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Vegetarian Paella

Paella is a Spanish rice dish originally from Valencia, but the variations of this dish are enormous depending on preference, location and family tradition. Due to its wide reach, Paella has become Spain’s best-known national dish although Spaniards often consider this dish to be associated with the Valencia region.

Here we have created a delicious vegetarian paella that can be eaten as it is or used as the base to add seafood or meat.

From Le Creuset

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp smoked oil 
  
• 1 large white onion, diced 
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced 
  
• 1 small green pepper, diced 
  
• 1 small red pepper, diced 
  
• 1 tsp dried crushed chilies  
  
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika 
  
• 1 tbsp dried mixed herbs 
  
• 1 tbsp sun-dried tomato purée 
• 300g paella rice 
• 1L hot vegetable stock
• Pinch of saffron 
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes 
• 140g frozen peas 
• 100g frozen green beans 
• Sea salt & cracked black pepper 

to serve

• Small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
  
• Lemon, cut into wedges
  

Method

• Place the paella pan over a medium heat, add the oil and heat gently. Add the onion and fry for 5 minutes until it starts to soften before adding the garlic and frying for a further minute.
  
• Add the diced peppers to the pan before sprinkling in the crushed chillies, paprika and mixed herbs. Allow the spices to toast for 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously to ensure they do not burn.
  
• Stir through the sun-dried tomato purée followed by the paella rice. Stir well, coating all the rice in the spice mixture. 
  
• Pour in 800ml of the stock followed by the saffron and a little salt and pepper. Add the chopped tomatoes, stir all the ingredients together well then leave to simmer for 20 minutes over a medium to low heat. Stir regularly.
  
• After 10 minutes, stir through the remaining 200ml of stock. After 15 minutes of cooking add the peas and green beans to the nearly-cooked paella. Once the peas and beans have thawed and the rice is tender but with a little bite, remove the paella from the heat. Season again as necessary.
  
• Finish with a handful of roughly chopped parsley and serve with lemon wedges. 
  

cook's notes

• Prefer a seafood or meat version? Add mixed seafood in the last 10 minutes of cooking or until cooked through. For meat such as chorizo, chicken or rabbit, add to the pan at stage 2 to first brown and then continue to add the spices and rice. 
  

Recommended tools

Le Creuset Toughened Non-Stick Paella Pan 32cm

£155.00

£101.50

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