Vegetarian Paella

Years ago, I took a class on how to make paella in Denver. I cannot recall if it was then I purchased the paella pan -- or later -- or before then! In any case, I have one. And, I have made paella a few times. And yet, the idea of making it has become progressively more intimidating -- rather than becoming more attractive. And yet, in recent months I have been using the paella pan to make soccer (a huge chickpea bread/pancake that is incredibly easy to make -- 1 cup chickpea flour, 1.3 cups water, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt mixed and poured into a pre-heated and oiled  - at 450 degrees - paella pan -- for 18 minutes) and so was feeling my oats just a bit. 

So: I resolved to make a paella when we had company over (American) Thanksgiving. And, so I did. I made a vegetarian paella featuring peppers and fennel and artichoke hearts. It was absolutely wonderful -- and very easy to make (well, relatively easy to make). I am pleased with it and reproduce the recipe here, with a few tweaks to draw on for my next adventure. The recipe is called Barcelona Inspired Vegetarian Paella and comes from Whole Living Lauren. You can find it here -- unless of course the site comes down before you click -- so I have also reproduced it below. This is, by the ay, a blog worth exploring. 

Ingredients: 

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped 
• 1 small red bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1 small yellow pepper, cut into strips
• 1/2 fennel bulb (or anise), cut into strips (Bibliochef used 2 small fennel heads) 
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 cup arborio rice 
• 6 Tbsp white wine (author of recipe used Pino Grigio; bibliochef used something else and I cannot remember what!)  
• 1 tsp saffron threads
• a pinch of salt
• 2 cups boiling vegetable stock - as noted below I added almost the same amount of water later in the process) 
• 3/4 cup canned cannellini beans (I used the whole can) 
• 10-12 grape tomatoes, halved
• 5 small grilled artichokes in oil from jar, drained and quartered (I used frozen artichoke hearts; see below) 
• 10 pitted kalamata olives, halved (I may have been more profligate) 
• 2 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh parsley
• 4 lemon wedges

Here are Lauren's  

Instructions

1. Heat up the olive oil in a large shallow skillet, and gently cook the onions for about 5 minutes. Add the bell peppers and fennel and continue to cook on medium heat for about 5-6 minutes, or until soft and golden. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. COMMENTARY: I USED A PAELLA PAN) 
2. Add the bay leaves, paprika, turmeric, and cayenne to the vegetables and stir well. 
3. Add the rice and stir thoroughly for 2 minutes before adding the wine and saffron. 
4. Boil down for a minute, then add the boiling vegetable stock and a pinch of salt. Reduce the heat and simmer very gently for about 20 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. *Do not cover the pan and don't stir the rice during the cooking. COMMENTARY: I DID THIS AND THE RICE WAS NOT DONE. I ADDED ABOUT @ CUPS MORE OF WATER AND WAITED ANOTHER 10-!5 MINUTES. 
5. Once the rice is cooked, remove the paella pan from the heat. Taste and add more salt if needed (without stirring the rice and vegetables much). 
6. Scatter the tomatoes, artichokes, and beans over the rice and cover the pan tightly with foil. Leave to rest for 10 minutes. 
7. Take off the foil and scatter the olives on top of the paella and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with fresh lemon wedges. 

The tweaks:

First: As noted, I used almost twice as much liquid as called for here. Unsure why but it was definitely needed. 

Second: Also as noted, I used frozen artichoke hearts. They were fine -- just a bit less than I wanted them to be. Lauren was right in what she suggested. I wanted the artichokes to come up to the level of the rest of the dish. So: next time I shall either use bottled marinated hearts OR try roasting some small artichokes and adding them to the end of the dish. 

Third: I did not get a crusty bottom and wish I had. So: I shall perhaps cook longer OR stick briefly in a very hot oven. 

Hurrah -- the dish was very tasty -- the balance of saffron and smoked paprika is what made it.