Recipe: Vegetable Risotto Paella

I have finally been able to start cooking again, and my first venture back into the kitchen was pretty tasty. I made a variation of the Vegetable Couscous Paella on Epicurious, but instead of couscous, I used risotto. It took a little bit of adjusting to the recipe, but it was a big hit. Full recipe is below the jump.


Ingredients:
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
2 cups canned vegetable broth
3 large plum tomatoes (about 10 ounces), seeded, coarsely chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup drained canned garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1/2 cup chopped peeled carrot
1/4 teaspoon crushed saffron threads
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper


1 1/2 cups (about 9 1/2 ounces) risotto
2 cups canned vegetable broth
3 tbs butter
3 tbs olive oil
½ onion
6 canned artichoke hearts, quartered
Sliced red bell pepper rings
1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges
Chopped fresh parsley

Preparation:
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and chopped bell peppers; sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and paprika and sauté 1 minute. Stir in broth and next 6 ingredients. Bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook 5 minutes to blend flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Take the pot off the heat and drain the vegetables in a strainer over a pot, retaining all the cooking liquid. Add additional vegetable stock until there is a total of 4 cups of liquid. In a separate pot sauté 1/2 onion in 3tbs olive oil, 3tbs butter for about 3 minutes until the onions are just about translucent. Next add, 1 1/2 cups risotto, sauté for 2 minutes. Then slowly add one cup a time of the vegetable cooking liquid, stirring and cooking constantly until the liquid has been absorbed. When you are down to the last half cup, integrate all the vegetables into the risotto, then add the last cup of liquid, stirring until all the liquid has been absorbed. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl. Arrange artichoke hearts, red bell pepper rings and lemon wedges atop paella. Sprinkle parsley over and serve.