Paella mixta

If I had to make one Spanish dish to impress people, this would be it. This is my mum’s recipe. It’s a real pleasure making this on a Sunday afternoon with people around. Making paella is all about the timing. The key elements are to make sure you simmer your stock in the pan with the browned meats so it picks up the caramelised flavours (you should be able to taste the stock in every mouthful of rice), putting the seafood in at the correct time so there is still enough stock left to cook it, and getting the grains of rice perfectly firm with no stock left. Make sure you don’t burn the bottom – this is the worse thing that can happen as the burnt flavour will go right through the paella.