EVEN if you're not vegetarian, this veggie paella with saffron and lemon, is a lovely summer adaptation of the traditional Spanish dish.

Ingredients:

Sunflower or light olive oil, for frying,

One onion, finely diced,

Two garlic cloves, finely chopped, grated or crushed,

One red pepper,

One yellow pepper,

200g paella rice,

100g mushrooms, finely sliced,

Three tomatoes,

¼ tsp smoked paprika,

¼ tsp paprika,

Two pinches of saffron threads,

One litre of good veg stock,

100g green beans or sugar snaps, or a mixture of both,

Handful of parsley,

One lemon, cut into wedges,

Salt and pepper.

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a heavy-bottomed paella pan or large frying pan or flame-proof casserole. Add the onion and fry gently on a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring now and then.

Add the garlic and peppers to the onion and stir for two minutes. Add the rice, mushrooms, tomatoes,

both types of paprika and saffron.

Pour in three quarters of the stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep an eye on the liquid and top up with a little more stock or water as needed (you might not need it all).

The paella shouldn’t be sloppy at the end so add liquid sparingly during the last 10 minutes. While the paella is cooking, boil the green beans for three minutes, then refresh them in a bowl of very cold water.

If you are using sugar snaps, you can simply throw them in raw towards the end of cooking (see below).

After 30 minutes of cooking, check the rice is tender and cook a little longer if needed.

If there is any excess liquid, turn up the heat and stir to boil it off. Then cook very gently without stirring,

to create a crust on the bottom (it’s not very easy to achieve without a proper paella pan, though).

Stir in the beans and parsley. Turn off the heat and leave to stand for two minutes, then check the seasoning and serve with wedges of lemon.

Recipe from riverford.co.uk/recipes