Cook until the tomatoes have reduced and combined with the onions and garlic to form a puree-like consistency. Turn off the heat.
When the Sofrito has cooled you can keep in the fridge for up to five days or freeze it in portions to use at your convenience.
Method for the Paella
Heat a little olive oil in the pan and add the chicken pieces. (If you’ve left the chicken skin on, you won’t need a lot of oil as the skin will produce quite a bit).
Cook until almost cooked through, which should take between 15 and 20 minutes. It will finish cooking in the pan later.
Remove the chicken from the pan and put to one side, on a plate covered with a lid or foil.
Add the sliced chorizo and pancetta or bacon to the same pan and fry until browned.
Next, add the onion and garlic and fry until soft.
Add the Sofrito to the pan and fry gently.
Meanwhile infuse the hot chicken stock with the saffron.
Add the smoked paprika, rice and half the infused stock to the pan and leave to cook on a medium heat. Give the rice a good stir and then leave it alone.
After 15 minutes the rice will be part-cooked. At this point, pour in the rest of the stock and add the chicken thighs back to the pan along with the peas, prawns, and the mussels and squid if you are using them. Push the prawns and the mussels well into the rice.
Cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes more, after which time the rice should be al dente, the chicken thighs cooked through, the prawns perfectly pink and the mussels open. NOTE: If you are using mussels, please discard any that remain closed at the end of the cooking time.
When the paella has finished its cooking time, remove the pan from the heat, cover with a lid (or foil or a clean tea towel) and leave to rest for five minutes.
Then decorate with chopped parsley and lemon wedges and serve from the cooking pan.
NOTE: If you don't like shellfish, you can replace it with pork, white fish, extra chicken, sausage, rabbit or whatever you like.
Note from Sherri
Hi, and thanks for getting this far in Pumpkins, Peril and a Paella, the fourth of my Cozy Mystery novellas to feature Charlotte Denver and the rest of the St. Eves’ gang.
If you have just discovered the series and this is the first book you’ve read, I hope you haven’t found that you’ve missed out on too much back information by not reading the other books in the series first.
If you haven’t yet read the other books but would like to, may I suggest that, for the benefit of continuity, you start with Tapas, Carrot Cake and a Corpse followed by Fudge Cake, Felony and a Funeral and finally Spare Ribs, Secrets and a Scandal. I should point out that book one is free to download from Amazon.
You may, of course, read the books in any order you wish, but if you’d like to read them in the order they were written, then Tapas, Carrot Cake and a Corpse is where to get started.
As with the other books in the series, I should mention that although this book has been proofread and edited numerous times, there may still be the odd mistake within its pages. If you should come across one, I’d be grateful if you could let me know so I can put it right.
You can contact me by email at [email protected], on Twitter @sbryanauthor or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sherribryanauthor.
Even if you’d just like to drop me a line to introduce yourself and say hello, I’d love to hear from you.
Anyway …. if you’d like to receive news about forthcoming books, along with details of free downloads from time to time, please visit my website at http://sherribryan.com, where you can also sign up to my readers’ list. Please don’t worry, I respect your privacy and I promise I won’t bombard your inbox with messages, nor will I ever share your name or email address with anyone! (Incidentally, if you would like to, you can now also sign up to my readers list directly from my Facebook page by clicking on the ‘Sign Up’ button).
Thanks again for taking an interest in my book - I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the Charlotte Denver Cozy Mystery series.
Wishing you warm regards,
Sherri Bryan
About Sherri Bryan
Sherri read her first Cozy Mystery in 2014, and her love of the genre began that day.
Since then, she’s read many more, finding new authors to add to her list of favourites along the way, and enjoying the different approach and style that each author brings to their own Cozy Mystery stories.
Apart from writing, Sherri’s main interests include her rescue dog, cooking, reading, watching crime dramas and dreaming up new Cozy Mystery plots.
She is currently working on book five in the Charlotte Denver series.
Acknowledgements
A huge thank you to everyone who has followed Charlotte Denver from the beginning and without whom, there wouldn’t be a book two, three or four.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, and publisher, of this piece of work, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters (apart from one), businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination, or are used in an entirely fictitious manner.
Whilst I have tried to be accurate throughout, for dramatic purposes, my imagination may have called for actual facts and procedures to be slightly ‘skewed’ from time to time, and I hope this will not detract from your enjoyment of the story.
Any other resemblance to organizations, actual events or actual persons (apart from one), living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Published by Sherri Bryan - Copyright ©2015
Pumpkins, Peril and a Paella (A Charlotte Denver Cozy Mystery Book 4) Page 17
