All I can say is, Thank God it is Saturday ! What a week! I work so many hours and it has been so busy at both jobs this week and I am so thankful for the weekend. I was also out Thursday night and Friday night which didn’t help. Thursday I was out watching a friend sing, such a fantastic evening, such an amazing voice and then Friday night I decided that a visit to The Wire Mill was required, their new menu is absolutely fantastic and I had such a fab evening, tonight I am off out with the Girls so I am sure tomorrow will be a most welcome rest day.

As this week has been so manic a quick and simple recipe like this Veggie Paella was most welcome, I have so many new recipes to post but decided on this one today because it was so delicious that when I had finished I just wanted to have another bowl, it is absolutely gorgeous. Its very moreish, so be warned.

It is also a great dish to use up left overs in, at the end of the week, just before the Ocado delivery arrives and you have a fridge full of odds and ends you could just throw them all into this dish! No waste and you end up with a wonderful filling and healthy meal, what more could you want.

As you are aware, I am currently a Flexitarian… someone that is mostly vegetarian, trying to be vegan but doesn’t totally rule out meat and fish, so I made this dish meat free, but please feel free to add chicken, prawns and chorizo as they would be just fabulous.

So mix it up a little, make it your own and I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

Bon appetito

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 tbsp smoked paprika, thyme and garlic spice mix
800ml hot vegetable stock
A small pinch of saffron
250g Spanish paella rice
1 lemon, halved
1 x 280g jar Italian chargrilled peppers antipasto (yellow and red), drained and sliced
200g mixed asparagus, sugarsnaps and Tenderstem
½ x 28g pack flat-leaf parsley, chopped (I used coriander as I am not a huge parsley fan)

Heat the oil in a large deep, lidded sauté pan or paella pan. Add the onion, cover and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Stir in the smoked paprika spice mix.

Add a little stock to a bowl with the saffron; leave to infuse for a minute.

Add the rice to the pan and stir well. Increase the heat, pour over the saffron water and the rest of the stock. Finely grate in the zest from half the lemon. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the sliced peppers and mixed veg, cover and cook for 3-4 minutes until just tender.

Remove from the heat, add a good squeeze of lemon (from the zested half) and most of the parsley, stir with a fork and season to taste. Cover and leave to stand for 2 minutes.

Scatter with the remaining parsley and serve with the remaining lemon half, cut into wedges to squeeze over.

veggie paella