PAELLA-STYLE RICE

I hesitate to call this recipe 'paella' after Jamie Oliver got so much stick about the paella recipe that he tweeted recently (a lot of which seemed to concern his inclusion of chorizo). However, since 'rice with whatever' isn't a particularly catchy recipe title, I hope that calling it 'paella-style rice' will be acceptable to any Spanish readers. I've been lucky enough to visit Spain a few times (I've even eaten paella there!) but I shan't pretend that I know much about traditional paella. I've flagrantly disregarded most of the few rules that I do know about paella-making (i.e. that you should use Spanish rice; that, unlike risotto, you mustn't stir the rice while it's cooking; and that paella shouldn't contain chorizo) so I won't make any claims on the authenticity of this recipe. If anything, I'd say it's a British take on paella. Which is fine by me as it's pretty tasty, if I do say so myself!

While I'm being honest, I'll admit that this isn't a meal I'd give my kids at the moment. I hope it will be something they'll eat when they're a bit older, but they're currently going through a no-mixed-foods phase and my 5-year-old doesn't even like the different foods touching each other on the plate!

Tips

• I've used turmeric in place of the more traditional saffron simply because of the price. If you prefer to use saffron, soak the strands in a little of the stock and add along with the stock and passata.
• This dish can be reheated successfully the following day but do make sure that you cool down the leftovers as quickly as possible and promptly transfer them to the fridge, then reheat until piping hot all the way through. 

Paella-style rice

Serves 2 adults

½ tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
70g diced chorizo
175g chicken breast, cut into chunks
100g basmati rice
½ tbsp ground turmeric
½ tbsp smoked paprika
½ red pepper, deseeded and diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
200g passata
200ml chicken stock
150g cooked king prawns, defrosted if necessary
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
120g frozen peas
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a low-medium heat and cook the onions gently for 5 minutes. Add the chorizo and cook for a further 2 minutes, then add the chicken, increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes, until sealed all over.

Add the rice, turmeric and paprika and stir until all the ingredients are coated in the spices. Stir in the red pepper, garlic, passata and stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 12 minutes, without lifting the lid.

Remove the lid and stir in the prawns, parsley, peas and chilli. Continue to cook over a low heat for 3-4 minutes, or until the prawns and peas are piping hot.

CHICKEN & CHORIZO QUESADILLAS

This past weekend I seem to have come over all Mexican, what with fajitas (recipe to follow another time) for dinner on Friday, chilli con carne (recipe here) on Saturday and quesadillas for lunch on Sunday. It wasn't planned – it just happened like that!

Quesadillas make a really tasty a weekend lunch. The great thing is that you can vary the fillings to suit each person – for example, my husband doesn't like the spring onion so I'll leave it out of his tortilla, and the kids don't like the spring onion or red pepper but will have extra sweetcorn instead. The recipe below is for my favourite version but feel free to swap and change the filling ingredients to suit your own tastes (chopped fresh chillies and coriander make nice additions). The only thing I would say is that some kind of cheese is pretty essential as it 'glues' the two halves of tortilla together.

I guess I make my quesadillas in a fairly unconventional way because they're usually made by sandwiching the filling between two tortillas, whereas I fold each tortilla in half. I like my method because I find it easier to flip the individual tortillas, plus I think they hold together better when you're eating them too.

Everyone in my family likes to have something to dip their quesadilla into so I'll serve natural yogurt (which is lower in fat than soured cream) and occasionally some guacamole alongside. PLEASE NOTE that however many quesadillas you think you need, I'd highly recommend adding one more. We usually manage to get through five between the four of us – and that's bearing in mind that the toddler only has half of one!

Chicken & chorizo quesadillas

Makes 2
2 flour tortillas
80g ready-grated Cheddar and mozzarella (sometimes called 'pizza cheese')
40g red pepper, diced
2 spring onions, chopped
30g frozen sweetcorn, thawed
30g diced chorizo
40g cooked chicken breast, shredded
vegetable oil, for brushing
natural yogurt, to serve

Place the first tortilla on a flat surface (such as a chopping board or the worktop). Sprinkle 20g of the cheese over one semi-circular half of the tortilla, leaving a small gap around the edge. Scatter half of the red pepper, spring onion, sweetcorn, chorizo and chicken over the cheese-topped side of the tortilla, then top with another 20g of the cheese. Fold the tortilla in half to cover the filling. Repeat with the second tortilla and the remaining filling ingredients.

Brush a frying pan large enough to hold both tortillas (I use a 24-cm saut̵é pan) with oil and place over a medium–high heat. Once hot, place the tortillas into the pan with both folded edges in the centre. Cook for 3–4 minutes, or until golden brown underneath. Carefully turn each tortilla using a fish slice and cook on the other side for a further 2–3 minutes.

Transfer the quesadillas to a chopping board and cut into wedges (I find it easiest to use a pizza wheel to do this). Serve with natural yogurt for dipping.