Leek Paella

I love this dish, it's my regular  'go to' dish when I have any vegans or coeliacs coming. It's delicious, and very easy to cook.  Furthermore it's quite quick make and only uses one pan both of which are a bonus when you have guests you want to spend time with.

Who can eat it?

A lot of people! It's friendly to vegans, vegetarians, diabetics and coeliacs, it contains no egg, nuts or gluten (if you are careful with your stock). Rice is a universal low allergy food and it's rare (but not impossible!) to find anyone who is allergic to it however do be careful with the tomatoes as people can be allergic to those (though often not when skinned and cooked) and leeks are an allium so have to be avoided by anyone sensitive to onion. If there is an allergy to celery be careful on your choice of stock. Finally those who need a low fibre diet may find it a little hard to handle, swapping to white rice may help (if in doubt, ask!)

Pans at the ready!

For about 4 portions you will need:

350g of leeks
2 tablespoons of olive oil
4 medium tomatoes
225g  'easy cook' brown rice
500ml of gluten free vegetable stock or water

Trim the leeks taking off the base and the tough leaves at the top. Slit them length ways down the middle and give them a good wash then slice width ways into sections about 1cm across. (Or trim them, slice them then wash them, it's up to you!)

Heat the olive oil in the pan (I like to use my wok) and add the leeks. Cook gently (we don't want any burning!) for about 3 to 4 minutes. 

Add the rice and fry for another minute while stirring. I use 'easy cook brown rice' because it means that the final stage only needs 20 minutes, 'regular' brown rice tends to take about 45minutes to cook and will require more stock, about 600mls instead of 500mls.

Next add the tomatoes. Ideally you will have skinned and quartered these but frankly I have better things to do with my time so I either quarter and stick them in as they are OR I use 2 beefsteak tomatoes, cut each in half and starting with the flat side, grate them into the mixture. If you are careful the flesh will all come away and you will be left holding the skin of the tomato (and if you are really lucky you wont have taken off your skin either!)

Now add the stock. It's better to go for vegan stock if you can then you know that there wont be any hidden milk or egg products for either the vegans or coeliacs or anyone else allergic to that stuff. (Watch out for gluten and that sneaky veg celery which could be in either of these options and if that is a problem you may have to make the stock from first principles.) If you can't get any then plain water will work OK but you may want to add extra salt and pepper at the end.

Now bring the pan to a simmer, stick a lid on it and leave until the stock is absorbed and the rice is cooked.

Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Ringing the changes

If you have romantic memories of a bright yellow paella from a restaurant or even from a holiday in Spain (it's considered to be a traditional Spanish dish) then you might be interested to know that this is often achieved by adding a good portion of artificial colouring - not something I'd like to suggest you serve to someone with a sensitive tummy or a small child! However if you really like that bright yellow look then swap the stock for boiling water and soak a pinch or two of saffron strands in it for a couple of minutes before adding it too the pan. Alternatively add half a teaspoon of turmeric when you add the rice. To be honest I don't think either add much to the taste or do very much for the colour of the leeks and not everyone can tolerate them either and that's why I've always left them out of the main recipe.

Sometimes I like to substitute the rice in the dish for Quinoa. Quinoa is a seed not a grain and is also low allergy but unlike rice it is a 'complete' food meaning that it contains all the essential amino acids and can pretty much be considered to be a protein. It also has a lower glycemic index than rice which makes it more suitable for diabetics and it's lower in calories though proportionally it does contain more fat than rice. If you want to do this keep the amount of quinoa the same as the rice (100g) but before you add it to the pan measure it's volume in a jug then adjust your stock to twice the volume of the quinoa.

If it wont cause a problem for anyone at the table I like to add a splash of pale sherry at the end of frying the leeks. (I'll add sherry to any dish but it's not strictly vegan and others may just prefer you leave it out).

I do like this dish when it has added mushroom or butterbeans in. Just add roughly chopped mushroom at the same time as the leeks. For the beans add drained canned beans with the tomato.

You can increase the creaminess and the protein in this dish by stirring in tahini.

Garnish - 

Apparently it tastes nice with a garnish of flaked almonds, I wouldn't know being allergic to them, I use sunflower seeds instead. 
Watercress or a little parsley looks lovely and tastes nice. 
My littlest girl likes it with a sliced boiled egg on top but obviously that's not suitable for everyone.
I like a good strong vegetarian cheddar grated over the top (though clearly that's not vegan or coeliac friendly)
Believe it or not 'long life' ready grated 'parmesan' is available in the supermarkets and it doesn't actually contain any animal products (hate to think what it does contain though!)
And finally why not try a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of chilli flakes?



So there you go, one nice quick and easy recipe for the weekend! xx