Alicante paella

Directions

• Step 1 Stir fry the thinly sliced onions. Remove the chorizo skin and slice it. Cut the ham heel into dice. Peel and crush the garlic cloves. Cut the squid in chunks. Store these ingredients in the refrigerator. Remove the peppers’ skin and thinly slice them, then set aside. Put a dent in the tomato skins, dip them in boiling water for about 5 minutes to ease the removal of their skin. Peel and cut them into quarters and remove the seeds. All these steps can be done ahead of time. Clean and cook the mussels in a pot until they all open. Extract the meat and save the mussels’ broth. Boil 2 litres of water with the Maggi cubes broth, and set aside.
• Step 2 COOKING THE PAELLA: stir-fry the onions in the paella pan with a dash of olive oil for about 2 minutes, keep them on one side of the pan. Stir fry the tomatoes with the laurel leaves and the thyme, and set them on one side of the pan as well. Add the peppers to stir fry, and gently stir all the ingredients together. Add the rice, stir, and keep stirring with the mussels’ broth as well. From that time on, it should take about 20 more minutes for the dish to be ready. Keep adding the hot broth along with the saffron. Stir. Add the chorizo, the smoked bacon, the garlic and the ham chunks in the preparation. Stir and add the squid chunks. Taste and modify the seasoning as you wish. Lower the heat. When the whole preparation starts boiling again, gently stir it all. Taste, and if the rice seems almost ready to you, add the mussels and the thoroughly cleaned shells which should be sand-free. Stir well and place the cooked scampi and shrimps on top of the paella. To be sure the rice is cooked, don’t hesitate to taste it once in a while towards the end and make sure the paella doesn’t burn at the bottom of the pan. It should be ready to be served by now! Serve with lemon too.