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Add the little pieces of flour and butter to the liquor in the saucepan, keeping it just below boiling point. Stir until the sauce thickens nicely, adjust the seasoning. Beat in the remaining 60 g (2 oz) of butter, and the chopped parsley leaves. Pour over the fish and vegetables. Tuck in the triangles of bread and serve straightaway (with some more red wine to drink).

PAELLA

Paella is one of those magnificent dishes that need a party to share them. A picnic by the sea in this case, I think, with the shallow pan bubbling gently over a driftwood fire. There is no one ‘right’ recipe: the only essential ingredients are rice and saffron (do not be tempted to substitute turmeric – make your economies elsewhere if necessary). Flavourings can be meat and poultry alone, or fish and shellfish alone, or vegetables alone. Or – as in this recipe – a mixture of all three. I have come to regard squid as essential for its piquant sweetness; mussels help to flavour the broth, and huge gambas (Mediterranean prawns) give an air of luxury, though the usual pink prawns do well enough.

Serves 8–10

1¾ kg (3½ lb) roasting chicken, with giblets

2 litres (3½ pt) light stock or water

1 small lobster, uncooked or ready-boiled, cut up by the fishmonger

1 medium-sized squid, approx. 250 g (8 oz) in weight

500 g (1 lb) prawns, preferably of varying sizes

500 g (1 lb) mussels

250 g (8 oz) monkfish

olive oil

1 large onion, chopped finely

250 g (8 oz) tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 heaped teaspoon paprika

3 large cloves garlic, chopped finely

salt, pepper

tomato paste or sugar, if needed (see recipe)

500 ml (15 fl oz) Spanish or Italian rice (approx. 400 g/14 oz)

generous pinch of saffron

175 g (6 oz) shelled young peas

1 large red pepper, grilled, skinned, seeded and sliced

4 large artichoke hearts, cooked (optional)

3 lemons, quartered

Use a wide, shallow pan or paellera of at least 35 cm (14 inches) diameter. Alternatively, use two pans once the rice is half-cooked, transferring some of the rice to a second pan before putting in the chicken. Paella is not a dish for the small family. Remember that if you alter the quantity of rice, you need to alter that of the liquid.

First, prepare the chicken and fish. If you intend to make the paella out of doors, on a picnic, this should all be done in advance, leaving the final cooking of the rice and so on to be done on the spot.

Set aside the chicken wings and drumsticks. Cut away the chicken breast and keep for another meal, if you are only feeding 8 people. Cut the thigh meat off the bone, dividing each piece into three, and remove the oysters. If you are using the chicken breasts, bone them and cut into two pieces each. Leave the carcase to simmer in the stock or water. Cut up the lobster so that there will be a chunk for each person.

Clean the squid (see p. 400) and cut the bag into rings and the tentacles into short lengths: keep the trimmings and left-overs. Peel most of the prawns, leaving a few whole for garnishing: put the debris with the squid’s. Open the scrubbed mussels in a heavy covered pan over a high heat (p. 239); shell most of the mussels, keeping some for the garnishings, and strain the juice into the chicken stock pan. Add the fish trimmings after the stock has been simmering for at least half an hour. Cut the monkfish into chunks: add the bone and skin, and the small claws of the lobster, to the stock pot. Give it another half hour and then strain off the stock – you will need just over 1 litre (approx. 2 pt) or a little more, so add water if you are short, or boil it down if there is much too much. Season the chicken and fish.

Now you are ready for the cooking. Bring the stock to simmering point and keep it there. In a large pan or paellera heat enough olive oil to cover the base. Put in the onion and cook it slowly until soft and yellow. Add the tomatoes, paprika, garlic, seasoning and a little tomato paste or sugar unless your tomatoes are very well ripened.