Paella is a fantastic dish that presents beautifully, especially if you have a paella pan. If you don’t, you can make the dish in a large cast iron pan or a good quality all clad.
Ingredients
Directions
Anytime I peel prawns, I reserve and store them in the freezer. Â If you have some on hand, start this recipe off by preheating a medium sized pot on medium high. Â Add a tablespoon of oil and then the peels. Â Roast until browned nicely, stirring regularly.
Add the tomato paste and roast until lightly browned, stirring regularly.  If you don’t have the prawn peels then roast the tomato paste in the oil by itself.
Add the broth, stir well and simmer for 45 minutes to extract the flavour from the peels. Â No peels? Â No need to simmer ?
After simmering remove the peels and add the saffron, stir and your paella broth is now ready!
You will also need to par-cook your brown rice. Â Simmer 1 cup of rice in 1 cup of broth (preferably the paella broth) or water for 25 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.
Heat your paella pan on medium high. Â Add 1 tablespoon of oil and then the chicken thighs and brown on both sides.
Now add the par-cooked rice, cauliflower and mussels, stir well and arrange everything so that it is relatively flat and evenly distributed.
Add enough broth to cover the rice plus a little more and simmer adding more ladle by ladle, keeping the broth just above the rice.
Once your rice is almost cooked (eat a few grains to check), place the paella in a 450Âş F oven and roast until the broth is absorbed and the edges brown and become slightly crispy.