dinner date - paella

I hosted a dinner party last weekend, and when trying to think of an appropriate dish to make, my friend Debbie suggested paella. I don't recall having ever made it before, but it always seems like quite a fun meal. I did a bit of a google search and came up with this, Jamie Oliver recipe.

Chicken, prawns, bacon, chorizo, this paella has it all! It had a great smokey flavour from the paprika. I haven't really cooked with saffron before, but bought some Equagold saffron extract to use in this dish. I'm not sure it added anything (or there may have just been so many other flavours I didn't notice). A tip mum taught me, is to always buy frozen (or fresh) prawns uncooked i.e. grey rather than pink. Some cooked prawns were mistakenly bought in my household for another dish a few weeks ago and we will never do that again - they were very tough and chewy.

I'd certainly make this dish again, and it's great to make when cooking for guests, as you can do lots of the prep beforehand. Plus, it's relatively low maintenance, as it doesn't involve lots of dishes, and you can just plonk the pan onto the table to serve. Delicious!