May meal #6: Simplified Paella

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They’re hiding, but there are large prawns lurking in this paella, as well as the mussel “decoration.”

Can you go wrong with paella? Oh yes, very, but this simplified version is a lot easier to make than the “real thing.”

I won’t repeat it again, because you will already find my recipe here.

Being “cheap”, this version uses just three or four large prawns - these were really big, almost the size of langostines peeled - and one mussel, per portion. But I find that it’s enough and, show me a restaurant that doesn’t meanly … I mean, carefully count ingredients per serving and, besides this makes a way to have “luxury” foods even on a tight budget, because the “investment” on one bag of prawns lasts a long time.

In the portions of paella I’ve frozen for subsequent weeks, I’ve removed the mussel shell, partly to save space and partly because I wasn’t really sure about leaving the shell with the other cooked ingredients.

Next week, we’ll see how well this survives the freezing ordeal, because, though I make this regularly, I’ve never tried to freeze it before.

Paella is still a bit special - despite starting off as peasant food - so I slipped this into the Saturday night slot to “spoil myself” a little.

Well, if I don’t, nobody else will, will they?

Really, I only mention that to highlight the other aspect to keep in your mind when choosing the seven dishes to serve yourself, if you do want make a similar plan for the month. Obviously, you’ll choose things you already like, or new things that you fancy trying, but also give some thought to the days of the week that you’ll be eating them on.

You may have more time to cook at weekends, if you work or go to school all week. So choose the things that keep and only need cooking once for the weeknights. You might even be able to prepare them all in the first weekend and never cook again, all month. Imagine that!

Even if you don’t work or are retired, you may have clubs or other activities on certain days that would make it desirable to avoid having to cook on that day. My mother, for instance, at 83 years old, works in a charity shop on Thursday mornings. So she makes dinner for two on a Wednesday and has a lunch ready to come home to.

Aspects too, like treating yourself to a “fancy” Saturday night or a “homely” Sunday lunch, simply for the “feelgood factor” are important and you should give yourself permission to treat yourself well. Families do this and I think we’re a “family” too, even if ours has one member.

That just leaves one more meal in the set of seven that I had planned for May; the chicken hotpot / casserole dish that I aimed to use for my Sunday dinner. How did this turn out? I’ll show you tomorrow.