Thursday, May 21, 2009

Crockpot Paella



Yep it's crock pot time again. This week for my entry to Thoughtless Thursday's at Pots and Plots I wanted to feature this yummy Paella recipe that I threw together in the crock pot. I know it's better to just use up all the cans and bags of regular rice I have piled in my food storage but I must admit I sometimes stock up on those preseasoned rice boxes when they are on sale. This recipe uses the Spanish rice boxes, and although I was short a box I substituted another flavor and some regular rice to make up the difference. Why am I spilling my haphazard cooking guts here? First, to explain any difference in appearance you may have with your results and second to prove that it's OK to fudge the ingredients with comparable items from the pantry. I did add the shrimp. I am a firm believer that Paella should have some seafood but you are certainly welcome to stick to the original recipe found below.

Tip: I used reconstituted dried green peppers that were prechopped. Once they were rehydrated I drained and used as normal peppers. These dried peppers are a new addition to my food storage and I wanted to see how they worked. They worked just fine in this paella. I bought them for a ridiculously low price along with some other dried herbs and spices from San Francisco Herb Company.

Paella
Recipe slightly altered from All You magazine.

2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 lb chicken or turkey sausage, sliced diagonally
1 Onion, finely chopped
2 Cloves garlic
1 Cup green or red peppers chopped (I used 1/2 cup dried reconstituted to 1 Cup.
4 Cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 14 oz Can tomatoes
1 16 oz package of Spanish Rice mix (this is not those little boxes)
4 oz cooked ham, chopped
1 Cup frozen peas.
1 pinch saffron (optional)
1/2 tsp chili powder (optional)
Salt to taste
1/2 lb shrimp (optional)
Cook sausage in 1 Tb vegetable oil over medium-high heat, turning until browned. Transfer to slow cooker. Add remaining 1 Tb vegetable oil to skillet and cook onion, garlic and bell pepper until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker. Add 1 Cup broth to skillet and turn to high heat. Bring broth to a boil stirring up browned bits. Pour into slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients except salt, peas and shrimp. Cook on low setting for 4 hours or until rice is tender. Stir in peas and cook an additional 15 minutes. Serve with cooked shrimp if desired.

I actually love this Paella for leftovers. I ate it for lunch for the next two days.

1 comment:

Alisa@Foodista said...

Hi Rachelle,followed you from the foodieblogroll and I have to say this Paella is making me hungry :) Hope you wont mind,I'd love to guide our readers to your site, just add this foodista widget to this post and it's all set to go, Thanks!

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