Serves 2 (very) generously) – Don’t be put off by the long ingredient list – it is truly worth it!
1 tbsp olive oil
Med onion, finely chopped
1 small red and 1 small yellow pepper, cut into strips
Half fennel bulb cut into strips
2 garlic cloves crushed
2 bay leaves
Quarter tsp smoked paprika
Half tsp ground turmeric
Quarter tsp cayenne pepper
100 g paella rice
100 ml medium sherry
1 tsp saffron threads (optional)
450 ml boiling vegetable stock
200 g shelled broad beans
12 mini plum tomatoes halved
5 small grilled artichokes in oil, drained and quartered (or can use tinned artichoke hearts or fresh if you have them!)
15 pitted kalamata olives
2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
4 lemon wedges
Heat the oil in a large lidded frying pan, then gently fry the onion for 5 minutes. Add the peppers and fennel, and fry on a medium heat for 6 minutes, until soft and golden. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add the bay, paprika, turmeric and cayenne, stir, then add the rice and stir thoroughly for 2 minutes before adding the sherry and saffron (if using). Boil down for a minute, then add the stock and pinch of salt (if desired). Turn the heat as low as it will go and simmer very gently for about 20 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Do not cover the pan or stir the rice during this time.
Meanwhile put the broad beans in a bowl, cover with plenty of boiling water, leave for a minute, drain and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, squeeze each bean gently to remove its papery skin.
Contributor’s Note – the above process with the broad beans is frankly “a bit of a faff” – if your beans are really big and tough, maybe its worth it. But usually I just put my delicious freshly picked beans into the rice and veg mix for the last 5 minutes of the 20 minute cooking time – faff-free result!
Remove the pan from the heat. Taste, add more salt if needed, but without stirring too much. Scatter the tomatoes, artichokes (and broad beans if not taking the faff-free shortcut) over the rice. Cover the pan with foil and lid and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Take off the foil. Scatter the olives and parsley over the top of the paella and serve with lemon wedges.
Thanks to Ottolenghi for this delicious way of using broad beans – I always cook this dish with my first pick of the season and it feels like summer is really on the way.
Recipe courtesy of Mandy Rathbone