VEGETABLE PAELLA

heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a pan, add the rice and stirring continuously, fry for 3 minutes until transparent

add the vegetable stock and the bay leaf and crumble in the saffron; cover and leave to cook for about 10 minutes when the rice will be part-cooked

roast the peppers in a preheated oven at 220C until the skins blister; take out, put into a plastic bag and leave to sweat; skin the peppers, halve and deseed them and cut into 1.5cm long pieces

scald, skin and deseed the tomatoes, then dice the flesh

peel and finely chop the onions and the garlic

trim the green beans and cut into 3cm long pieces; trim the leeks and cut into rings; peel the carrots and cut them into 4cm long matchsticks

heat the remaining oil in a paella or similar pan and sweat the onion and garlic for 5 minutes, over a low heat; stir in the paprika and cook briefly; add the beans, leeks and carrots and fry over a low heat for a further 5 minutes, then season with salt and pepper

add the part-cooked rice to the pan mixture, mix everything well together and cook over a moderate heat for about 15 minutes until cooked through

add the tomatoes, peppers and artichokes 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time; if the rice begins to dry out too soon, add a little more stock as required