VEGAN FIESTA PAELLA

Fiesta relates to the wonderful colours of all the veggies. Eat the rainbow for vibrant good health and this paella has all the colours, as you can see from my vibrant photo!

We have made it twice since the retreat and it is delicious. You can vary the veggies according to what you have available and your personal tastes. We have used cubed aubergine instead of fennel, mushrooms could easily replace artichokes, since they are a bit of an acquired taste but I rather like them!

You can add frozen peas or sweetcorn instead of the beans and/or fennel and just leave the artichokes out if you don't like them.

 Flavour is provided by smoked and sweet paprika, two of my favourite spices! Oh and turmeric for amazing health benefits and colour and garlic just because it adds amazing flavour and is natures antibiotic! Great to include loads of it as we move into colder weather, and who wants to succumb to colds and flu, most definitely not me!

It is essential when making paella to use the right kind of rice! You need short grain white rice or paella rice, most supermarkets stock it. It's different to risotto rice which is stickier and not what you want. Gloopy paella is not great!

A  top tip don't stir your paella, its not like risotto! This is a good thing which makes this a perfect dinner party dish! No standing over a hot stove while your guests are knocking back the wine! There is actually wine in this so a great reason to crack open a bottle and have a wee glass while you are prepping all your veggies!



Ingredients 
Serves 4 to 6

• 275g paella or short grain rice
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons olive or rapeseed oil
• 1 red, green and yellow pepper, de-seeded and cut into thin strips
• 1 fennel bulb, cut into thin strips
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp turmeric
• Glass of white wine, approx 175ml
• 900ml boiling vegetable stock
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 10 mini plum or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4  small artichokes, quartered (from a jar)
• tin of cannelini, flageolet or chickpeas, drained
• 10 pitted black olives, halved
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup toasted almonds (optional)
• 2 lemons, cut into 8 wedges for serving

Method

1. ​Ideally you want a big flat wide frying pan for this. Heat the oil in your pan and cook the onions for 5 minutes, then add the peppers and fennel, and cook for 10 minutes more, until a lovely golden colour.
2. Add the garlic, bay leaves , spices and the rice and give it a good stir.
3. Cook gently for 2 minutes.
4. Add the wine and leave it to boil for a minute or so, then add the stock, a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
5. Bring back to the boil then reduce the heat to very low and leave it alone to simmer for 25 to 30 minutes or until almost all the stock has been absorbed. This will depend on the size of your pan! The wider the pan the quicker the liquid evaporates.
6. Don't be tempted to stir it as that will make it go stodgy. You want a nice almost toasted base to the rice but there is a fine line between toasted and burnt so keep an eye on it and also use your nose! If you smell burning, turn the heat off!
7. Taste a bit of the rice and add more salt and pepper if needed. Turn the heat off, scatter the tomatoes, artichokes, beans and olives, then cover with tin foil and leave it for 10 minutes.
8. Before you take it to the table, garnish with flat leaf parsley, toasted almonds and lemon wedges.

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Janice xx