Made this Paella for a Sunday lunch and we all loved it! I couldn’t believe my boys loved it as much as they did given they have never eaten shrimp or mussels before.

One of my boys was even eating the shrimp and mussels before he ate the rice!

Now that I am recovering from labour, I am making sure I am getting foods full of protein and Iron. Mussels are perfect for that and they are easy to prepare and great value for money!

My husband and love to eat mussels when dining out with a good beer!

I usually love mussels as well just fried with butter and garlic! So good you have to try them!

This paella dish is amazing because it takes no time, looks impressive and I love one pot recipes as the mess is very minimal. Perfect if you have people over for food!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

20 mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded

12 uncooked large prawns, shells removed

600ml seafood stock or water

2-3 tablesp. olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and diced

1 red pepper, diced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1½ teasp. paprika

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped

300g paella rice

Lemon wedges, garnish

METHOD

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, add the onion, chopped red pepper and garlic. Stir through the paprika and cayenne pepper and season with a little salt and black pepper. Cook for 5-6 minutes until the onions and peppers are softened. Then add another

½ tablespoon oil, add the bacon and cook until browned. Add the chopped tomato and cook for a couple of minutes.  Drizzle in the remaining olive oil and add the rice to the frying pan. Stir to coat the rice in oil and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes.

Pour in the stock and saffron. Bring to the boil. Stir for a few minutes then reduce the heat, cover with a lid or tin foil.  Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until rice has absorbed most of the liquid, but the mixture is still soupy and the rice is soft.

Add the mussels and prawns to the frying pan, cover and cook until the mussels have opened and prawns are pink. Discard any mussels that have not opened.  Turn the heat off but keep covered for 5 minutes to let it rest.

Garnish with lemon wedges and serve.

NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS PER SERVING:

Energy: 498kcal

Protein: 18g

Fat:                     26g             (Saturated Fat: 6.3g)

Iron: 2.7mg

Carbohydrate: 58g

Check out Bord Bia ‘How to prepare mussels’ video and delicious recipe inspiration on

www.bordbia.ie/fish

*This is an AD in collaboration with Bord Bia*