no, it is not summer and no, I am not suggesting al fresco dining but paella is a brilliant left over meal and what has become known as 'bottom of  fridge' paella is a popular weekday supper in my house. This foolproof oven baked paella means you can use any oven proof dish (no need for special equipment) and no need to stand over bubbling rice so you have time to do one of those other 100 jobs on your list while it cooks away.

Once mastered this recipe can be dressed up for a special dinner or simply used time and time again as a weekday standby using up lots of small bits and pieces that are not enough to make anything for the whole family.

 

Paella base Serve 3-4 as main course	Oven temp 375F/190C Cooking time 20 minutes	.	What to add to your paella base to make your perfect paella
ingredients			Xmas/Sunday lunch  leftover paella – use chicken stock and add pieces of turkey (or other meat), peas, fresh sage, shredded brussel sprouts, other veg
100g chorizo sliced ½ onion, sliced 1clove garlic- grated finely 1 litre water 1 x chicken/fish stock cube 1 sachet paella spice	300g paella rice Good handful flat leaf parsley 2 handfuls frozen peas Juice and grated zest of ½ lemon		Seafood paella – use fish stock and add jumbo prawns, mussels and raw salmon at 15 minutes then pan fried scallops at the end of cooking. Add pre cooked soya beans or asparagus tips at 15 minutes
method	notes you can cook on hob and stir during cooking but this method means that you do not need a paella pan and you can use a lovely rustic dish if you like		Everyday paella – precook chicken thighs with the stock cube and water retaining the juices to use as the stock (make up to 1 litre) add thighs to paella when you put into oven at beginning. Add frozen peas at same time.
·         Fry the onion and chorizo in the pan in a little olive oil. Add the garlic, water, stock cube, paella spice & rice and bring to the boil. (add cooked chicken or meat at this point) Transfer to the oven uncovered for 20 minutes stirring at 10 minutes. At 15 minutes add seafood (mussels, prawns, raw fish) and add more liquid if needed. At 20 minutes the paella will be cooked so you can stir through the lemon juice and zest and top with any pre cooked especially delicate seafood you have chosen (scallops) to serve  bring the dish to the table topped with lots of the flat leaf parsley chopped . offer lemon quarters			Meat lovers paella – pre cook chicken thighs as above, add 100g smoked bacon with the chorizo and add Try using local sausage in place of chorizo