MAIN COURSES

Paella from Valencia

Time taken: 2 hours
Ingredients for 6 people:
250 g rice, 400 g mussels, 500 g pork meat, 300 g scampi, 250 g peas, 200 g prawns, 1 glass white wine, 1 pinch salt, 4 spoonfuls olive oil, half a chicken, 1 chopped onion, 1 clove of garlic, salt and pepper, H litre meat stock, 1 small packet saffron, 4 peeled tomatoes cut into small cubes, 2 green peppers, 1 bay leaf.

Having scrubbed and washed the mussels, cook for 10 minutes in a large pot, sprinkle them with the wine and add salt. Then remove the mussels from their shells. Meanwhile, gently sauté most of the chopped onion and garlic and add the pork and chicken meat cut into small pieces, add salt and pepper and cook for no longer than 10 minutes.Using some of the chopped onion, sauté in a little oil , add the rice and the stock and cook for no more than 10 minutes. In a large frying pan, fry the green peppers cut into thin strips and the chopped peeled tomatoes and the bay leaf in a little oil with some garlic for 20 minutes over a low heat. Finally, add the peas, the scampi and the meat and cook together for a few minutes.Add the rice and, just before it is cooked, add the mussels and the prawns.

Time taken: 1 hour
Ingredients for 4 people:
250 g rice, 800 g butter, 300 g shellfish, 1 large onion, 3 tomatoes, 2 glasses white wine, 1 glass brandy, 4 spoonfuls cream, a pinch of tarragon, 1 onion, salt and pepper.

Make the rice pilaf, pour boiling stock onto the rice and leave for 15 minutes in a pan covered with a lid.Using 40 g of butter, cook the shellfish, some of which should be left whole for decorating the dish.Grease a mould thoroughly and add the rice pilaf, alternating it with the meat of the shellfish.Put into a hot oven for a few minutes. Separately, make the sauce to serve with the rice, as follows: stir the shells of the shellfish in a pan over a hot flame with oil, butter, salt and pepper; having passed everything through a sieve, add the finely chopped onion, the tarragon, brandy, white wine, the chopped tomatoes , salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to the boil, add the remaining butter and keep warm over a bain marie until it is time to serve.

Time taken: 1 hour
Ingredients for 4 people:
350 g rice, 100 g sausage, 100 g chicken giblets, 100 g raw ham, 50 g grated Parmesan, 50 g butter, 2 eggs.

Boil the rice in salted water, drain, and leave to cool.Sauté the chicken giblets in 30 g of butter for about 15 minutes.After about 7 minutes, add the sausage meat (without the skin) and the diced raw ham. Mix the cooked rice with 30 g of Parmesan, an egg, a pinch of salt and the giblets.Press the mixture into an oven-proof dish, and cover with a beaten egg and a sprinkling of Parmesan.Lay small pieces of butter on the top and add a generous twist of pepper.Cook in a hot oven (about 200°C) for 20 minutes.

Time taken: 35 minutes
Ingredients for 4 people:
250 g rice, 300 g shrimps, 200 g butter, a pinch of chopped parsley, pepper, salt, nutmeg, 1 cup bechamel sauce, 1 onion,1 g paprika.

Boil the rice in plenty of salted water until it is cooked al dente. Drain quickly, mix with butter and pour into a timbale mould with a central hole, pressing it down slightly. Cook the chopped onion gently in 30 g of butter without allowing it to change colour. Add the paprika, parsley, salt and a little pepper and nutmeg.Add the bechamel sauce and mix well with 50 g of butter until the mixture has become pink.Melt the remaining 50 g of butter and add the shrimps. Cook together for a few minutes and add to the sauce. Pour the mixture into the centre of the out-turned timbale and decorate as desired.