Paella a la Maestre 2021

SERVES 4

This is the recipe that defines me as a chef: the colour, the passion, the theatre, the intensity, the happiness. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve made it in my many years behind the stove. The recipe evolves every year, which is why I include the year in the name – like your favourite vintage wine! Maestre is my mother Florentina’s surname, and she is the one who first taught me how to make paella.

In Spain, there are more than 50 different ways to cook paella, depending on the region and the produce available. This way is my way, like the great Frank Sinatra said. After spending many years pursuing the perfect technique, I came up with this one, where I liquefy the sofrito to make a puree that defines the final flavour of the paella. It all came about at my restaurant, El Toro Loco, where I cooked paella to order. I had to come up with a way to achieve the perfect flavour balance in half the time and so, after much experimentation, the sofrito a la Maestre was born. The puree hits the pan with all the base flavours and becomes juicy and pulpy as the water from the tomato slowly evaporates. This is really the essential process when it comes to making a great-tasting paella.

The dish itself is a blank canvas, and it is the addition of our amazing Australian seafood that makes it so delicious.

When all the stock has been absorbed, please cook the paella for an extra couple of minutes to achieve the soccarrada (the famous crust on the bottom of the pan). Serve the paella with loads of garlic aioli and enjoy the authentic Maestre experience. It’s the very best of both Spain and

Australia in one dish and it is my absolute favourite. 1 tablespoon olive oil

400g (2 cups) Calasparra rice

2 litres fish or chicken stock

1 cup water, if needed salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

10 black mussels, cleaned and debearded

4 king prawns, peeled and deveined 4 baby calamari hoods, cleaned 2 bugs, halved

10 pippies

4 scallops on the shell

100g snapper fillet, skin and bones removed, cut into 2.5cm cubes 2 lemons, halved chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve

SOFRITO

150ml extra virgin olive oil

3 large, ripe oxheart tomatoes 5 jarred piquillo peppers

8 garlic cloves, peeled

½ bunch of thyme, leaves picked ½ bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked

1 bunch of chives, roughly chopped 1 teaspoon saffron threads 2½ tablespoons smoked paprika 1 To make the sofrito, place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. If you don’t have a food processor, roughly chop the tomatoes and piquillo peppers and finely chop the garlic, thyme, parsley and chives, then combine with the oil, saffron and paprika in a mixing bowl.

2 Heat the oil in a large paella pan over high heat. Add the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until it changes colour from white to transparent.

3 Stir in 12 large tablespoons (about 1 cup) of the sofrito (use any leftovers in a pasta sauce or freeze for another time) and cook for 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, add the stock and season with salt and pepper, then cook, without stirring, for 5 minutes. Add all the seafood, spreading it out evenly for an attractive presentation, and cook for about 13 minutes or until the stock has been absorbed and the rice is almost tender. Add a splash of water if it gets a bit dry. Reduce the heat to low and cook, without stirring, for a further 3 minutes to form a nice ‘soccarrada’ or crust on the bottom. If your hob plate is not as big as the pan, move the pan around a little during cooking to ensure the crust forms evenly. Remove from the heat.

4 If there is still a little liquid, cover with a tea towel and leave for 2 minutes or so. Squeeze over some lemon juice and season to taste. Garnish with parsley and serve warm, not steaming hot.