Cock-a-hoop in Camden.

Recent weeks have rather been taken up with excessive booze intake and hen hilarity, as this year heralds the knot tying of some very dear friends indeed.  First up, the lovely Cat.  A weekend in London, staying in a fab little flat in Camden, culminated in fifteen or so of us partaking in a massively decadent and delicious meal at Pasha in Kensington. 
http://www.pasha-restaurant.co.uk/
Pasha specialises in North African cuisine and isn't cheap but it was a very special occasion and the decor didn't disappoint.  It was the epitome of opulence with carved tables, rose petals scattered everywhere and the air heavy with the smell of incense and hookah pipes.
We started proceedings with cocktails, mine was called a Sapphire Rose, and consisted of gin, lychee, pink grapefruit, lemon juice and rose petals.  It cost the best part of a tenner but it was so worth it....delectable.
We had all ordered a "feast" menu which consisted of several cold starter dishes or "Kemia" to share, followed by hot Kemia, a main of your choice and then dessert dishes to share.  I don't think any of us were expecting the sheer volume of food; it just kept coming!  Brought out in a continuous flow, it started off very healthy with lentil salads, hoummous, tabbouleh and the like.  Then came little hot pastries of chicken, feta and spinach and, not so healthy now, deep fried cheese.
All this was washed down with copious amounts of house wine.  The Kemia courses were rounded off by one very hot (and I don't mean temperature wise!) belly dancer gyrating right by our table, as we tried not to look her in the eye for too long in case she persuaded us to dance with her.  (Of course Cat and I were up dancing before the end of the night!)
The Kemia would have been a lovely meal in itself, but no, this was a feast, which meant everyone had to be uncomfortably groaning by the end of the evening!  I had chosen the "grill" option, as had most.  This was marinated chicken, lamb and delicious, spicy merguez sausages, served with a pile of cous cous and salad.  I didn't want to waste any food and it was gorgeous, the meat meltingly tender, but I was stuffed.  Fortunately I struck on that age old British tradition of asking for a doggy bag!  Hey presto, cold hangover feast for on the train back tomorrow.  (It went down very well indeed).  After more belly dancing dessert came and most of that went into the doggy bag too.  The meal was rounded off with an electric hookah pipe inside and an authentic shisha one outside, most enjoyable.  I drank gallons of mint tea which sorted me out and prepared me for the next phase of the evening; Mr Scruff at Koko in Camden, but that's another story...

A Spanish Fe-ast-a!

The boy's parents went to Lloret in Spain and returned bearing foody gifts; a bottle of rioja and a packet of saffron.  It would have been so rude not to use this fabulous saffron in making a paella, so that is exactly what I did.  Paella was also a good excuse to utilise the paprika I purchased at Gelupo in London.

I followed a basic recipe in Carlos Horrillo and Patrick Morcas's Tapas book, which is full of simple and lovely Spanish recipes.  The one glaring omission from Horrillo's recipe (in my humble opinion) is chorizo.  Whenever possible I buy my cooking chorizo from a little Polish stall in the Guildhall market, Derby.  It cannot be beaten on taste or price.  I hotfooted it to the market on Saturday and purchased said chorizo, chicken legs from the poultry stall which they cut up into portions for me, and massive raw gambas (prawns) from the fishmongers.  That's the meat selection covered, and not a sniff of supermarket.

 Paella.

12 dashes of olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 medium onions, finely sliced
2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 large red peppers, finely sliced (I only used one)
your choice of meat and fish, I used 2 small cooking chorizos, 4 bone in chicken portions and 6 massive gambas.  You can use squid, chicken breast, rabbit, mussels, clams, white fish.....
100ml white wine
1 tablespoon tomato puree
300g Paella rice of your choice
1.5 litres of stock of your choice (I used Kallo free range chicken)
pinch of saffron strands soaked in a splash of hot water
2 bay leaves
a teaspoon of paprika
1 dried chili
1 handful frozen peas, defrosted
chopped parsley
lemon wedges to serve

I used a big wok, as I don't have a paella pan.  Once you have everything sliced and diced, just heat the olive oil in the pan and stir fry the chorizo for a couple of minutes, then add the onion, garlic, tomato and pepper and stir fry on a gentle heat until soft.
Remove all this from the pan and add the chicken pieces and brown all over.  Remove the chicken and set aside.
Add the prawns and white wine, cover with a lid and simmer for a few minutes until pink.  Remove and set aside.

Return everything to the pan but the prawns.  Stir in the tomato puree and the rice.  Add half the stock, salt and pepper to taste, the paprika, saffron and bay leaves.
Bring to the boil and stir then simmer without stirring (you can give the pan a little shake from time to time) for around half an hour.  Add more stock as you go along, but don't stir, it isn't a risotto.

When the rice is cooked take the pan off the heat and stir in the peas, prawns and parsely.  Stand covered for five minutes.  Serve with lemon wedges on the side.  Make sure the chicken is cooked and the juices run clear.
The paprika, chili and parsley were my additions to this particular recipe, but are often included in paella.  The smooth and oaky rioja complemented the smoky, sweet and citrus flavours of the paella perfectly.
Lots of chopping but well easy to make after that, I'll definitely do this for guests next time as it made loads!  (Recipe is for four).