Vegetarian Paella Salad

Do you match wine? I’m no wine expert, although I do certainly enjoy a nice chilled glass of white or rose, but I’ve recently started to notice how some wines compliment and some wines clash with certain flavours. The lovely people at Yapp Brothers challenged me and some other food bloggers to match a wine in the #DrinksOnUs competition. They asked me for my favourite dishes to cook and then suggested an appropriate match. I opted for fresh, herby flavours and was sent a stunning bottle of 2007 Pinot Blanc from the Alsace region of France. Wow, what a gorgeous wine; straw yellow, this soft and delicate dry white wine is filled with honey and floral aromas. It was a fresh palate bursting with ripe orchard fruit and so much flavour – it could certainly stand up to robust flavoured and herb scented foods.

Disclaimer: this is a sponsored post, whereby Yapp Brothers sent me a bottle of wine to match to a favourite dish. I hadn’t heard of Yapp Brothers before but am thoroughly impressed by their range, knowledge and customer service. If you need a specialist wine merchant then i would certainly recommend them.

I have to say this was a very exciting challenge for me – such a wonderful way to get the inspiration flowing and I’d love to be able to do more wine and food matching in the future. It’s so interesting how a wine can bring the taste of a dish alive or totally kill it dead.

Anyway, on tasting the full flavoured wine I thought it could stand up to some serious spices, and my thoughts turned to smoked paprika. It being a warm day ( and to be honest it was more convenient to make supper in advance!) I went along the salad route. Somehow these thoughts morphed into a paella salad of saffron and smoked paprika infused rice, studded with stunning fresh and marinated vegetables and lifted with a sherry vinegar dressing. More paella should be made as salads, it worked stunningly well!

The match with the wine was also rather pleasing ( remember I’m a novice at wine matching), but the robust, strongly flavoured white added to the subtle spicing of the rice dish and resulted in a well matched pair. Maybe you’ll give a try and tell me what you think?

Vegetarian Spanish paella salad (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

serves 4

1 cup rice
1 tsp smoked paprika
Pinch of saffron
8-10 small plum tomatoes
1 red pepper, cut into chunks and roasted for 20-30 mins in oil ( preferably chilli oil)
1/2 jar of marinated artichoke hearts
3 spring onions, sliced
Handful of blanched peas
Handful mixed olives
Large handful parsley, roughly chopped
Lemon wedges to serve

For the dressing:
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Pinch of saffron

1. Put all the dressing ingredients in a small saucepan and warm slightly to let the smoked paprika and saffron infuse, set aside.
2. Boil the rice in water flavoured with the other smoked paprika and saffron. Once cooked, toss in the dressing.
3. Leave to cool to room temperature and then stir in all the other ingredients. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
4. Garnish with parsley and lemon wedges