Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Vegan Paella

Paella is not a dish I grew up with so when it became a dish made famous by George Castanza's mother on the Seinfield TV show during the 1990's I had to look it up.  It sounded terrific but complicated.

My husband wanted to try making a vegan version of Paella last weekend and he is just loving how it turned out so I thought I had better write down the recipe before I forget.

He brought home a new cookbook from the grocery store a few days ago titled, "Betty Goes Vegan 500 Classic Recipes for the Modern Family" by Annie and Dan Shannon.  We used their "Hearty Paella" Recipe as a start and also used a recipe from Steven Raichlen's "High-Flavor Low-Fat Vegetarian Cooking" (Vegetable Paella).  Since I can't eat onions or bell peppers we went ahead and cooked them separately until near the finish and then dished out half of the rice mixture and baked the onion version separately.  It worked great.
Plant-based Paella for lunch on day two (I forgot to photograph it when we made it).

Jim's Vegan Paella

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable broth
2-4 cups white wine
1 cup brown rice
1 cup orzo pasta
3 cups mushrooms, sliced
3 Vegan Italian Style Sausages, sliced into coins
1 bell pepper
1 onion
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
1 can artichoke hearts packed in water, sliced
1 14 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 14 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 small bag frozen peas, about 2 cups
1 tsp Better than Bouillon, not-chicken flavor
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 pinch saffron threads, soak in 1 tablespoon water for 10 minutes

Simmer rice in broth and bay leaves for 40 minutes.  Add orzo, mushrooms, sausage, artichoke hearts, most of the garlic, carrots, chickpeas, tomatoes, bouillon, 2 cups wine, paprika, turmeric and saffron threads with soaking water.  Simmer for an additional 15 minutes.  Add parsley and frozen peas during last 4 minutes of cooking.
In a separate skillet, saute onion and pepper for 15 minutes with a splash of wine and some of the garlic.
Add onions and peppers to rice mixture (or half if you have someone who can't eat onions).
Press into shallow casserole dish.  Bake for 12 minutes or until top is crusty.  Serve with nutritional yeast sprinkled over the top.



1 comment:

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