Easy Weeknight Seafood and Vegetable Paella

Recipe by Babaganosh

Treat yourself to a nice weeknight dinner with this Seafood and Vegetable Paella recipe. This dish has so much incredible flavor and is surprisingly easy to make.

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked white rice
• 2 cups chopped leeks ((1 small leek), chopped and rinsed)
• 2 cups chicken or fish stock ((I used sodium free chicken stock))
• 3 cups water ((see note below))
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• ½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes ((or to taste))
• 1 tablespoon salt ((or less to taste))
• zest of lemon
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley (, stems removed (plus more for garnish))
• 1 red bell pepper (, sliced into rings)
• 1 lb asparagus (, end removed and chopped into 1 inch pieces)
• 1 cup peas (, fresh or frozen)
• 1 lb seafood mix (, frozen or thawed (see note below)**)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-bottom pot, and add the diced leeks. Saute for 2 minutes, then add the rice, chicken/fish stock, and 3 cups of water.
2. Add the hot pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice, and turmeric. Add 1/2 tablespoon salt and stir well.
3. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes, or until the rice is almost done. After 15 minutes of cooking there should be just a bit of liquid remaining, and it would get cooked down in the next three steps. If the liquid gets absorbed too early, add a bit more water, a half a cup at a time.
4. Carefully taste the paella broth and see if you need more salt (don't burn your mouth!). If you need more salt, gradually add more (up to a tablespoon total) until it is to your liking.
5. After  the rice has been cooking for 15 minutes (when it is just about done), add the vegetables - bell peppers, asparagus, and peas. Stir them into the paella and cook for 3 minutes. At this point, look at how much liquid you have and turn up the heat if it looks like too much liquid. 
6. Stir in the seafood mix, making sure to cover all the seafood in the saucy paella completely. If your seafood is thawed, continue to cook for about 3 minutes, or until it is fully cooked. If your seafood is frozen, cook for about 5 minutes, or until everything is fully cooked. Remove from heat and garnish with fresh chopped parsley to serve.

View the recipe instructions at Babaganosh