Turkey Paella

I love turkey, it is a lovely meat to cook with as well as being healthy. After Christmas I am always looking for ways to use up left over turkey. We usually have lots of turkey salads and turkey sandwiches, there is nothing nicer than a turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing sandwich. In this colder weather it is nice to have some hot meals from the leftovers as well. I thought turkey paella would work really well so I set about making some.

I think I was influenced by the fact that I had visited Newcastle Continental Market at the weekend and seen paella being cooked in large pans steaming and bubbling away. I love these markets, there is always a great variety of food from around the world being cooked as well as produce to take home. There is always something to spend your money on.

There are many different versions of paella, some use seafood, some use chicken but all of them use rice. The rice needs to be a short grain or risotto variety, so that it will absorb the liquid but won’t dry out. Ideally you need a pan with a thin base that is non-stick and my ecocook pan was perfect for the job. It’s white ceramic coating meant that nothing stuck to it and it also cooked the paella well with it’s improved thermal conductivity. The rice simmered away absorbing the liquid without me having to stir.

When I added the other ingredients to the pan the paella started to come together, looking more traditional and tasty. As well as the turkey I used chorizo sausage, peas, red peppers, onion, garlic and cherry tomatoes to add depth and flavour to the paella.

The resulting dish was tasty and filling, a perfect dish for a cold day and a great way of using up leftover turkey. It is quite quick to make, taking around 40 minutes so is perfect for a mid week meal. The added paprika makes it more flavourful and you can dream of the warmth Mediterranean in the comfort of your own home.

Turkey Paella Recipe

Turkey Paella

Alison

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Ingredients

  

• 110 g chorizo sausage
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 500 g turkey
• red pepper
• peas
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 1 litre chicken stock
• butter
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 225 g risotto or shortgrain rice

Instructions

 

• Peel and chop the onion and garlic.
• Remove the seeds from the pepper and chop into pieces.
• Chop the chorizo into pieces.
• Add some butter to the pan and gently fry the chorizo until the oil is released.
• Add the onion and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes.
• Add the paprika and chopped up turkey, cook until browned and then remove from pan and set aside.
• Add a knob of butter into the pan and melt
• Add the rice, stir then add the stock
• Simmer for 15 minutes then add everything else back into the pan.
• Cook until the rice is tender and the turkey is cooked

Notes

You can also use leftover turkey, it does not need to be added until the final stage.