Lou en peru

All quantities are very approximate, it's all done by sight and cost!

A kilo of mussels or so, less if they are pricey!
A handful of squid, cuttlefish is just as good
A handful of shell on prawns, optional, nice to put on top.
At least a handful of peeled prawns
Some chicken ( 2-3 thighs) or pork (a chop or 2) or even some rabbit if you're feeling adventurous, chopped into about 1" cubes
A red or yellow pepper, chopped into cubes
A couple of onions, chopped
A couple of garlic cloves, chopped
Rice, paella rice is best but you can use basmati
A cup of frozen peas (defrost by adding a little boiled water)
Some veg stock, marigold bouillon powder is great, about a pint.
If you have them, put a couple of saffron threads in the stock to colour and flavour it a bit.

Clean the mussels, which means scrape off any unsightly bits, and remove the beards. Prepare the squid, and chop into whatever shapes you fancy, rings, cubes, it's up to you. Chop up one onion and sweat in some olive oil in a big saucepan with a lid. Once nicely soft, add the mussels, a cup of white wine (or stock if none is handy) and put on the lid. Shake occasionally, and take quick peeks. Keep cooking until the mussels are nicely open. Put aside but KEEP THE JUICE! Once they have cooled a bit, remove some of the mussels from their shells, but leave some in the shells to poke in later.

In the largest frying pan you have, a wok may do, slowly cook the other onion until soft. If you plan to make this regularly pick up a paella pan when next on holiday in Spain. Once the onion is cooked, add the meat and brown it slightly. Now add the garlic, squid, peppers, peas, and cook for a few minutes. Now add the rice, as much as you fancy, it's really dependant upon how much paella you want! Fry the rice with all the other ingredients for a few minutes until it goes more opaque. Now add the juice from the mussels, the peeled prawns, the stock and the mussels removed from their shells. Salt and pepper quite generously. Let this cook slowly until the rice is nice and cooked, mix around a bit at the start, but less later on as you want it to stick a bit at the bottom (the crunchy stuff at the bottom is the best bit). You may have to keep topping up with water until the rice is cooked. It will probably take 30-45 minutes.

When you are almost ready to serve, quickly fry the shell on prawns and some garlic in a little butter or olive oil, until lightly browned, and sprinkle over the paella, at the same time, poke the remaining mussels in their shells into the rice to warm them through. You can swap, skip or alter the quantities of most of the ingredients, for example you can add firm white fish such as monkfish, crab claws, you can make it without the meat. I have made it without mussels when they weren't available, but to be honest it is best with mussels or at least some sort of clams.

I think that's it, it's not as horrific as it sounds, and is delicious.

Enjoy!