Almost Instant Paella Recipe

Real paella is one of my
favorite meals. Particularly when
someone else is cooking it. It's a
Spanish dish of rice, saffron, some veggies and a combination of whatever
seafood and meat you have around. There's a specially-designed paella pan that looks like a big skillet
with handles on both sides, but really you can just make it in a skillet. The authentic dish can be time consuming
because there are many ingredients, and they each need some prep work, even
though in the end they all cook together. I've experimented with simple homemade versions that speed up the
process, but let me tell you there is nothing as fast as buying a box of Paella
mix and making it your own. Find a
quality brand, meaning nothing that claims to have the seafood right in the
box. I'm pretty sure you do not want to
eat "seafood" that can sit on a shelf at room temperature, right? A respectable kit simply has the rice, some
dried veggies and saffron. You add
whatever seafood, meat and fresh veggies you want. You can even just add one meaty ingredient or
skip that part entirely. I love options,
particularly when it's my job to cook. 

Instant Paella Recipe

• 1 box paella mix
• 1 pound shrimp
• Salt
• 1/2 lemon
• 3 spring onions
• 1 red pepper
• 3 spicy sausages
• Splash wine

Cook paella mix according to instructions. Meanwhile, clean and peel shrimp, chop onions
and peppers, remove casing from sausage and slice. Put peeled shrimp in a bowl and season with a
bit of salt and lemon juice. Cook
onions, sausage and peppers in skillet. Add a splash of wine and toss in shrimp. Cook until shrimp turns orange, about three minutes. When Paella mixture is finished cooking,
stir in sausage and shrimp mixture and stir to combine. Serve this one-dish meal hot.