I've never made Paella before ...

... in fact, I've never even eaten Paella before!  But I've always rather fancied it and, understanding a little about Mediterranean flavours, thought I could put a reasonable variation of it together.  Hubby and I had been shopping yesterday afternoon (late-ish) and had picked up some great fish counter bargains: mackerel fillets, salmon trimmings, scallops and mixed fish (for hubby's glorious fish pasta dish) all went in the freezer and we were left with some squid and a few langoustine.  We had decided whilst still in the supermarket that we would give it a go, so had also bought some chorizo and spicy cooked chicken breast.

It wasn't a classic Paella, nor was it even an authentic variation ... but it was my Paella and it was totally delicious!

So this is how I achieved the above result.  First, I fried some chopped onion, chorizo and crushed garlic in oil, then added some long-grain rice and stirred it about for a few minutes, throwing in the raw langoustine at this stage as well, so that they started to cook.  I then added plenty of paprika and black pepper, some chicken stock, a tin of chopped tomatoes with herbs and a good glug of white wine, all of which I brought to the boil (whilst stirring) then lowered the heat and put the lid on the pan.

Hubby had been hard-boiling two eggs in the meantime, which I now plunged into cold water, shelled and quartered lengthwise.  He was also preparing the squid (cutting it into "goujon" shapes, sprinkling with lemon juice and dusting with seasoned flour) and when the rice was almost cooked, he started to shallow fry it separately.  I popped a few frozen peas into the Paella at this stage, followed by the chopped chicken breast and a few leftover olives, and gave it all another good stir.  When the rice was tender and the chicken re-heated, the squid was thrown in and the eggs arranged on top, sprinkled with a little more paprika.  (We didn't have any fresh parsley, but that would have looked and tasted good as well.)

It's worth noting that although there seems to be a lot of (protein) ingredients here, there wasn't a large amount of anything - half a pack each of chorizo and spicy chicken, a small-ish pack of squid, 4 langoustine and 2 eggs.

Anyway, it was quite a "special" sort of meal without being overly rich or heavy ... definitely one to do again!