Paella 2.0

I've made paella before, many many times, but only once did I write it down and post it here. In the same post I arrogantly belittled Lorraine Pascale's recipe for paella, and somehow supposed that my recipe was any better? A few days later, in the same haste that I posted the recipe, I deleted it because I simply knew in my heart it was rubbish. Risotto-esque and gluey in texture, with a weak flavour and ugly demeanour. In fact, I had lost all confidence in the recipe when I added the blurry photo to the post. Utter rubbish; but this self-criticism doesn't mean the objective of this post is to outdo myself, nor is it an attempt to change the view of paella, in or outside of Spain (I mean, hell, how would I manage that?!) This is just what I think:
Paella is a famed Spanish dish of saffron-dyed rice, chicken (or in many parts of Spain rabbit or snail) and seafood. Sounds very simple, but somehow any recipe posted by someone outside of Spain becomes the subject of enormous controversy, with many complaining that the recipe should be banned because of its dissimilarity to the original. Since when was cooking that black and white? Possibly because Spanish food seems to be constantly overshadowed by Italian or Mexican, frankly, many chefs in Spain are precious about their famed rice dish. In my humble opinion, you can't really call any one paella recipe correct given that its origins come from all over Spain, and many different parts have created many different recipes of it. However, there are some underlying rules that I (in the most part) have tried to follow.
Pascale's recipe, which I derided (although not as heavily as some paella-preserving-keyboard-warriors) seemed to observe none of these rules, but it looked stunning and you know it would taste divine. Is paella therefore something that has to be 100% authentic? I don't know, my recipe respects tradition but both circumstance and personal taste resulted in a little unruliness.
A few tips from me and 'The Paella Company' I used to try and make my paella genuine:

• Unless you have some rabbit or snails on hand to replace it, omit the chicken. It adds too much faff to the whole procedure and along with the strong flavours of seafood and saffron, you don't need it.
• Purchase the right rice- it's simply called paella rice and that's how you'll find it in most supermarkets, but if you're lucky and budget isn't such a problem, you can buy the brand 'Bomba'. It's Spain's favourite and can absorb three times its volume of stock. Arborio and sushi rice are similar, so you can use them instead. 
• Don't be tempted to recreate the gorgeous colour of paella with turmeric or just paprika, it's a bite out of the wallet but saffron is essential for flavour.
• It might be worth buying a good paella pan for this- it distributes the heat the best throughout the dish and is beautiful in itself. And also, it is just a wide, deep metal frying pan and can be used for as many things as the description suggests. The pan can be a big attractive frying pan to cook a killer brunch and I'm sure you can think of any number of other uses. If not, use a good, thick enamel cast iron pan- the kind Le Creuset or (luckily) Sainsbury's sell.
• A paella pan cooks things at an intense heat, so go gentle on the flame.
• You may find that you need to move the pan around the flame so all the rice is cooked evenly. 
• Once rice is added to the stock, you may not stir. This is because paella rice is similar to risotto rice (arborio) and when it's stirred it releases starch and goes creamy, incorrect for paella. Like caramel, you may gently swirl the pan to distribute rice but you are forbidden to stir.
• Don't cook seafood with the rice, cook it separately then adorn the surface with the fish before you serve.
• You can use white wine in this, which is more authentic, but I don't like white wine, so I go for a rich cream or Amontadillo sherry. 
• This is fabulous for when you have people over, but I think this is perfectly doable for everyday, too.
• This is my own personal gripe about pronunciation, but in the Spanish language a double 'l' is pronounced with a 'y', so pronounce this dish 'pie-eh-ya' not 'pie-ella'.

1)Finely slice 100g chorizo (please don't shudder) and then fry over medium-high heat in a paella pan until crispy, and lots of its paprika tinted oil has been left behind. Transfer this to a plate.

2)You're now going to prepare a concentrated tomato base called 'Sofrito'. Finely slice an onion and fry until soft gently in the chorizo oil. Add 1 can of chopped tomatoes and 4 cloves crushed garlic (best to add it here so it can't burn). Fry viciously until it reduces and you're left with a thick, intensely red paste. 

3)Add 1 litre chicken or fish stock, 1 small glass cream sherry, salt and pepper to taste and a good pinch or two of saffron soaked in 2 tbsp hot water, and obviously stir in the chorizo that's been waiting patiently on its plate, 100g each frozen green beans or peas and broad beans and 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika. Bring to the boil.

4)Sprinkle over 250g paella rice evenly, shake the pan very gently until the rice is dispersed evenly. 

5)Leave over a fairly low heat for about 10 minutes covered with either foil or a big baking sheet or, indeed, a lid, until the rice has absorbed nearly all of the liquid. If the rice is still floating in lots of liquid then just leave it on the heat until it absorbs the excess.

6)Switch off the heat, and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes. 

7)Cook some defrosted frozen baby squid, cut into ringlets and also keep its tentacles and frozen king prawns until fully cooked with 3 sliced spring onions and a deseeded red chilli in a little olive oil until everything is just cooked. I used Californian baby squid which was wonderful, apart from excreting a strange pink semen after it was fully cooked. Set aside whilst you prepare the pièce de résistance. 

8)I didn't quite get this right admittedly, but here's what The Paella Company tells you to do. To create the caramelised, sticky rice at the bottom of the pan, called 'Socorrat', turn up the heat to full under the rice and it should make a 'popping' sound. After just 30 seconds or so, switch off the heat.

9)To serve, sprinkle with chopped parsley and wedged lemons. Don't serve piping hot, if it's still very hot after resting, leave to come to slightly cooler but still warm.