I cook outside as much as possible in the summer, particularly when we are away from home. A real family favourite, is my version of Paella, a recipe I’ve adapted over time. I often change the ingredients around, depending what is available, and purists might not approve of some of my ingredients! When I cook this outside, I use a paella pan on top of a barbecue called a CADAC.  The only downside to this dish is the amount of preparation needed. There’s a lot of chopping involved. Not a meal to make in a hurry!
You could, of course, measure and prepare all of the ingredients earlier in the day or find yourself a sous chef who could be chopping as you are cooking! I’m yet to find a willing participant!

1 tbsp. olive oil
125g gluten free chorizo, chopped into small pieces
½ onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
8 chicken drumsticks
250g paella rice
75ml white wine
500ml  gluten free chicken stock
2 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 Dessertspoon smoked paprika

Cooked prawns, deveined (as many as you want- we all love prawns in my family and so there is never enough!)
Juice ½ lemon plus extra lemon wedges to serve
Big handful flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
Optional: small pieces of boneless fish (In France, I buy tiny little fillets of fish that have a red skin, unfortunately, I’ve repeatedly failed to make a note of its name, but it’s delicious!)

• Heat the oil in the paella pan over a medium heat.

• Add the chorizo, onion and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring until the oils come out of the chorizo and the onions have softened and are golden.

•  Remove the chorizo mixture, leaving the oils in the pan.

• Turn up the heat and cook the chicken drumsticks until they are golden all over.

• Season with salt and pepper.

•  Turn down the heat and add the rice stirring for 1-2 minutes until it is coated in the oils.

• Add the chorizo mixture along with the wine, stock and tomatoes. Stir in the smoked paprika.

•  Cook uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring now and again, until the rice is just cooked, adding more stock if it dries out too much.

•  Add the prawns and fish fillets and heat until cooked. Don’t stir too much at this point; otherwise the fish will break up. If you have a lid for your pan you can cover it for a few minutes (makes the fish quick quicker and therefore stay in one piece!).

• Add the lemon juice and scatter with the parsley. Garnish with lemon wedges.

• Serve either from the pan or on a large platter so everyone can help themselves.

It’s at this point there is ‘war’ over the prawns and that is why I use plenty!