Vegetarian Paella

I’ve recently been lucky enough to have been given some lovely tapas dishes and it’s inspired me to cook more Spanish food. To be honest, I don’t find Spanish food easy as a vegetarian (even though it’s a pretty good destination for some rather fine vegetarian restaurants) and don’t cook it often. Big S used to love Paella when she was tiny but for some reason I haven’t cooked it in a while. But since we’ve been guinea pig sitting this week and they’ve been eating us out of house and home in terms of fresh vegetables, I thought it best to use up some before they’ve all gone!

The guinea pigs have been very well looked after and I think there may be some tears when they go home! We really need to get a pet, but both Big and Little S are allergic to cats and dogs (our favoured option) …. somehow a mouse that lives for a couple of years isn’t quite enough 🙁

Anyway, Fluff-ball and Snuffles (named by the girls, they didn’t have names before!) do eat an awful lot and have spent a week feasting on selections of fresh vegetables. I hope they don’t miss the peppers, courgette, sweetcorn and peas used in the paella!

Vegetarian Paella (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

serves about 6

• 1/2 onion
• 2/3rds courgette
• 2/3rds red pepper
• 2 tbsps olive oil
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 1-2 tsps smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp saffron (or use turmeric if you don’t have any)
• 1 1/3 cups paella or arborio rice
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup sweetcorn
• 1 tsp tomato puree
• seasoning
• 6 cups boiling water

– Chop the vegetables into as fine a dice as possible

– Saute the onion, pepper and courgettes in olive oil until golden

– Add the garlic and saute until fragrant.

– Add the tomatoes, smoked paprika (and turmeric, if using) and rice. Fry briefly. Then add half the boiling water and some seasoning.

– Cover and cook on high for 10 minutes, checking once or twice thatit hasn’t stuck too much.

– Add the remaining water.

– Cover and cook for 20 minutes.

– After 10 minutes, add the frozen peans and sweetcorn.

– Check seasoning and let sit for 10 minutes before eating.