Leftovers paella

I am a secret hoarder.  But only when it comes to my freezer.  In the rest of my life and my home I am decidedly clutter free and organised but my freezer is my shameful secret.  Every tiny little scrap of leftover food goes into the freezer.  I was going through it at the weekend and found five parmesan rinds I had forgotten I have.  I keep them for when I make soup because they give it a nice deep and savoury flavour.  I last made soup two years ago but did I throw these tiny bits of barely usable parmesan away? No. I tidied them neatly at the back of the top shelf.  I have tiny smidges of sauces, less than one serving of mashed potato and conversely, eighteen mini meringues.  Which I only made because I didn't want my liquid egg white to go to waste once it was opened.  If someone can suggest something to do with these then I am all ears.


Now I've told you my little secret it explains nicely how I came to made this dish which I have called paella but every Spaniard on the planet would probably want to throttle me for it. As I was trying to bring order to the freezer I found myself with one chicken breast in one hand and about a four inch piece of chorizo in the other.  Staring at these two items led me only to paella.  I have made paella before and it was really tasty but I fancied something slightly different so decided to try and cook it in the oven.  I also had some baby vegetables knocking around in the fridge alongside a tiny dribble of wine so I was all set to use up some leftovers.  This was remarkably simple and really amazing.  I'm certain not everybody would agree if they tried it but it was my dinner and this is my blog so I'm entitled to call it amazing!  


Nothing was said but I have a feeling the husband would have liked more meat.  If it had been in the freezer he would have had it but if you are buying the ingredients fresh I would recommend adding another piece of chicken.  Maybe even some prawns if it takes your fancy.  


Even my shockingly bad photography can't make this look anything other than true comfort.  

The lemon looks like it's from another planet because the zest went into a bakewell tart.  I have parmesan rind in my freezer for goodness sake, I am so not throwing away a lemon just because it's without zest! I'm not going to give quantities below because aside from the rice and stock ratio, it's fairly flexible.  


Ingredients:


1 cup rice
2 1/2 cups stock
chicken
chorizo
vegetables
white wine
lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch each of turmeric and paprika
salt and pepper


Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade
Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the chorizo and chicken until cooked. Add a glug of white wine and reduce.  
Add the rice to the pan and turn to coat in the oil.
Pour the stock onto the rice and add the paprika and turmeric.  Bring to a gentle boil.
Transfer the mixture into a casserole dish that has a lid, add the vegetables, some salt and pepper and put in the oven for 30 minutes.
Add lemon wedges to the top and dig in.