What Am I To Do With All This PAELLA? Eat it of Course!

Here is a new dish I have never tried before, Paella, a Spanish dish of rice, saffron, chicken, sausage, seafood and spices.  I usually don't venture too far out when cooking dinner, but this dish was so easy and it's all in one pan.  The family loved it, although they wanted it to be spicier, I don't like too much hot and spicy foods, but I passed the test with them and will make it again.

What started this dish is a little kitchen store I purchased the spices in when we were in Lititz.  I thought what the heck I'll try anything once, and I did and it was so delicious.  I combined a few recipes together to make it and it turned out great.  It's not hard to put the dish together so don't shy away from making it, you're using one pan.  Recipe below.

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So here are my ingredients - olive oil, chorizo sausage, chicken, shrimp, onion, garlic, parsley, saffron, my spice packet, salt, pepper, tomatoes, rice, lemon and peas.

For those who don't know what saffron is or looks like, this is it.  Saffron threads, as they are called, are the stamens from a small purple crocus.  I purchased my saffron from a spice store in Philadelphia.  As you can see you don't get much for the price, but also don't need much of it to color or flavor your food.  Saffron when steeped turns food a golden color, that's unique about it and what it's used for.  You can also purchase saffron in a powder form.

 Cooked up the chorizo, set aside.  Chorizo is a somewhat spicey Spanish sausage.

 Rub spices on the chicken and cook skin side down until crispy.

 The whole house smelled so good from the fragrance of the spices!

Sweet onion, garlic, parsley and lemon.

 Sauteing onion, garlic and parsley.

 Add in the tomatoes until caramelized, looking so good, and smells even better!

 Toast the rice and add water.  Put the chicken, and sausage back in and let simmer.

 In the last few minutes add the shrimp and peas.  Garnish with lemon slices and serve.

 See, I told you it was easy!  Look how good this looks for a weeknight dinner, AND it's something different to serve your family.

 PAELLA

Ingredients

Spice mix, recipe below

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 chicken thighs, skin on
3 chorizo sausages, cut in thick slices

2 tablespoons Paella spice mix 

salt and pepper

1/2 sweet onion, diced

2 big cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

1 - 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained

3 cups medium grain white rice

5 cups water

pinch of saffron threads

1/2 lb raw jumbo shrimp

1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed

lemon wedges for garnish

Paella Spice Mix Blend - If you don't have paella spice on hand

a generous pinch of saffron threads

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

2 teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more if you like more heat

Mix together and store in a tightly sealed jar.

Directions for Making Paella

Heat the olive oil in a large shallow pan over medium high heat.  Rub about a teaspoon of spice mix on the skin side of the chicken thighs, let them sit.  Saute the sausage until it is browned.  Remove from pan, set aside. Add the chicken skin side down in the pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper on the side that is up.  Cook until the skin is crispy, all sides are browned, and juices are clear, turning as it is cooking.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Saute the onions, garlic and parsley for about 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes and remainder of spice mix and cook until all is caramelized.  Toss in the rice, stir to coat with juices and toast it. Pour in the water and add the saffron threads, simmer for about 10 minutes, gently stirring as it is cooking, so the rice absorbs the juices. Add the chicken and sausage back in and tuck the shrimp down in the rice so it cooks, they don't take long to cook, 7-8 minutes. Gently shake the pan and let it simmer, do not stir, and let it cook for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, toss in the peas to heat them through. Garnish with chopped parsley, fresh lemon slices and serve. There will be a nice crust of rice on the bottom of the pan that tastes wonderful! Makes 4 servings.  

Short Vacations

The hubby is on vacation this week so we are doing a few little day trips to places we have never visited.  The first day trip stop was to Hershey, PA, who wouldn't want to go to the land of chocolate!  It was a long trip, but we started out at Giannotti's for a great big delicious breakfast that got our day and our ride started. 

