I have just taken delivery of a complete paella kit; stand, burner, gas fittings, a special long-handled ladle with two pans, one that will feed 10-12 and another that caters for 25. All I need is a Calor Gas cylinder and I can set up shop wherever I like and feed a gang of people with minimal trouble.

Discovering www.thepaellacompany.co.uk, which sells various kits and numerous pans of different sizes and finishes, has had a huge effect on my family. The barbecue is rusting in the shed and paella-making has taken over as our favourite way of alfresco eating.

Actually, we make paella at the drop of a hat, whatever the weather. We made it indoors on New Year's Eve, extending the Spanish mood with Torres wines and impromptu tapas, enjoyed as we gathered round the pan, savouring the anticipation while our supper gently simmered unaided.

I have made paella successfully with basmati rice but to be authentic you need round-grain calasparra or bomba rice, or failing that, Arborio, the risotto rice. Like risotto, which paella resembles, the rice swells as it cooks but unlike with risotto, once the initial sofrito (onion stew) has been made and the rice added with the main ingredients, all the stock goes into the pan in one go. It is stirred only once, apart from the occasional prod to ensure even cooking, but left to do its thing. If some of the rice sticks and ends up slightly burnt, that is regarded as the choice mouthful.

Pretty much anything goes in the name of paella but the favourite combination in my household is spicy chorizo with mildly flavoured, creamy and meaty monkfish or tender (and blessedly inexpensive) squid, with a few prawns to finish.

A recent innovation - a tip from food photographer Jason Lowe, who says he cooked three paella, each for 50 people, for his wedding feast - is to cover the paella with spinach for its ten-minute (covered) rest before serving, then stirring it into the paella with a pesto-style paste made with flat-leaf parsley, garlic, saffron and a slick of olive oil. This optional extra gives the paella a burst of vitality, livening up the look as well as the flavour of the dish.

If you happen to be near Mousehole, opposite Mounts Bay, near Penzance in Cornwall this weekend, you can watch me cooking this recipe and others from my book, The Fish Store, on Sunday at 1pm. I'll be part of the side show at the seventh biennial Sea, Salts & Sail 08 festival, a celebration of Mousehole's fishing heritage, reviving old seafaring traditions such as crab pot making and herring smoking. The highlight is a harbour full of lovingly restored luggers, the traditional inshore fishing boats of yore.

Monkfish and chorizo paella with prawns

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