Ingredients
- 12 mussels, scrubbed, beards removed
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 small chicken breast fillet, cut into cubes
- 275 g raw medium prawns, shelled, deveined
- 100 g cleaned calamari, cut into rings
- 100 g white boneless fish, cut into cubes
- ½ small red onion, extra, finely chopped
- 1 slice bacon, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 small red capsicum, finely chopped
- 1 tomato, peeled and chopped
- ½ cup fresh or frozen peas
- 90 g chorizo or peperoni, thinly sliced
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
- ¼ teaspoon powdered saffron
- 2 cups chicken stock, heated
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
Method
1. Soak the cleaned mussels for 2 hours in cold water. Discard any open or damaged mussels. Heat the wine and onion in a large pan. Add mussels, cover and shake the pan for 3–5 minutes over high heat. After 3 minutes start removing opened mussels and set aside; at the end of 5 minutes discard any unopened mussels. Reserve cooking liquid.
2. In a large frying pan heat half the oil. Pat chicken pieces dry with paper towels. Cook the chicken for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside. Add prawns, calamari rings and fish pieces; cook 1 minute. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. Heat remaining oil in pan; add extra onion, bacon, garlic and capsicum to pan. Cook for 5 minutes or until onion is soft. Add tomato, peas, chorizo or peperoni, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Add reserved cooking liquid; stir to combine. Add the rice and mix well.
4. Blend powdered saffron with ½ cup of stock; add mixture with remaining stock to rice mixture; mix well. Bring slowly to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer rice mixture, uncovered, 15 minutes without stirring.
5. Place chicken pieces, prawns, calamari and fish on top of rice. Using a wooden spoon, gently push pieces into rice; cover and continue to cook over low heat for 10–15 minutes, or until rice is tender and seafood cooked. If rice is not quite cooked, add a little extra stock and cook for a few minutes more. Serve Paella in bowls, topped with mussels and sprinkled with parsley.
