Spring Slow Cooker Paella — Take One
Last week Erin at The Healthy Apron posted a tasty-sounding paella recipe. At the end of her post she suggested that this could be made more convenient by cooking it in a slow cooker. Well, isn’t everything cooked in a slow cooker more convenient?;) I can’t resist a challenge, so I did a some reading to prime myself on Paellas.
At first glance the dish seemed like a Spanish-style risotto. During the winter I made a porcini and walnut risotto and a brightly coloured beet risotto in the slow cooker, so why not try a Paella?
According to Wikipedia, traditionally Paellas contain seafood, meat, beans, rice, tomatoes, green vegetables and saffron. I broke the rules here by leaving out the seafood. I haven’t cooked fish in our crock-pot yet, plus I don’t know a good source of sustainable seafood, (if you know a place please let me know in the comments). Instead of adding shellfish I combined chicken, lamb and Spanish chorizo sausage. According to The Paella professor it is less overpowering than the Mexican variety. For the vegetables, I added asparagus and green beans because they look so good at the market these days that I couldn’t resist.
So how did the paella turn out? Honestly, I was a little disappointed at first. I was worried I was going to be stuck with a huge pot of food that no one would want to eat. All I could think of was all those ingredients going to waste… but then I tasted a little bite. The rice was meaty and spicy without being too hot, and the green beans and red peppers added nice contrast. Yes, the rice was a little mushy for my liking, and the colour from the saffron wasn’t as rich as I expected but it still tasted really good.
Tonight, we fried up the leftovers to re-heat them and it really brought the flavours to life and improved the texture. So, you may not want to make this for guests, but it is a great tasting weeknight dish.
Spring Slow Cooker Paella
Prep:
30 minutes
Cook:
4 hours (low)
Yield: 8 servings (prepared in a 6.5 quart slow cooker)
- 1 1⁄2 cups black beans
- 3 tbsp coconut oil or butter
- 3 tsp salt
- 1⁄2 lb lamb stewing meat, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
- 1 lb Spanish chorizo sausage
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 5 cloves minced garlic
- 1 lb diced Roma tomatoes (5-6 tomatoes)
- 1⁄2 tsp paprika
- 1⁄2 tsp crumbled saffron threads
- 3 cups water
- bay leaf
- 1 1⁄2 cups arborio rice (or other short grain rice)
- 1 cup chopped green beans (1-inch pieces)
- 1 cup chopped asparagus (1-inch pieces)
- 1 cup sliced red bell pepper (1-inch wedges, cut from pole to pole)
- 1⁄2 cups freshly chopped parsley
Soak dry beans under 1-2 inches of water overnight (or boil for 10 minutes). Drain and rinse. Place in the slow cooker insert.
Pat the lamb dry, toss with 1½ tsp salt.
Cut the chicken thighs into 1-2 inch pieces, toss in the remaining 1½ tsp salt.
Melt 1 tbsp butter or coconut oil in the pan and brown the lamb over medium-high heat. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Brown the chicken in the pan and transfer to the bowl with the lamb.
Reduce heat to medium. Add the sausage and cook, stir occasionally until browned and the fat begins to render, 4-5 minutes. Add to the bowl with the lamb and chicken.
Add onions to the pan and cook, stirring frequently until softened. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant.
Stir in the tomatoes, paprika, and saffron. Add the water and bay leaf. Stir together.
Melt 2 tbsp of coconut oil. In a bowl, stir the coconut oil into the rice until it is coated. Pour into the slow cooker over the beans.
Add the browned meats and all the ingredients in the pan to the slow cooker. Place the pepper, green beans and asparagus on top.
Cook on low for 4 hours.
Stir all the ingredients together and plate, garnish with freshly chopped parsley.
