SUMMER NIGHT PAELLA

SUMMER NIGHT PAELLA

yields 4 TO 6 PEOPLE

ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cup vegetable broth
  • 3/4 cup dry white wine
  • 1 pinch of saffron threads
  • 1 TBL olive oil
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion
  • 3/4 cup button or cremini mushrooms
  • 2 large tomatoes
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup frozen lima beans
  • 3 clove garlic
  • 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 1/2 cup short- or medium-grain white rice
  • 4 spears asparagus, halved lengthwise
  • 1 red bell pepper, roasted, cut into strips
  • 1 can (14 ounces) water-packed artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, and quartered
  • 2 TBL lemon juice
  • Paprika, for garnish

Instructions

0 chop onion and tomatoes

1 In a medium pot, combine the broth and wine and warm up to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Add the saffron, cover, and turn off the heat. Let the saffron steep while you get the rest of your together.

2 In a 14- to 18-inch skillet or paella pan, warm up the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until the onion gets kinda translucent and sweaty, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, tomatoes, and salt and sauté until most of the liquid has evaporated from the pan, like another 4 to 5 minutes. Add the lima beans, garlic, and smoked paprika and sauté for 30 seconds, just so that everything gets mixed up. Add the rice and cook it just long enough to make sure it gets mixed with all the veggies.

3 Quickly fish out the saffron threads from the broth and toss them. Pour the warm broth over the rice mixture, stir it once to make sure everything is all evenly distributed, and scrape down the sides to get all the stragglers. Bring the pan to a strong simmer, cover, and reduce the heat to medium-low. (No lid for your pot? Use some foil or a nonwarped cookie sheet to cover that like we do.) Let that softly simmer for about 25 minutes.

4 After 25 minutes, uncover the paella and arrange the asparagus, bell pepper, and artichoke hearts on top in whatever badass pattern of your choosing. Express yourself goddammit. Press them gently into the rice just a little bit and keep that cooking until all the water is absorbed in the pan and it starts to smell kinda toasty, about 10 minutes longer.

5 Drizzle with the lemon juice and shake a little paprika over the top for looks and let that gorgeous carb queen cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Modifications

Whatever the you plan to drink later will work here. Don’t do wine? Just add the same amount of broth.

Saffron is expensive as all hell. We kept it in the recipe because of tradition, but don’t let that stop you. If you can’t find it/don’t want to spend a -ton of cash on it, just leave the saffron out. Your rice won’t be as golden as the picture, but it will still be goddamn delicious.

Lima beans get a bad rap. Grab these tasty ers from the freezer section and diversify your bean game. Can’t find them? Edamame or even green peas will do as a stand-in.

Bomba rice is traditional in paella but good luck finding that . Arborio will do just fine.