Paella was originally a rustic dish made by the workers in the field and anything they had to hand would have been thrown in. Its likely that the original paella did contain meat, either birds or hare that had been trapped during the mornings work would have been added.
But this paella is meat-free, moist and oozing with flavour and being packed with vegetables and fibrous artichoke hearts it’s a substantial dish.
The green, red and yellow peppers add a vibrancy to the pan, which makes it as good to look at as to eat. Why not try this super one-pot dish on your barbecue this summer, although you might want to cook the onion and garlic indoors, for speed.
Ingredients - Serves 6 people
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 60 ml Spanish Olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic
- 5 cups vegetable or chicken stock (check your rice packet ratio)
- 2 cups paella rice
- 1 small red pepper, cut into strips
- 1 small green pepper, cut into strips
- 1 small yellow pepper, cut into strips
- 4 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
- 1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
- 2 cups artichoke hearts, tough outer leaves removed, and quartered
- 1 lemon
Method
- Heat the olive oil in the paella pan, making sure it doesn't reach smoking point and then saute the onion and garlic until they are soft and transparent.
- Measure the rice in a cup and add it to the onion, mixing well to ensure each rice grain has a coating of oil (adding a bit extra if need be).
- Pour the stock into the paella pan and add the peppers and tomatoes and cook on high for three minutes, then turn down to the simmer and cook over a medium heat for 20 minutes or until almost tender and almost all the liquid has been absorbed. Then add in the peas.
- Don’t stir the rice while cooking just leave it to simmer away gently
- Prepare the artichoke hearts and sprinkle them with a few drops of lemon juice then arrange over the rice in an attractive pattern and leave them to cook in the rising steam. Continue cooking until the all liquid has been absorbed and the rice is nicely tender. Garnish with lemon wedges and serve.
Paella doesn't really need serving with anything else, unless you're Spanish and can't eat anything without bread!
