Veggie Paella

I had Nick and Jojo, back from the Virginia GOTV trenches, and Rupali and Nathan over for dinner last night and duh it was super fun and also yummy. Both couples got married this year and Nick and Rupali are in PhD programs at the NerdCircus so lots of fun things to talk about. N&J brought "good" and "bad" lettuce (both yummy!) and R&N made a cinnamon-nutmeg-chocolate cake which I am scarfing down at lunch today.

Kima showed off her brand new black fleece sweater which is keeping her super cozy, and I made veggie paella, which is both dairy-free and vegetarian! Well except that I used chicken stock, but Rupali doesn't mind, fortunately :)

Veggie Paella from Bon Appetit
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) couscous
* 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.

Mix couscous into vegetable mixture (I added more broth before this and I think it helped a lot!). Cover and simmer 1 minute. Remove pot from heat. Let stand covered 5 minutes. Fluff couscous with fork. Let paella stand covered 5 minutes longer; fluff with fork again. 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.