Dear Eric: Do you have a recipe for vegetarian paella?
Lillian
Dear Lillian: Paella is a flavoured rice dish that originates from Valencia, Spain. It’s named after the wide and fairly shallow pan it’s cooked in. If you don’t have a paella pan, you can buy one at a well-stocked kitchenware store. You could also simply use a large skillet to make paella.
Short- and medium-grain types of Spanish rice, such as Bomba, are the best choice for paella, as they absorb moisture well and have a nice bite when cooked. You’ll find them at some Mediterranean-style food stores. If you can’t, in my recipe I give the option to use risotto rice or long-grain white rice.
Lillian was looking for a vegetarian paella recipe and I think she’ll be pleased with mine. It’s loaded with vegetables and is tastily flavoured. Add some good bread and wine and say ole!
Grilled Vegetable Paella with Artichokes, Olives and Peas
There’s a rainbow of colour in this vegetable-rich dish.
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: About 40 minutes
Makes: Four servings
For the grilled vegetables
8 (1/2-inch thick) slices zucchini
8 (1-inch thick) onion wedges
6 medium mushrooms, each halved
8 (1-inch thick) wedges red or yellow bell pepper, or a mix of both
2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preheat your grill to medium-high. Place the vegetables and mushrooms in a bowl and toss with the oil, salt and pepper. Grill the vegetables and mushrooms one to two minutes per side, or until lightly charred and just tender. Set on a platter and set aside until needed.
For the paella
1 tsp saffron threads
2 Tbsp boiling water
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 ripe on-the-vine tomatoes, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
4 cups vegetable stock, plus more if needed
1 1/2 cups Spanish rice (such as Bomba), Italian-style risotto rice (such as Arborio), or long-grain white rice
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 (14 oz./398 mL) can artichoke hearts, each quartered
16 to 20 black or green olives
1/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Crumble the saffron into a small bowl, pour in the boiling water and let steep five minutes.
Place the oil in a paella pan or large (12-inch wide) skillet and set over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic and cook three to four minutes. Add the tomatoes, paprika, oregano and cumin and cook three to four minutes more, or until the mixture is very tender and almost sticky. Add the rice and cook and stir two minutes more.
Mix in the four cups of stock, steeped saffron, salt and pepper, increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and gently simmer for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the rice is firm/tender and still slightly wet (add a little more stock if it is not).
Nestle the artichokes, olives and grilled vegetables into the rice. Cover and cook 5 minutes more, or until the vegetables are heated through. Sprinkle on the peas, cover and let the paella rest a few minutes off the heat before serving, sprinkled with parsley.
Pudding mix followup
Two weeks ago, I answered a request from reader Judy Westhaver. She was looking for a pudding recipe for her son, a lighthouse keeper on Haida Gwaii. Because of his isolated location, he buys his food supplies in bulk. He likes to cook things from scratch and was looking for a pudding mix he could blend, store and have at the ready to turn into pudding. I came up with a tasty recipe, but after the article was published two readers sent me recipes for pudding that I think line up better with what Judy and her son were looking for. They are below.
Cornstarch Pudding
The slightly adjusted recipe below was originally published in the 1938 edition of Five Roses Flour: A Guide to Good Cooking. Reader Ann Scarfe sent it to me and said her mother made it for her when she was a child.
Her favourite variation was when she sprinkled brown sugar on the warm pudding, let it melt, and then grated on some fresh nutmeg.
For butterscotch pudding, Ann says her mother melted 2 Tbsp butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar together and added this to the cooked pudding. For chocolate, she added 2 to 3 Tbsp of cocoa to the sugar/cornstarch mixture.
Preparation time: A few minutes
Cooking time: About 30 minutes
Makes: Four servings
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Few grains salt
1/4 cup cold milk
2 cups scalded milk
Mix sugar, salt and cornstarch with the cold milk in the top of a double boiler. Add a little of the hot milk, stir well. Now mix in the rest of the hot milk. Stir over boiling water until mixture thickens. Cover and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly before adding flavouring (see below). Pour into cold wet moulds.
Options: Beyond the ways Ann Scarfe noted, you could flavour the pudding in the recipe introduction; here are three other ways the pudding can be flavoured or adapted.
• The cooked cornstarch pudding may be flavoured, to taste, with vanilla, chocolate or caramel syrup, almond extract, or lemon or orange rind.
• For a thinner pudding, use only 3 Tbsp cornstarch.
• For a richer pudding, use only 3 Tbsp cornstarch and cook the pudding as directed.
Before removing from the heat, add a little of the hot pudding mixture to one or two slightly beaten egg yolks. Return to double boiler and cook for three minutes longer. Remove from the heat.
If desired, stiffly whip the egg white(s) and fold them into the mixture before moulding.
Chocolate Pudding Mix
This recipe comes from reader Darralyn Bonnor. You can make the pudding mix ahead of time and store it in an airtight container at room temperature, at the ready to turn into tasty pudding when needed.
Preparation time: A few minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Makes: About eight cups pudding mix
For the pudding mix
3 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups cornstarch
2 1/2 cups cocoa
1 tsp salt
Mix ingredients together and store in airtight container.
To make four servings of pudding:
1 cup pudding mix
2 1/2 cups milk (or powdered milk equivalent mixed with 2 1/2 cups water)
Thoroughly combine pudding mix and milk in a pot. Heat, stirring often so pudding does not burn, until thickened, and then cook two to three minutes more. Pour into serving dishes and cool.
Eric Akis is the author of the hardcover book Everyone Can Cook Everything. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
