Vegetable paella

I visited a market in Spain today bursting with beautiful vegetables - so what better to make than paella! Summer vegetables grow in the winter here, which is why you'll see so many Spanish veggies in British supermarkets. Anything goes great in a paella but I used fennel, courgettes, carrots and asparagus, with strips of sun-dried tomatoes for colour. No need for fish here!

 

• 1 bulb of fennel, sliced
• 6 slim carrots
• 12 asparagus spears
• 1 courgette, sliced into rounds
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 400 g short grain rice
• 500 ml good vegetable stock
• Large glass of white wine
• 1/2 tsp or big pinch of saffron (optional)
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• Good sprinkling of cayenne pepper, to taste
• Lemon wedges (optional)

1. Fennel takes a while to cook, so chop it into wedges, toss in olive oil and roast for about 25 minutes along with the carrots
2. Glug some olive oil into a wide, heavy-based saute pan and gently fry the onion and garlic.
3. Add the rice and stir until it is all coated in oil and lightly nutty.
4. Add a glass of wine and reduce.
5. Pour in the tinned tomatoes and vegetable stock. Stir, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Stir the rice, adding a little more water if it seems dry. Add all the remaining vegetables, arranging them in an attractive pattern on the top.
7. Cover and cook on a low heat for another ten minutes. Check the rice and vegetables, the rice should be just tender and the asparagus not quite done.
8. Take off the heat and leave covered for ten minutes to rest.
9. Garnish with lemon wedges and pretend you're on holiday in Spain. Buen provecho!

Variations

You can use any kind of vegetables in a paella, particularly fresh summer veggies. Tomatoes, peppers, baby sweetcorn, peas, mushrooms are all great.

Saffron is traditional in paella but it's expensive so you can easily leave it out. A pinch of turmeric gives a cheaper non-traditional yellow colour, just don't tell!

In the summer use roasted fresh tomatoes instead of tinned, the flavour is better but tinned is more convenient.