Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Cèpage et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s wine and food blog. Long hours at work and business travel have kept us from blogging for a few weeks, but we’re back with lots of interesting food ideas and delicious wines.Today we’re describing vegetarian paella, our latest meatless meal. We love authentic Spanish-style paella with chicken, shellfish, or pork, but I recently had a vegetarian version at Las Ramblas, a Spanish restaurant inside the Hotel Contessa on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. It was delicious and interesting, so we decided to give it a try here at home, inspired by a recipe from Martha Rose Shulman’s book on Mediterranean cuisine. Martha Rose is a regular contributor to the food section of the New York Times. We enjoy her columns and recipes. The vegetarian paella turned out great, nicely seasoned but not hot and spicy.
The first time I made paella, the traditional kind with chicken, shrimp, and pork, I used a large frying pan, which worked fine. Since then, we bought a couple of Spanish paella pans at Sur La Table (13.5 inches, $19.95, http://www.surlatable.com). As you can see in the photo, it is a wide, shallow pan with a dimpled bottom for more uniform heating. This size is plenty for our needs, even for a couple of guests, but we have seen paella being prepared in enormous pans. When traveling in Provence a year ago, we saw paella cooking at an outdoor farmers market. Brian says the pan was larger than a bicycle wheel, a little smaller in width than a child’s inflatable wading pool, tended by a gregarious man wielding a large wood paddle for stirring. Huge! I really like the authentic paella pan. Everything fits so well. The shallow depth makes it easy to handle and no steaming occurs due to the higher sides of a frying pan. If you don’t have a paella pan, don’t let that keep you from trying anyway.
The ingredients for this dish are eggplant, vegetable broth (which I bought in a carton), olive oil, onion, artichoke hearts, cannellini beans, red bell pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, asparagus, garlic, chopped tomatoes, paprika, rice, and saffron.
I cubed the eggplant and put it into a colander with salt to get rid of some of the moisture so it cooks up nicely. I did this first and let it sit while I chopped the other vegetables and got organized.
I sautéed the onion in olive oil in the paella pan, then added the artichoke hearts, red pepper, zucchini, mushroom, asparagus, and eggplant. This cooked together for about 20 minutes.
Then, I stirred in the garlic, salt and pepper, and cooked for only about a minute. The tomatoes and paprika went in, and cooked 10 minutes more.
Saffron is a topic of debate. Some Spaniards insist that paella must include saffron, which gives a distinctive yellow color to the dish. Others says it is not essential. It is the world’s most expensive spice by weight and comes from the saffron crocus flower of Southwest Asia. I left it out of the paella I made in the past, but included it in this recipe. The photo below is a picture of saffron I bought for this dish. It came in a 0.06 oz jar, wrapped in paper, and cost about $18 at my local grocery store (Kroger).
At this point I added the rice, beans, and saffron. After that all cooked for a few minutes, I poured in the vegetable broth. The whole mixture simmered (stirring once), then I reduced the heat to low. It cooked for 20 more minutes without stirring. I turned off the heat and covered it tightly with foil and let it stand for 10 minutes.
Ready to serve! We decided that next time it could stand a little more broth (and then cook a little longer) as the rice was a bit al dente.
The vegetarian paella turned out great! It was delicious and satisfying. We really didn’t miss the chicken or shellfish, although it is certainly delicious in the more traditional style, as well. This is not a hard dish to prepare. Chopping the veggies is the most time-consuming part. Total cooking time is less than an hour and a half. Now to Brian and the wine.
We enjoyed the paella over two nights, so I will describe two wines. I must say, however, that the paella was better the first night. The rice became sticky and starchy by the second day, but it was still good for an easy dinner of leftovers. The first wine was a rosé by La Vieille Ferme. This wine from Ventoux in the Southern Rhone Valley of France could also be considered a Provence rosé. It is perfect for summertime quaffing on its own and with hearty fare like the paella. It is light, brisk, refreshing, not complicated or ponderous, just easy to enjoy. It is an excellent value and widely available. We like to keep a few rosés on hand and this is one of our favorites. Here are my notes on the wine.
La Vieille Ferme Cotes du Ventoux Rosé 2010. This is a nice, refreshing rosé, great during summertime and pairs nicely with a vegetarian paella dish. It had nice aromas of berries and flowers, good acidity and light body on the palate with berry, cherry, melon, and spice notes. Nicely balanced, not too complex, easy to drink. Blend of Grenache and Cinsault, 13.5% alcohol. $11 at Colony Wine Market in Madison.
The second wine was a crisp, refreshing Grüner Veltliner from Domäne Wachau in the Wachau region of Austria. It is a lovely dry white wine, which we enjoy year round with a variety of dishes, but like the La Vieille Ferme, it is ideal for summer enjoyment. It has the citrus and floral notes of many similar whites, but a signature white pepper element on the finish that makes it distinctive. It is a bit more expensive at about $17, but still a good value and widely available. Here are my notes on the Grüner.Domäne Wachau Grüner Veltliner Wachau Federspiel 2010. Always delightful with aromas of grapefruit and flowers. The palate shows crisp acidity, spiciness, and citrus and mineral notes. “Federspiel” refers to an intermediate level of ripeness at harvest in Austria. Beautifully balanced, modest complexity, medium length, very solid everyday wine. 12.0% alcohol. We paid $17 at Colony Wine Market in Madison.
That’s our post for today. We hope you enjoyed it. Here’s a final look at a delicious, healthy dinner of vegetarian paella and refreshing wine at our house here in Raymond. Keep checking back for more articles about food and wine at Cèpage et Cuisine. In the meantime,
Cheers!
Mary♥Brian
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