Vegetarian Paella

Hubby's stepdad makes the most amazing paella. Hands down, it is the best paella I've ever had anywhere! Totally inspired, I wanted to try to make my own. However, there were certain things I had to mull over before making the attempt. Hubby's stepdad uses seafood and meats in his paella. I want to attempt a vegetarian paella, which would taste fundamentally different from non-vegetarian paella. I also wanted to mix white rice with brown rice to make it a bit healthier.

Anyways, here's what I did:

Ingredients
1 can of artichoke hearts, artichokes cut into quarters
1 roasted red bell pepper, diced
1 zucchini, cut into half or quarter rounds
1/2 spanish onion, diced
5 small cloves of garlic, minced (we love garlic!)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups cooked rice
1 to 2 cups vegetable stock
5 sticks of small vegan breakfast sausages, cut into rounds or roughly chopped
1/4 to 1/2 cup tomato puree
a pinch of saffron
Hungaria paprika
salt and pepper

I didn't have a paella pan so I used my wok. Heat up the wok on medium high and then add some cooking oil. Once the oil is heated up, add the garlic. Once the garlic is fragrant, add the onions. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the zucchini and vegan sausage. Cook for another couple of minutes and add the tomato paste, tomato puree, artichokes and bell pepper. Toss for a bit and then add the rice, veggie stock, saffron, a sprinkling of paprika and salt and pepper. Toss until the broth is soaked up. Add more tomato puree or broth to get the taste and consistency you want.

The result? Not bad! Hubby thought it was pretty good for my first stab at paella. I would definitely make this again in the future!