Paella La Rambla

Directions

1. Make a shellfish stock by heating up 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of oil. Add half of the chopped onions, half of the sliced garlic and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the langoustine heads, some salt and chilli powder. Stir about for a couple of minutes then add the mussels and about 3/4s of a litre of water. Cover the pan/pot and let cook for 5 -6 minutes till the mussels open up - discard the mussels which haven’t opened - adjust seasoning too. Remove from the heat and add the saffron to it. Set aside.
2. In a shallow frying pan/paella pan, put the rest of the butter and oil. Stir together and once the butter is melted, add the remaining diced onions and chorizo. Stir around till the spices are coaxed out of the chorizo into the oil, and it turns a vibrant orange.
3. Add the rest of the garlic slices and the squid chunks, stir and let cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the tomato sauce and the piquillo peppers. Stir around and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add half of the hot saffron stock to the pan with the mussels, shells and all, and the langoustine heads. Let simmer a couple of minutes.
5. Stir again and sprinkle the rice around the pan. Let cook for a few minutes and then stir around a couple of times. Cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes till the rice is soft.
6. Add the langoustine bodies and drizzle half of the remaining stock around the pan, replace the lid and let cook for 5 – 7 minutes.
7. Finally sprinkle over the frozen peas and the remainder of the stock. Let cook another 5 minutes.
8. Take off the heat and leave covered with a tea towel for 10 – 15 minutes so the flavours marry, the rice absorbs the liquids and it all melds together.