken, or the traditional rabbit. Plus, it's great to make in bulk and have plenty leftover!
What to serve it with?
With filling rice and plentiful vegetables, paella is great on its own. Though if you fancy a side, you could go for a fresh salad.
How to use in a meal plan
Good home economics is using ingredients smartly - and that saves money and cuts food waste. A meal plan is a great way to do this.
Paella is so inherently delicious, making it the perfect dish for using ingredients that you might have left over at the end of the week, especially vegetables. In fact, that's why the Spanish traditionally called it a poor man's dish!
Plus, paella is great to make in bulk because it requires no extra effort to make. So if you're short of emergency meals in the freezer, or you simply want some extra portions, paella is the way to go!
Leftovers
Spoonfeed meal plans save you money by using the economy of scale. Making the extras from dinner into a leftover lunch avoids spending out and extra time cooking!
Paella is perfect for leftovers! It is delicious warmed back up the next day.
Utensils
- Large, flat frying pan (paellera is traditional)
- Grater/blender for tomato
- Mixing jug
- Aluminium foil
Base Ingredients
- 500g paella/risotto rice
- 1 red pepper (1/2 if large)
- 1 yellow pepper (1/2 if large)
- 2 salad tomatoes (1 if large)
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1g saffron
- 2 stock cubes for 75-100cl broth
- Olive oil
- Lemon wedges
Here's some of what you could cook. Prepare your star ingredient and set it aside until step 5:
- Artichoke and butter bean: Add 240g of each, artichoke hearts can be canned or peeled fresh +€3.48
- Mussels: Add raw, use fish stock +€5.99
- Chicken and green beans: Fry chicken breasts +€8.15
- Salmon, whitefish, and green beans: Fry fish for 3-5 minutes +€12.12
- Prawn and mussels: Add raw, use fish stock +€12.75
- Rabbit and green beans: Fry rabbit thigh for 3-5 minutes +€13.99
Method
- Add saffron to a cup, and grind it with the end of a steel utensil until broken down. Now cover with about 100ml of cold water and leave it to soak for at least 15 minutes. Even better - if you have the time - add a few ice cubes instead and leave it until it melts. Hot water burns saffron, and given how pricey it is, let's make the most of it.
- To prepare, dice garlic and pepper. Either grate or lightly blitz your tomatoes. Prepare broth in a mixing jug. The ratio of rice to stock is 1:3.
- Now you're all set to prepare your star ingredient in your main pan and set it aside.
- In the same pan, sauté your garlic in plentiful olive oil on medium-high heat. After 1 minute once it is aromatic, add pepper. After another 2 minutes of moving the ingredients around, add your tomato and season with the paprikas, salt, and pepper. After a few minutes, everything should be coming together nicely in a uniform sofrito.
- Add to the mix your star ingredient and any accompanying vegetables, then keep moving for another 2 minutes.
- Add rice in a diagonal line across the pan, then equally distribute it. Cover with the stock and saffron water, then cover with aluminium foil, put to a simmer, and let cook for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, turn the heat up high and cook for another 3-5 minutes. This gets us nice crunchy edges on the rice called soccarat - this is the part people fight over!
- Remove the aluminum foil and serve fresh with lemon wedges.
- Enjoy!