What’s the process involved for cooking Paella?
The main part of it is getting yourself the onions and capsicum, but the real magic comes from the Mojo – saffron and sweet paprika. That’s the real Canary Island way of doing it. It takes 45 minutes to an hour.
How long have you been cooking it?
I’ve been doing it for about six years; I started doing big paella from the Canary Islands. My colleague Tustura and I met up in Broome, so it’s a little slice of Broome.
It seems to be a form of entertainment as well, watching it being cooked. Was this always the case historically?
Big time. We use the catch phrase: “It’s a show.” When you get the chorizo going, when the onion hits the air, people gravitate towards it. It’s like Aussies and their barbecues, everyone gathers around.
What flavours will you be serving up at the Fitzroy Beer Garden?
We’re doing a combination – chicken, chorizo and a bit of seafood through that one. There’ll also be a vegetarian one.
Good quality products are pretty important, where do you source your ingredients from?
A few little shops, over in Fitzroy there’s one of the biggest importers of Spanish stuff in Australia.
What do you like best about this dish?
The theatre, everyone just gravitates to it, the party comes to you, and they’re chatting. This’ll be the first time doing it myself.
Visit THE BIG PAELLA website for more information.
