"Paella" of some sort...

So I cook with my nephew about once a week. So the day before I'm frantically going around assembling ideas and ingredients. For some reason, this week I wanted to do Paella. Except, I am always doing little adjustments so that this dish ended up paella-like but not officially paella. Traditionally there should be mussels and chorizo sausage and saffron etc. except I don't like mussels and I'd rather use a different sausage... so this is what happened. It was delicious, but it was more of a paella-like risotto.

Also, a confession: I hate measuring things. I like to throw stuff in the pot. So this recipe is as accurate as I can make it. Cheers!

"Paella"

2 onions chopped
1 leek, white and light green parts only, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
5 Chicken - cut into smallish chunks. Legs are traditional, but I had chicken breasts so I used that. I did a quick marinade of salt, pepper, paprika and garlic.
1 package Shrimp - I used shrimp that was deveined and deheaded, but I had to take the shell off. I did a quick marinade in garlic. Honestly, use whatever shrimp style you're comfortable with. It's just shrimp. Delicious, delicious shrimp.
4 Sausages - cut into slices. Traditionally, chorizo sausage is used. But I already had Eastern European-style sausage in my possession, so... klobassa it is!
1 cup rice - I used brown rice
Hot chicken stock
1.5 cups frozen peas (1.5-ish. You can have more or less, you rebel)


Again, traditionally, a wide, pan (called a paella pan, natch) is used. I wanted to make a large batch, so I used a large pot for all of this. Saute the leek, red pepper and onion until they are soft. Add the garlic and cook slightly. Take the veg out of the pan and set aside.
Saute the sausages until deliciously browned. Set aside.
Brown the chicken breasts in batches, to not crowd them. Set aside.
If the pan is dry, add some olive oil.
Fry the rice in the oil for a minute.
Add the hot stock, about 3 cups.
Add the chicken, sausage and vegetables.
Simmer until stock is reduced and rice is cooked. Normally, the water is all cooked off, but I left a little bit. The dish became a little bit like a risotto.
In the last few minutes of cooing, add the shrimp and peas.
Season with salt, pepper and paprika to taste.
I garnished with sliced green onion.

Oh snap this was good!

Big hot mess

Mmmmm chicken and sausage and shrimp...

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. It was finished quickly, too!