A celebration of all things seafood, this colourful rice dish calls for plenty of paprika, garlic, mussels, king prawns and oregano
Ingredients
- onion 1, finely chopped
- celery 2 sticks, finely chopped
- olive oil 2 tbsp
- garlic 6 large cloves, bashed but left whole
- bay leaves 2
- paprika (not smoked) 1 tbsp
- dried chilli flakes ½ tsp
- tomatoes 4, cored and roughly chopped
- chopped tomatoes 400g tin
- caster or granulated sugar 1 tsp
- risotto rice 100g
- mussels 750g, cleaned
- large raw peeled king prawns 200g, defrosted if frozen
- oregano half a small bunch, chopped
- flat-leaf parsley half a small bunch, roughly chopped, including stalks
- butter 25g, diced
Method
- STEP 1 Cook the onion and celery in the oil in a casserole over a medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and bay leaves, and cook until the garlic is translucent. Stir in the paprika, chilli flakes, fresh tomatoes and a generous amount of seasoning. Add the tinned tomatoes and sugar with 1.5 litres of cold water, then stir and cover with a lid. After the liquid begins to simmer, reduce to a medium heat and allow to gently simmer for 45 minutes.
- STEP 2 Next add the rice, stir once and leave to cook for 15 minutes with the lid on. Adjust the seasoning, then add the mussels, stir well and cover with a lid again. Cook for 10 minutes or until all of the mussels have opened (discard any that haven’t). Adjust the liquid volume by adding a little more just boiled water if it seems a little dry, then add the prawns. Cook for 2 minutes with a lid on and then stir in the chopped oregano, parsley and butter, and serve in shallow bowls.
