Multi vegetable paella – Ottolenghi

13/04/20224passionfood

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 35 minutes

Serves: Serves 4 people

I made this multi vegetable paella few months ago, and I thought I have to make it again so I can share it with you.

Paella is an iconic Spanish dish, there are various types of it depending on each region you are in Spain.
But there are three or even five main types of paella :
1- “Paella valenciana” as many know the original paella was born in Valencia. Beside rice, this includes differents types of meat such as rabbits, pork, duck…combined with beans, artichokes and other veggies.
2- “Paella de Marisco” or seafood paella, my favourite I already shared with you the recipe. It’s more popular in coastal regions where they use prawns, mussels, clams and squid.
3- “Paella mixta”, this is a mixture of paella Valenciana and the paella de Marisco. It contains both meat and seafood, apparently it’s also called paella Andaluz.
4- “Paella negra” it refers to its black color because of the squid Ink used in it.
5- “Paella vegetariana” based on available ingredients and seasonal products, which is the recipe I’m sharing with you today. This multi vegetable paella is vegan, colorful, full of amazing flavours, loaded with lots of veggies. Feel free to use anything you have available it’s a perfect dish to use leftovers. And the most important it’s ready in just 45 minutes, it’s an easy midweek dinner or even a festive gathering for your vegan and vegetarians guests.

The key ingredients :

So no matter what variation you’ll cook, the main ingredients you’ll need for a good paella are : rice, spices and broth.
The best rice to use is short – grain Spanish “bomba” rice. It has the ability to absorb twice the amount of liquid than a regular rice without getting mushy. Another popular rice for paella is “Calasparra” rice. The most important advice I can give you is to NEVER stir the rice once you add the broth to the pan. This allows the rice to gently absorb the liquid and keep the grains of rice intact.
Smoked paprika and saffron are the flavours of a paella, so please choose a good quality.
Finally the broth, before you start, add the saffron threads to the vegetable broth and bring to simmer over medium heat for a minute, cover to keep it warm and let the saffron releases all its flavours.

To make this vegetable paella you don’t really need a paella pan to cook this dish, any large skillet will work perfectly.

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Multi vegetable paella - Ottolenghi

13/04/2022 4passionfood

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Total time: 55 minutes

Serves: Serves 4 people

Ingredients :

3 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Spanish onion, finely chopped
1/2 red, green and yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into strips
1/2 fennel bulb, cut into strips
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne
150 g Calasparra rice , (Or any paella rice)
100 ml sherry, ( I didn’t use it)
1 tsp saffron strands, (1/2 tsp for me)
500 ml boiling vegetable stock, (600ml for because I didn’t use the sherry)
sea salt
12 mini plum tomatoes, (Or cherry tomatoes)
5 small grilled jarred artichokes, quartered
300 g ponded broad beans, blanched and skinned
10 pitted kalamata olives
2 Tbsp parsley , roughly chopped
4 lemon wedges, to serve

Method :

1)
Heat the oil in a paella or large shallow frying pan, over medium heat, then gently fry the onion for 5 minutes.

Add the peppers and fennel, and fry until soft and golden, it will take about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, cook for a minute.

Then add the bay leaves, and the spices, stir, add the rice and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the sherry and saffron, boil down for a minute, then add the stock and a third of a teaspoon of salt.

if you’re not using sherry, add the saffron threads to the vegetable broth (instead of 500ml use 600ml) and bring to simmer over medium heat for a minute, cover to keep it warm and let the saffron releases all its flavours, before using it.

Reduce the heat as low as it will go. Cover and leave to simmer for 20 minutes, until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Don’t stir : the low heat will prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
2)
Remove the pan from the heat. Taste and add salt if needed, but avoid to stir the rice and vegetables much. Scatter the tomatoes, artichokes and beans over the rice, cover the pan tightly with foil or its lid and leave to rest 10 minutes.

Take off the lid (or foil), scatter the olives on top, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

Enjoy !!

Nutrition

Multi vegetable paella – Ottolenghi

The key ingredients :