Today’s recipe was last nights dinner – Paella. We had made this once before, so this recipe is pretty much ad lib. There are several places where you can find vegetarian paella recipes on the net,and they all tend to be vegan. I think of it as similar to cooking risotto, except you just add all the stock at once. This is probably going to feature largely in my kitchen this summer as it’s a light and amazingly full of flavor dish. That and it’s super easy to do, especially because you should have most of the ingredients on hand. Nick and I threw together a large pot of Sangria to go with our Paella that kept us going all night. It’s amazing how good a cheep bottle of wine can taste when mixed right. Sooo good. omm.

On to the Ingredients:

• 250g / Half a bag of Paella Rice (You can use other types of rice if you can’t find paella rice)
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1 large onion diced
• 4/5 cloves garlic loosely chopped
• 1 red and 1 yellow Bell Pepper sliced
• 1 courgette chopped
• 6 large Mushrooms sliced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 tin Chopped Tomatoes
• A pinch of Saffron (You may substitute Turmeric if you don’t have any saffron)
• Salt and Pepper to Taste
• 1 lemon
• Optional. You can get a tin of artichokes to garnish, but I wouldn’t eat enough of them to make it work buying the tin so didn’t bother.

Directions:

In a large pot heat up the olive oil and then add the onions and garlic. You can of course do all this in a large frying pan and serve the pan to the table. Just make sure you don’t loose many ingredients when you stir! Cook these until the onions are translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables, and cook for about 5 minutes then add the peas. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
Add the tin of tomatoes, rice and safron and mix well. Then add the stock. Cook for about 15/20 minutes stirring often and adding small amounts of water if necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with lemon slices and a large glass of Sangria

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Flour
• 1 1/2 cups Sugar
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup Vegan Margarine
• 3/4 cup Soya Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Egg replacer to equal 2 Eggs
  • I used 2 teaspoons of “No Egg
• 1 1/2 cups Peaches, finely chopped
  • I used canned peaches, this meant the mix had more liquid and took slightly longer to firm up in the oven
• 1 tbsp Sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F (Gas mark 4). Lightly grease an 8-inch cake pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the margarine and combine with your hands (I love this part, it’s really satisfying ^_^), until it resembles a coarse meal. Set aside 1 cup of the mixture for later.

Add the soya milk, egg replacer, vanilla, and peaches to the remaining dough and stir until “just mixed”. (I actually replaced some of the milk with the juices from the peaches can and left out the vanilla). Spoon into the cake pan and spread the reserved mixture evenly over top of cake. Sprinkle top with 1 tbsp of sugar and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.