I’m trying to get back into cooking again so for motivation I’ve turned to some of my favorite cook books. The problem, though, is I’m also trying very hard to follow the Weight Watchers programs and most of my favorite chefs do not cook “healthy.” So I was psyched when I found Ina Garten’s (aka The Barefoot Contessa) recipe for Easy Lobster Paella. With some simple tweaks and simply cutting down on the portion size, I was able to easily work her Easy Lobster Paella into the Weight Watchers program.
Ingredients
- 1T good olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (2 onions)
- 2 red bell peppers, cored and sliced into 1/2-inch strips
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 to 6 cloves)
- 2 cups white basmati rice
- 5 cups good chicken stock
- 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 pounds cooked lobster meat (in the winter, you’ll need about 6.75 pounds worth of lobster, in the summer, between 13 and 14 pounds worth of lobster)
- 1 pound hillshire farms tukey kielbasa, sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas
Directions
To start, I call our local supermarket and have them steam the right amount of lobsters for me and then I make Chris take out all the meat at home, once they’ve cooled. He’s become very proficient at it.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Heat the oil in a large ovenproof Dutch oven (e.g., le crusset). Add the onions and cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the peppers and cook over medium heat for 5 more minutes. Return the heat to low and add the garlic, and cook for another minute. Stir in the rice, stock, saffron, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and stick it in the oven. After 15 minutes, stir the rice with a wooden spoon uncovered for another 10 to 15 more minutes, until the rice is fully cooked (mine was cooked in closer to 10 minutes).
Remove the paella from the oven and add the lobster, kielbasa, and peas and stir gently. Cover the paella, and allow it to steam for 10 minutes. Serve hot.
Now the Contessa says this serves 6 people, but we found it to be enough to really serve 8 people (at least), and with a serving size of 8, this came in at 10 smart points on Weight Watchers – totally worth it! If you like, you can find this recipe along with lots of other great ones in Barefoot at Home. She’s one of my favorite go tos even for guests because her recipes always seem to come out perfectly without any tweaking. Personally, I’m going to start to go through all of her recipes to adjust the ones I can to better fit with my program.