Ridiculously Easy Paella

Each month, Good Food legend Orlando Murrin shares a quick-fix recipe that delivers impressive results

photographs TOM REGESTER

Paella is easier to make than risotto – for one thing, no need for all that stirring – and much more satisfying on a winter’s evening. I have no hesitation in presenting a version that is so straightforward and foolproof that you could pretty much make it in your siesta: the whole operation is done in the oven, in one baking dish.

This is an extremely flexible dish, and it’s easy to adapt according to what you have in the fridge, and the family’s preferences. You can scale it up or down (timings remain the same), and dial up or down the luxury (by which I mean the saffron and prawns). Serve it piping hot from the baking dish, just as it is, or with crusty bread and a salad.

That being said, two things matter: you need to use paella rice – no other will do – and don’t skimp on the chorizo. Paella is best eaten straight away, hot from the oven – reheating is inclined to make it stodgy.

Paella in the oven

SERVES 4 easily halved or doubled PREP 20 mins COOK 45 mins EASY

400g can chopped tomatoes

600ml chicken stock

1 tsp smoked paprika

good pinch of saffron

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed or finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

300g paella rice

4 chicken thighs (skin on or boneless), cut in half

200g chorizo, sliced

150g raw king prawns, leave the shell on a few if you prefer

good handful of frozen peas

1 lemon, quartered (optional)

1 Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 8. Put the chopped tomatoes (including their juice), stock, paprika and saffron in a large heatproof jug or bowl and microwave for about 5 mins on high until steaming hot.

2 Tip the onion and garlic into a generous roasting tin or ovenproof dish, drizzle over the oil and mix to coat. Cook in the oven for 20 mins until beginning to brown.

3 Stir in the rice, chicken, chorizo and hot stock mixture, season well and return to the oven for 20 mins (don’t cover).

4 Stir in the peeled prawns and peas, dot any shell-on prawns on top, and return to the oven for 5-10 mins until the rice, chicken and prawns are cooked through. If serving with lemon, a nice touch is to pop the lemon slices on top of the paella for the last 5 mins of cooking, to make them hot and juicy. Check the seasoning and serve at once.

GOOD TO KNOW fibre PER SERVING energy 642 kcals • fat 25g • saturates 10g • carbs 68g • sugars 4g • fibre 6g • protein 34g • salt 2.8g

Where did this recipe come from? This might not be what someone from Spain would call paella, but then the Spanish themselves say that there are as many ways to make paella as there are cooks in Spain. Some swear it is a fish dish, others that it must contain rabbit, chicken, or snails. According to who you ask, it should be cooked by a man, or over a fire – or eaten under a fig tree.