I am sitting here with the wind blowing and the sky overcast, feeling a little bit sad. My Boxer had been sick for two weeks and as I typed this, they did not know what was wrong with her. In July of 2002 I went to choose a puppy at the breeder’s house. They had originally lived kitty corner to us and this was their second litter – both times only 3 of the 4 pups had survived and out of the three, Maxine would not leave me alone. She sat on my lap and kissed and kissed me. In March 2004 she jumped at a glass window to ‘save’ me and she was the one who ended up being saved. She had cut her front paw badly, and her back paw severely and had we not been home, she would have bled out. Serendipity played a hand that day and the vet was still open. They saved her life and her limb and to this day I owe a lot of thanks to Bruce, Brenda and Megan. At the end of May she became ill and she was listless and not happy. We knew that soon, if they did not discover what was wrong with her we would have to put her to sleep. On the Sunday, after we had enjoyed this beautiful paella dish, she climbed onto my lap and slept like a puppy. Something she had not done since she was 10 weeks old! Maxine’s decline was blessedly quick. She had a heart tumour and the vets made sure we knew what was wrong with her before we put her down. Paella was the dish I prepared for Eat For The Earth – something decadent that would encourage my guests to donate well – and well they did. Thank you Chantelle, Ewan and Taylor for your generosity and company.

PAELLA

ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

400g chicken fillets

salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

250g mushrooms, sliced

1 yellow pepper, sliced

1 orange pepper, sliced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 cup paella rice

1 cup water

few strands of saffron

1 cup white wine

300g mixed seafood – I used mussels, calamari and prawns

85g tinned smoked oysters

400g tinned cherry tomatoes

1 cup frozen peas

500g prawns, head on and cleaned

1 tablespoon butter

1 red pepper, sliced

20 olives, depipped

50g chorizo, sliced

method:

heat the oil in a paella pan (or any suitable large bottomed pan with a lid)

season and brown the chicken

remove from the pan and set aside

lightly fry the mushrooms, yellow and orange pepper and the garlic

remove from the pan and set aside

add the paella rice, the water and the saffron to the pan

while you wait for the water to boil, slice the chicken into bite sized pieces

when the water has all but boiled away add the wine, the chicken, the cooked vegetables, the seafood, oysters and tomatoes

adjust the seasoning and cover and cook over a low heat for one hour

add the peas and continue cooking over a medium heat while you cook the prawns in the butter

season the prawns and check the paella seasoning

garnish the paella with the prawns, red pepper, olives and chorizo

Printable Version

Tandy

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