Paella made with a touch of love

The first person we met in Peniche was Antonio onboard an adjacent boat. We wanted to double check the depth at our berth. We were immediately invited onboard and perhaps to join him on his friend’s boat to head out to a fascinating island, Berlinga. We got talking and Antoine then declared that he would make us all a Paella which was not only very generous but anyone cooking a large diameter Paella on calor gas will know how difficult that is. Antonio and Josef brought the completed dish round to our boat and we had a great dinner. Josef supplied a large bottle of superb and special cognac the majority of which he then gifted to us. We were able to offer a treat of Rubis, a chocolate port. Antonio explained the most important condiment in any food is love – and we know how much went into creating our fine Paella. Antonio explained how he had walked a 600km pilgrimage over 15 days starting out carrying nothing. No money, no food. So moving was the journey that he wrote a book now published in 3 languages.