Partridge and parsnip paellish

I first discovered paella at work. It may sound strange and it was, because at the time I worked at a day centre for elderly with dementia and most of our food came frozen in bags, the beloved paella included. The question is if it really was paella. It said so on the bag, the rice was yellow and it had colourful bits in it, such as peppers, prawns and some sort of meat. Yes, it must have been paella, because it was lovely.

A few years after first discovering this wonderful dish, I was taken out for dinner to a Mexican restaurant and guess what. They served paella. Naturally I ordered a plate of it and tucked in, only to freeze with the second fork halfway into my mouth. Why did it not taste the same? As a matter of fact, it tasted nothing like the rice dish we served at work, not even remotely close. Total confusion. Paella is paella, right? Or isn't it?

To tell you the truth, I wasn't convinced about the Mexican meal. It was nice, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't right. Returning to work, I couldn't wait to split open that bag of frozen rice and heat it up in a frying pan until the aroma snuck into my nose and I could plate it up.

Time passed, we went to Florida and booked a table at The Rainforest Café. What an amazing place! Even better, they served paella. Want to venture a guess what it tasted like? Correct, like the one at the Mexican restaurant. How very strange. Was it possible that two restaurants had got it wrong? Just like last time, I enjoyed my meal, but my suspicion against the work-paella was growing. Was it an impostor, not the real thing?

There was only one way to find out, make it myself. After searching high and low for the best recipe, I ended up mixing several and making my own. 

The first time I made it, we were 9 people around the table and I made an enormous batch, using two massive paella pans (one electric, one on the hob), but it all went into the traditional pan before serving. Without patting my own back too much, it was fabulous, seriously tasty. I could have eaten that paella until the cows came home. 

So the question is, what did it taste like? Like the work or the restaurant version? I think you know the answer. As it turned out, the work paella was a cheap version with a tiny amount of turmeric, if not food colouring to make the rice yellow. Although nice, it wasn't a paella by a long shot.

Over the years I have followed my own recipe many times and it always comes out lovely, so lovely that I want to eat too much of it and I do, every time. With my current aim to remain the same size, eating my own weight of rice is probably not wise. 

Tweaking Time!

Why not replace the rice with roots? It has worked well in other dishes. While Iwas tweaking the recipe anyway, I could as well adapt it to what I had in the fridge and freezer at the moment. However, due to changing a fair few of the ingredients and not using everything that I normally would, I decided to change the name as well. 

May I please present

Paellish with partridge, parsnip and some other stuff

As you can see, I only used one pepper due to making smaller batch. Instead of chicken, I happened to have partridge fillets at home and I used Swedish troll sausage (not made from or by trolls...) which is similar in flavour to chorizo. The 'rice' was a mixture of parsnip, turnip and celeriac. As there was no proper paella rice to soak up the stock, I only used 150 ml instead of 2 litres. Finally, this was a seafood-free version. Why? It was a mid week meal and nothing fancy needed. Apart from those alterations, I followed the recipe above.

1. Prepare pepper, onion and garlic.

2. Prepare whatever sausage you are using.

3. Prepare whatever bird meat you are using.

4. Soften onion in a little oil. Add garlic and pepper.

5. Add sausage and meat.

6. While the sausage and meat is cooking, prepare the roots.

7. Blitz the roots in a food processor or give your arms a work out and grate them.

To tell you the truth, the main reason I bought a small food processor was to make vegetable rice. My shoulders couldn't take the constant grating movement. True story.

8. Break up the saffron strands and mix with the chicken stock. Remember to only use 150 ml if using vegetable rice, not 2 litres.

9. By now the sausage and meat should be almost cooked.

10. Add seasoning and liquid.

11. Cook until the meat is done, especially important if you are using chicken.

12. Add peas and cook until they are just defrosted. If you are using already defrosted peas, you can move straight to the next step.

If you are cooking with seafood, this is when you should add the prawns and mussels. They cook in minutes and you don't want overdo them.

13. Add the vegetable rice.

14. Gently fold the rice into the meaty mixture and cook until it has warmed through. 

It will take approximately five minutes if you fill the pan like I did, enough to wash up the equipment you have used. Clean kitchen, more enjoyment of the meal.

15. Serve and enjoy

I absolutely love this paellish and apart from the sausage, it is all healthy and I can eat it without worrying too much about my waistline. It also freezes well, so making a decent size batch ensures another tasty and effortless dinner down the line.

I have tried making paellish with cauliflower rice, but I think it comes out a little mushy. I much prefer root rice with more substance and less mushiness. Find what you like and experiment until you get it just right for you. Please let me know how you get on.