I absolutely love the idea of paella, but unfortunately until recently I didn’t eat seafood, so I had to come up with a recipe for it which didn’t include the classic prawns or mussels! You can of course add them in, and I may well do that myself the next time I make it, but for now here’s my fish-free version.

Ingredients – serves 4

• 300g paella rice (just use risotto rice if you’ve got that, it works fine)
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 600ml vegetable or chicken stock
• 2 chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
• 90g chorizo sausage, cut into small chunks
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1tsp paprika
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1/2tsp saffron strands

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok and fry the chorizo until lightly cooked through, then add the chicken. Fry until the chicken is lightly browned, then remove the meat from the pan, taking care to leave the chorizo oil in the pan.
2. Add the chopped onion, garlic, and pepper and fry until lightly softened.
3. While the vegetables are cooking, make the stock and add the saffron strands to it.
4. When the vegetables are softened, add the rice to the pan and give it a quick stir to combine everything, then pour some of the stock over the top.
5. When the stock has evaporated and been absorbed into the rice, add some more, and keep stirring and adding stock until the rice is cooked through. This might not require all the stock detailed in the ingredients, paella rice can be a tad temperamental – it’s always wise to continue trying the food while you’re cooking it.
6. Add the meat back into the pan and stir to combine into the vegetable and rice mixture.
7. Serve with lemon wedges, and enjoy!