Because I'm Tenacious

Remember my earlier post about my quest to perfect paella? I was at Ikea and found what I thought would be an excellent dish for paella. And it was, except for the fact that you can't use it on the stove top, which is where paella is perfected. So I modified, tweaked, and tried like heck (read that I tried once and got lucky) and managed to find a way to bake a pretty darned good paella.

Oven-baked Paella

Olive oil for sauteing
3 carrots, chopped
About a dozen black olives, sliced
1/2 cup onion, choppped
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp. vegetable bouillon (I used Better Than Bouillon)
Healthy pinch of saffron threads
1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated, reserving liquid
1 cup frozen corn
1/3 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 can diced tomatoes or 4-6 Roma tomatoes, chopped
3 shallots, sliced
1 cup brown rice
Salt and pepper

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in cast-iron skillet and saute carrots and onion for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and broth, olives, corn, tomatoes and shallots. Saute a little more until the tomatoes soften. Transfer to a shallow baking dish. Add rice and broth and cook in oven, covered with foil or lid, for 45 minutes. Remove cover and add peas to top. Replace cover and heat through for about five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This worked really well to help form that "crust" I've been trying for.

Paella!

There's this crepe restaurant in town that serves the most amazing vegetable paella I've ever eaten. And that steaming dish of paella, served in its own cast-iron pan, has had me on a mission for the last month to find both a perfect paella pan and to perfect a paella recipe that is completely vegetarian. (I suspect my favorite restaurant has used chicken stock.)

I'm still minus the pan, which means I'm minus that wonderful thick "crust" on the edges of the paella, but I've finally hit on a combination of ingredients that drench the thing in flavor (minus chicken stock, amen).

My Paella

1 Tbl. olive oil
2 carrots, sliced thin
1 cup corn
1 can diced tomatoes (soup-can size)
1 cup brown rice
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
1/2 tsp. saffron threads
1 cup frozen peas, thawed

Saute carrots in oil about 3 minutes. Add corn, tomatoes and artichokes and heat another 2 minutes. Add rice, broth, and saffron. Bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat, simmering 40-50 minutes. Add peas and steam for a few more minutes.