Pantry "paella"

Although this is far from an authentic paella, it was inspired by a variety of paella recipes (including one in the lovely cookbook that M gave me for my birthday!). All of those recipes looked delicious but I wanted to limit the ingredients to whatever I had on hand. My pantry was fairly well stocked, but it was stocked with such an odd mixture of ingredients (escargots? when did I buy those??). As a result this ended up being quite an eclectic dish, and one that was heavy on the seafood but light on the vegetables. Hmm, why is this suddenly reminding me of Spain?

Pantry "paella"

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Spolumbo chorizo, sliced
4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 small hot BC red peppers, sliced
2 lobster tails
1 lb green-lipped mussels
1 1/2 c squid (rings and tentacles)
can escargots
2 c rice (watch the cooking times if you use brown/wild)
3 1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c vermouth
1/2 tsp saffron threads
1/2 tsp hot paprika
3 bay leaves
parsley, minced
lemon wedges

Preheat the oven to 350. Saute the onion in olive oil in a dutch oven until it begins to soften, then add the garlic and the chorizo. Cook for a bit, then add the peppers and tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes have broken down into a sauce, then stir in the rice and cook for another minute or so. Add the liquid and the spices, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, cover, and bring to a boil. Place the dish in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove the dish, add in the seafood and escargots, and put back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes, or until the rice is cooked and the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the oven and let the paella sit for 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning, sprinkle with parsley, and serve with lemon wedges.

This turned out okay. Not fantastic, but okay. (Quite the ringing endorsement, isn't it? :-)