Our long trek started at about 8:30 in the morning, traffic was not too bad, and after stopping for breakfast the traffic was gone.  So off to Hershey we went, the hubby hasn't had a whole week of vacation in years.  We don't take vacations, you will all understand if you have children still in college, it just doesn't happen.  We enjoyed our day just being us for a change without anyone else, that also doesn't happen when there are kids at home.  I love my kids, but I have been raising kids for 40 years!  Yes my oldest is going to be 40 this year, and the youngest just turned 21 last week! Who does that?  ME! Crazy life I lead isn't it.  While in Hershey we visited Hershey Gardens and The Hershey Museum. 

Our second stop on the same day was Lititz, PA, a lovely little town with lots of quaint shops and friendly people.  The first store I really had to visit was OLIO.  The whole store, is a feast for your taste buds of flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegars.  They also sell scented olive oil soaps and lotions, cookbooks, pottery, pasta, pasta sauces and honey.  I fell in love with the store, too bad it's a long ride there or I would visit it everyday.

We were looking for a great place to have lunch, and the owner of the olive oil store recommended the Tomato Pie Cafe.  Delicious food and great sized portions, I ordered a grilled mixed cheese sandwich on sour dough bread (my favorite bread) and a house salad (that was huge by the way) with a sweet honey mustard dressing.  It also came with an herbed scone and pickles.  My drink was an herbed lemonade that was awesome.  It was homemade and had just the right amount of flavor and sweetness.  The hubby ordered a turkey, cheese, tomato and lettuce sandwich and a mix of spring greens, pear, blue cheese and candied pecan salad with a vinaigrette and a strawberry banana smoothie.  We had our lunch alfresco on their brick patio that was just so cute, I could imagine eating there everyday too!

So upon entering the museum mock factory in Hershey, PA I noticed this sign, one side for men and the other for women.  Boy am I glad times have changed!

 There is a beautiful lake entering the The Hershey Gardens.

And stop and smell the roses, it's allowed.  A huge, huge rose garden on the left of the lake, the fragrance of all the roses is so awesome.  Usually you have to stick your nose in a rose to smell it, but not here, it is in the air and it is lovely! Thousands and thousands of them, all colors and varieties.

The children's garden was beautiful, every child should visit this place, lots to do.  This covered archway leads you to the garden.

Lots of fun things for children to do.

 Chocolate kisses anyone?

 Click on the pictures to enlarge it and you will see two giant praying mantises made out of junk, there are alot of architectural pieces like this throughout the children's garden for eye catching appeal.

This is an alligator, and a watering can with climbing ants, and flowers made out of saw blades.

A dragonfly and a huge spider.

 Then we entered the Japanese garden, a babbling brook led the way....

 Across the bridge and a gnarled Japanese maple tree.

 You will always find a cat and a bunny in your garden, so why not here!

This pagoda was surrounded by all kinds of herbs, household, cooking and medicinal, the fragrances were mesmerizing.

 This owl figurine was very large and so was this tree, the bench is dwarfed by it!

 The hibiscus were the size of large dinner plates.

Then it was off to Lititz, PA, where by surprise I found this signage on the main street.

OLIO, the olive oil store was fantastic!  This is what I purchased, as well as, a cookbook by Ina Garten.  Olive oil, sweet balsamic vinegar, strawberry balsamic vinegar, bread dipping herbs, orange ginger sugar and lavender sugar.  Both sugars I purchased will be used at my annual Christmas Cookie Baking Party, for dusting cookies for a new flavor.

Then of course we couldn't resist and had to stop at the Wilbur Chocolate Factory, for some sweet chocolaty goodies for the ride home.

I took a run around Zest! a cool kitchen store and found some interesting things - birthday napkins, creole seasoning and paella seasoning.  The owner there asked me if I ever made paella, I never had, so she offered me her recipe, so nice of her!  I told you the people were nice in this little town.

On the way out of town we stopped at the Tom Sturgis Pretzel Factory, for a huge box of hard pretzels (my family's favorite snack) and 2 fresh baked soft pretzels to eat on the way home, boy were we full after eating them.  We had a great day just spending time together, it's rarely done as we have a very busy house!  Up next, Gettysburg and York, can't wait!