- 1 tbsp Spanish seasoning
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 1 onion
- 1 pointed red pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 1 courgette
- 250g cherry tomatoes
- 250g French beans
- A handful of flat leaf parsley
- 80g kalamata olives
- 1 lemon
- 200g risotto rice
- 500ml hot water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1.
Fill and boil your kettle. Tip 1 tbsp Spanish seasoning into a heatproof jug and crumble in the stock cube. Stir in 500ml hot water from the kettle to dissolve the stock cube. Set aside.
- 2.
Peel and finely chop the onion. Halve the peppers, scoop out the seeds and white pith, and chop them to match the onion. Trim and chop the courgette to match.
- 3.
Warm a deep frying pan on a medium heat, then add the veg and 1 tbsp olive oil. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook gently for 5-6 mins, stirring once or twice, till the veg start to soften.
- 4.
While the veg fry, halve the tomatoes. Top and tail the French beans. Slice them into 2-3cm-long pieces. Finely chop the parsley stalks and set the leaves aside for later.
- 5.
Stir the tomatoes, French beans and parsley stalks into the pan. Scatter in the olives. Cook and stir for 2 mins.
- 6.
Stir in the rice and pour in the stock. Pop a lid on the pan (or use a baking tray if you don’t have a lid) and bring to the boil, then turn the heat right down and gently cook for 20-25 mins till the rice is tender. Stir now and then to stop the rice sticking. Add an extra splash of water, if you think the rice is getting too dry too quickly, and turn the heat down.
- 7.
When the paella is cooked through, grate the zest of the lemon into the pan and squeeze in half of the juice. Taste the paella and add a pinch more salt or pepper, if you think it needs it. Divide it between two warm bowls or plates and serve garnished with the parsley leaves, and with wedges of the remaining lemon on the side for squeezing.
- Tip
Perfect Seasoning:
How much salt and pepper you use in your cooking is entirely up to you. If you’re adding salt or pepper, it helps to add a little at every stage of cooking, rather than seasoning at the end. Using a little as you cook means you typically add less salt and pepper than you would if you added it all at the end. When you do add extra salt and pepper at the end, stir it in and let the sauce sit for at least 30 secs before tasting again – this gives the seasoning time to mingle with the other flavours. - Tip
Lemon Not Yellow?
You might think that a green lemon isn’t ready to leave the fruit bowl, but the difference is only skin deep. Lemons turn yellow when the nights are cool, but our Spanish crop is still enjoying the warmth of hot summer nights. So, instead of sourcing our citrus from further afield or using artificial chemicals, we thought we’d embrace this greener way of doing things.