Yonks and yonks ago, back when we were just dating, I cooked a paella dish for Annie. I don’t remember what went in it but it probably had chicken, Portuguese sausage, and jasmine rice (at the time, I didn’t know about arborio). It was successful, and the rest is history.

We hadn’t made it since but an opportunity arose when Fosco issued a “smackdown challenge” over on the alt.binaries.food newsgroup. Annie rose to the challenge and, basing her recipe off of one found on the America’s Test Kitchen website, produced this masterpiece.

Here are the steps:

1. Marinate prawns and chicken thighs in olive oil and garlic

2. Cut red bell pepper into strips and cook; remove from pan

3. Brown chicken pieces; remove from pan. Brown chorizo; remove from pan

4. Cook chopped onion until soft, then toss in chopped garlic. Stir in 1 can diced tomatoes until thickened.

5. Stir in arborio rice until coated. Add chicken broth, wine, saffron, bay leaf, and salt. Return chicken and chorizo, bring got boil then cover and place in oven until rice absorbs water.

6. Add prawns, mussels, bell peppers, and peas and return to oven until the mussels have opened.

Aloha, Nate