Week 15: One Pot - Paella

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!

Week 2 Sriracha Fried Rice

So, when planning last nights Orange Chicken we intended to pair it with a fried rice.  We did all the shopping  for our orange chicken and thought "There is no reason to buy rice, we have a 10lb bag of it at home!" We got home and I spent the next 30 minutes searching our house in a huff.  The rice is nowhere to be found.  Nowhere. Grrr.  I was baffled - and still am.

When out on the town today, we picked up a small bag of jasmine rice (I will find that 10lb bag) and when we got home I got out the rice maker to get rolling.  Without paying close attention, I washed the rice and poured it into the rice maker, then started measuring and adding water. A small pool of water appeared underneath the rice maker and I thought "huh".  It wasn't till Andrew said to me "Oh god. Unplug it!!" that I realized what was happening.  I forgot to put the bowl into the ricer maker and had poured the rice and, more tragically, the water directly into the electrical hot plate which has a hole into the inner workings. 

Well, shit. Andrew handed me towels to sop up the water and after a few beats said, "Let me know when it is ok to laugh." Such a good husband. 

He spent the next 30 minutes taking the whole thing apart and getting all the rice and water out of the insulation, the levers, the wires, the crevices, etc. A little red wine, a pair of pliers, a screw driver and a project and Andrew is pretty much in heaven. He managed to get it all fixed and we were back up and running in just under an hour.   (I managed to also drop an egg on the floor and defrost frozen turkey incorrectly... I was in fine form tonight.)

On to the tonight's dish: I made Sriracha fried rice! Some peas and carrots, fish sauce and soy sauce, an egg and some chilled rice = DELICIOUS.  Somehow, I had never made fried rice before, but it turned out well and I plan on making this easy dish a more regular item in our house. 

I cannot wait to eat the leftovers.