Sunday Dinner #5

Above picture by Mundo Desconcertante
I wrote about my goals for this new year, one being homemade Sunday Dinners. We made a nice simple paella. It was OK. It seemed to be missing a little panache, but it was certainly passable. We ate in the kitchen, so I'm still aiming for the dining room, but we're getting there. It was a hearty, home cooked meal. By the way, please note that the paella in the above picture looks much better than mine, you may as well get a good looking version of this tasty dish!

I cut some boneless chicken breasts into strips, browned them on med-med high heat and removed it after about 10 minutes of cooking. Then I added some diced onion and garlic to that pan, and sauteed that for a minute. In a large, shallow baking dish, I poured out a package of family sized Vigo Yellow Rice. Added the onions and garlic to it, and added the amount of liquid the Vigo rice directions called for. I used water and chicken broth for that. I stirred it, and then stirred in one diced green pepper and one diced red pepper and the chicken, cooked, peeled and de-veined shrimp, and chorizo sausage. I did not use clams or mussels, but they are usually part of a traditional paella. I also added about half a 16 oz. package of frozen peas to the top and a jar of drained pimentos. I covered with aluminum foil and cooked at a temperature of 350 degrees for about an hour. I just realized that perhaps I should have added a little olive oil or butter, which the rice package directions call for, and I didn't add because I thought the fat and flavors from the sausage and chicken broth would be enough. It needed a little more something, but I enjoyed it well enough.

I like to make one dish dinners on Sundays. Sunday is the busiest day of the week for us, we have a morning and an evening service. We like the time in between to be quiet and easy for rest (NAPS!) and a little study and prep for the evening service. I like food that is delicious and simple to prepare with minimal clean up. That is why I like to use the crock pot on those days, but this paella is practically a one dish meal and works really well. I have an oven that I can program, so I set it for and hour of cook time for the paella and when I came home the oven was off, but keeping the food warm.
I modified the recipe from one I found in this cookbook.