Flavours and colours of autumn

This autumn vegetable paella serves 12, a great dish for a crowd. 8— Courtesy of Alexandra of In My Bowl, for Meatless Monday

Ingredients:

½ cup olive oil plus 1 tablespoon, divided

3 tempeh or other vegetarian sausages

1 large red onion, diced

6 large cloves garlic, crushed

1 bulb fennel with fronds and stems removed and bulb cut into thin strips

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into bite-sized cubes

450g brussels sprouts, halved

4 dried bay leaves

¾ teaspoon paprika

1½ teaspoons ground turmeric

¾ teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 cups short grain brown rice

1 cup dry white wine

3 pinches saffron threads

6 cups vegetable stock, brought to a boil

1 can artichoke hearts, thoroughly rinsed and drained

1 cup pitted black olives, sliced into thin rings

¼ cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Directions:

' In a medium skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat until just hot. ' Add sausages, coat with oil, then gently sear until golden brown — being sure not to over-rotate them so they don't fall apart (about 8 minutes).

'Remove sausages from skillet and carefully slice (on the diagonal) into ½ inch rings. ' Return rings to skillet and sear for an additional 2 minutes, or until all sides are well browned. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

' In a large paella pan or shallow skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat until just hot.

' Add onion and garlic and sauté, stirring frequently, until onion has softened (about 6 minutes).

' Add the fennel, squash, and brussels, and continue to sauté until all vegetables are soft and browned (about 25 minutes).

' Stir in bay leaves, paprika, turmeric and cayenne

' Continue to sauté until spices are just fragrant (about 30 seconds).

' Add the brown rice and stir thoroughly for 2 minutes before adding the white wine and saffron.

' Boil down for a minute, then add the boiling stock.

' Reduce the heat to low and gently simmer paella for 85 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Do not stir the rice.

' Remove the paella pan from the heat. Scatter the artichoke and seared sausage over the rice and cover the pan tightly with foil. ' Leave to rest for 10 minutes.

' Take off the foil. Scatter the olives on top of the paella and serve sprinkled with parsley. Enjoy!

' Serves 12

What is Meatless Monday?

Meatless Monday is a global movement with a simple message: one day a week, cut out the meat.

Launched in the United States in 2003, Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, working in collaboration with the Centre for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

The goal is to reduce meat consumption by 15 percent for personal health and the health of the planet.

Meatless Monday provides information, news, recipes and free promotional materials to help individuals, schools, restaurants, hospitals, food companies and communities to start each week with a commitment to eating healthy, environmentally-friendly, meat-free meals.

— www.meatlessmonday.com