When you are learning a language at the Modern Language School, you find out more and more about the country’s culture and traditions. A delicious way of discovering these is to sample the savours of the country and even have a go 
at cooking some specialities yourself. At the Modern Language School, we have been running some pleasurable cookery events of which the Italian evenings seem the most popular – there is an Italian cookery event planned for Friday the 7th of October – but just don’t wait for our special dates and try your hand at our selection of recipes from Japan, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal and France.
Easy Paella
There is a common misconception that making this traditional Spanish dish has to be difficult and time consuming. But with this easy recipe you can bring the taste of Spain to your family teas or dinner parties in a cool 30 minutes. Paella is a dish with a long history, with its name deriving from the Latin word for ‘pan’, and has been the trademark dish of Spain for many centuries. Spanish variations of the recipe can contain chicken and rabbit, however in this version we will be using seafood and chorizo.
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 leek or onion, sliced
110g pack chorizo sausage, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
300g long grain rice
1l hot fish or chicken stock
200g frozen pea
400g frozen seafood mix, defrosted
Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 25 mins
Method
- Heat the oil in a deep frying pan, then soften the leek for 5 mins without browning. Add the chorizo and fry until it releases its oils. Stir in the turmeric and rice until coated by the oils, then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 mins, and stir occasionally.
- Pour in the peas and cook for 5 mins, then stir in the seafood to heat through for a final 1-2 mins cooking or until rice is cooked.
- Taste for seasoning and serve immediately with lemon wedges. It really is that easy!
