To easily make this paella with an authentic flavour use a good quality, spicy Spanish chorizo sausage; maybe an imported brand. As for the mussels, New Zealand grown green-lipped mussels are perfect here, and I’ve allowed 4-5 mussels per person, but add a few more if your pan is wide enough to hold them.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 3-4 large cloves garlic, peeled and mashed to a paste with a little salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 150 grams spicy chorizo, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
• 1 1/2 cups short grain rice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 400 gram can diced or crushed tomatoes
• 3 cups fish stock
• 16-20 green-lipped mussels, in their shells, cleaned
• 50 grams butter, diced or 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
2. In a 28-30cm, paella or a large, shallow oven-proof frying pan, cook the onion and garlic in the oil over a moderate heat for 8-10 minutes until softened.
3. Add the chorizo and saffron threads and continue to cook over a moderate heat until the oil runs from the chorizo.
4. Stir in the rice and salt and coat in the fragrant onion mixture, cooking for a further minute.
5. Lower the heat and stir in the tomatoes and fish stock and continue to stir until the mixture comes to the boil. Lower the heat, even out the rice in the pan and simmer, without stirring, for 5 minutes. The mixture should not boil but simmer.
6. Nestle the mussels on their sides into the rice. Transfer the paella to the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Cover with foil and turn off the oven, leaving the paella in the oven for a further 10 minutes to allow the rice to gently finish cooking. The paella should be moist without being creamy like a risotto. Dot over the butter, and garnish with flat leaf parsley and olives if wished.