While it traditionally includes seafood, there is a restaurant near us that does a veggie paella that Andrew and I love. I decided to try and recreate it for this one pot challenge. It was pretty easy and flavorful and we had leftovers for days which is always awesome. This stuff just got better as it marinated in its spices. I modeled my recipe after the Easy Paella recipe found on the Martha Stewart site but definitely took liberties with what to ingredients add (like I said, I went with lots of veggies) and also went a little heavy with spices since several of the reviews said it was bland.
I started by sauteing chicken sausage and onion in a deep saute pan till the onions were clear and the sausage was slightly browned.
Next, I added green pepper and the rice for just a few minutes till the rice started becoming opaque.
I wasn't thinking when I added my rice and forgot that I was using brown rice which needs more liquid and takes longer to cook so I had to adjust throughout the cooking process. I really love brown rice though, so the end result was great, it just took longer than I had anticipated.
Next, I added a can of diced tomatoes...
2 Cups of chicken broth (later I added a third cup when the rice had soaked up all this and still wasn't tender - again, the brown rice issue)...
and a small can of green chilies, paprika, chili powder, tumeric, salt, and pepper then mixed it all up. I brought it to a boil, reduced it to a simmer, then covered it for about 40 minutes stirring occasionally.
I waited till the rice was pretty much done before adding zucchini and mushrooms. I wanted them to hold their shape and texture somewhat and didn't want total mush.
About 10 minutes later we had paella! We ate it on some awesome handmade (though not handmade by me!) chipotle tortillas.
It was filling and flavorful and I think we finally just finished those leftovers - 5 days later!
