I love paella and rice in general, but especially paella. It's a deliciuos dish and at the same time gives a lot of room for variations: paella with mushrooms and sausage, "mar y montaña" (surf and turf), seafood paella, chicken paella.... yesterday I made a vegetable paella and I want to share the recipe with you. I hope you like it!
Ingredients:
1 large onion
1 Italian green pepper
1/2 red bell pepper
about 9 green asparagus (just the tender part)
2 carrots
1 small can of pre-cooked peas
4 or 5 frozen artichoke hearts
A handful of green beans (I used frozen ones this time)
1 1/2 cups round grain rice
2 vegetable buoillon cubes (you can also use chicken buoillon)
Saffron
Paprika
Olive oil
Salt
Directions:
Heat the paella pan with a healthy dose of (Spanish) olive oil. Fry the onion, green and red pepper over low heat. I use a clay casserole pot when I make rice dishes, because I like the flavor more than with a metal dish.
While the vegetables are frying, cut up the carrots and cook them in hot water over low heat until they are tender then drain them and set them aside, as well as the broth that's left over.
When the vegetables are tender, add the peas.
And you can also add the carrot and the green beans.
In the meantime, we can use the leftover broth from the carrots to boil the artichoke hearts for 15 or 20 minutes. This time I used the broth to cook them, although you can also cook the artichokes in a separate pan and then add it to the rice.
Cut up just the tender part of the asparagus.
Fry the asparagus until they are tender and slightly golden.
Add the asparagus to the rest of the ingredients together with the rice. Stir for a few minutes.
Add the rest of the carrot and artichoke broth to the rice. The broth should be almost boiling. If it has cooled too much just reheat it.
Add the vegetable buoillon cubes. I added them now because I forgot to add them earlier. Ideally you should add them to the water when boiling the carrots and artichokes so they dissolve then ...
Add a little bit of saffron to taste. 1/2 a teaspoon is enough.
Stir so that all the ingredients are well mixed and then stop stirring the rice!
At medium-high heat and with the pot covered, cook the rice for 3 or 4 minutes. By now most of the water should have evaporated. Add 1 more cup of water and cover to cook the rice until it is ready. Don't stir the rice! If the rice is still undercooked and there isn't enough water you can always add more.
Buen provecho!
Alternatives and advice:
- Instead of using buoillon cubes you can make a homemade vegetable broth that will provide an even better flavor to the paella! I used the buoillon cubes because that's what I had in the house at the moment!
- This rice is even better if you add sausage, and then you have all the ingredients for a complete meal: vegetables, carbs (rice) and proteins (sausage).
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