25 October 2018

Welcome back to Knidos Cookery Club, this time round we’re drawing on our summer trip to Spain to bring you a paella (Warning: any Valencians reading this, please stop now!) that’s packed with pumpkin and other seasonal vegetables such as celery and leeks.

With Halloween just around the corner, you might be looking for a dish that uses up some of the leftovers from carving out your Jack O’ Lantern – this rice combo should help shift some of the backlog.

Paella originates from Valencia in Spain, where it is taken very seriously. The name derives from the Old French word paelle for pan, which in turn is from the Latin word patella, which also means pan. The contemporary name refers to the shallow metal dish in which paella is prepared.

In essence, paella is a combination of whatever is to hand rather than a fixed, unchanging blend of ingredients. While visiting Dénia, which is part of the Community of Valencia, we had a great green paella made with artichokes one other green vegetables.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 25ml olive oil
• 150g short grain rice
• 300g leek
• 50g celery
• 300g pumpkin
• 100g tomatoes
• 75g chickpeas
• 600ml vegetable stock
• One teaspoon each of cumin/chilli powder/turmeric

Method

• heat oil in a frying pan (or paella pan if you have one)
• add chopped leek and celery and sauté until soft
• add spices and stir
• add pumpkin cubes and cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally
• add vegetable stock
• bring to a boil, then simmer to make a broth and allow it to reduce by half
• add rice and simmer until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked (around 20-30 minutes)