Recipe: Vegetarian Paella

My introduction to paella was unforgettable. I was studying in France for a semester, and one weekend I took an impromptu trip to Madrid by myself. I felt tunnel-visioned in regards to political history paper I was writing (I did a comparison between the German and French Resistance during World War II, which is a difficult topic to deal with before you consider the fact that I had to write it entirely in French), so I decided to best way to relax would be to get out of town for a long weekend. The hostel I stayed in was a little hole-in-the-wall on a quiet street in the downtown area of the city. After my first full day in the city, which I spent going to museums and taking long walks through parks, I went down to the bar in the hostel's basement to unwind. I walked up to the bar to get a drink, and was given said drink, along with a bowl of vegetarian paella. It was so incredible, and to this day I always think of that trip whenever I see paella on a menu.

Recently, I've been on a soup kick for almost a month, so in order to mix things up a bit, I decided to make vegetarian paella for the first time. Not only was it tasty to me, but the omnivorous friend I shared it with one night practically ate his entire dish in two minutes flat.

The nice thing about vegetarian paella is that its complex flavors don't involve complex preparation. Once the vegetables are chopped and other ingredients are measured, there's a lot of waiting around. Furthermore, it's pretty budget-friendly. The most expensive ingredient is saffron, and any good chef will have that in their pantry already.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped (yields 1 cup)
6 green onions, sliced
3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp crumbled saffron threads
1 cup short-grain brown rice
3 cups broccoli florets
1 cup baby peas (I used frozen, since I already had them in my freezer)
1 cup halved grape tomatoes
1 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 cup chopped marinated artichoke hearts
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

directions:
1. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add bell pepper and green onions; cook 5 minutes. Stir in broth, garlic, and saffron; bring to a boil. Sprinkle rice over ingredients, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 10 minutes.
2. Sprinkle broccoli, peas, tomatoes, mushrooms, and artichokes over rice. Cover, and cook paella 8 minutes, or until rice is tender. Remove from heat, and let rest, covered, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
3. To serve, spoon paella into 6 bowls, and garnish each with lemon wedges and parsley.

Serves 6