Paella Style Rice with Shrimp

When you insert the word 'Paella' into a meal that I get to eat, I tend to get excited.  I also tend to smell-o-vision of saffron/rosemary/lemon scents wafting from the pan. This was our second meal from Blue Apron and it left us with mixed reviews. Here is what you will need on your cutting board (makes 2, 545 calorie servings ~ 21 Weight Watchers points per serving ~ expect to take 45 minutes to make);

• 8 Ounces of Shrimp
• 3/4 cup Bombay rice
• 1-15 Ounce can of Diced Tomatoes
• 5 Ounces Brussels Sprouts
• 2 Carrots
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 2 Parsnips
• 2 Scallions
• 1 Spanish Onion
• Spices (smoked paprika, ground turmeric, dried oregano, saffron powder, ground bay leaf, and dried orange peel).
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil

You can find the full recipe over at Blue Apron, you do not need to be a subscriber to access the link. Couple of things that might help your experience;

• Though not specifically suggested, I used a stainless steel wok to cook this. You will be grateful for extra real estate that can be used to combine everything.
• I doubled the amount of garlic (4 cloves instead of 2) and thought that worked well.
• Prepping the sprout leaves felt overly complicated.  If I make this again, I am just going to them through the food processor.
• Salt and pepper aggressively when prompted to do so. This helps things taste better and this recipe has a lot of bulk ~ so you are going to need more than what you feel is natural.
• I saw a tip online about cutting up one of the seasoned shrimp and cooking with the aromatics for an additional layer of flavor (I will definitely give this a try the next time).

Individually, we like each of these ingredients well enough but, I think it was a mistake to have called this a Paella when it really came across as more of a Goulash. Though filling, we have mixed reviews...I didn't think that the flavors married very well and Rose loved it.  I suspect that I was expecting 'Paella' and this did not measure up to that experience in my head.  Likely, I will like it better the next time but, I am filing this under 'Goulash' just to be sure.