Piquillos stuffed with calamari paella

Name: Piquillos stuffed with calamari paella
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 8*
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: 100ml olive oil; 2 brown onions, diced; 2 bay leaves; 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 200g diced calamari; 7 tomatoes, diced; 1 cup rice (bomba or calaspara are best); salt to taste; 600ml fish stock, heated (check gluten-free if required); 1 lemon, cut in four wedges; 1 tbsp parsley, roughly chopped; 8 piquillo peppers; 200ml alioli (garlic mayonnaise); 

Frank Camorra

March 8, 2016

Piquillo peppers stuffed with calamari paella.Marcel Aucar

Time:1-2 hoursMakes:8*

Leftover paella tastes great the next day stuffed into peppers with garlic mayonnaise. The rice dish is easy to make as a meal in itself – just remember to put some aside for later. Whatever ingredients you choose, stuffed peppers make an excellent snack with beers when friends come over. When buying jars of peppers, look for "made in Spain" brands as they tend to be better quality.

Ingredients

100ml olive oil
2 brown onions, diced
2 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
200g diced calamari
7 tomatoes, diced
1 cup rice (bomba or calaspara are best)
salt to taste
600ml fish stock, heated (check gluten-free if required)
1 lemon, cut in four wedges
1 tbsp parsley, roughly chopped
8 piquillo peppers
200ml alioli (garlic mayonnaise)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a 35-centimetre paella pan and fry onions, bay leaves and garlic until onion is translucent.
2. Add calamari, fry until completely soft then add the tomatoes. Cook for 30 minutes on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, or until the sauce reaches a rich, jam-like consistency.
3. Add the rice, stir to coat it in the tomato sauce and season with salt.
4. Add fish stock, bring to the boil then simmer gently for 25 minutes, moving the pan over the flame to make sure the whole base gets some heat. Do not stir the rice.
5. After 25 minutes, turn the heat up to high for one minute to form a crust on the bottom of the pan. Take the pan off the heat, cover with a tea towel and rest for five minutes.
To serve, top with four lemon wedges and parsley and put the pan on the table.
*This makes a fantastic dinner for two with enough leftover paella to fill the peppers. To double the number of stuffed peppers, let the paella cool and use it all for stuffing. Spoon paella, including some of the crust from the bottom of the pan, into each pepper, spoon the alioli onto a serving plate, place the peppers on top and sprinkle with chopped parsley and a little sea salt.
Tip: Add other seafood to the paella, such as prawns or chunks of white fish, 10 minutes before you take the pan off the heat.