Viva Paella !

Sorry for my silence , the past week has been CRAZY ! In between tutoring my daughter for her exams and catering to my customers demands , I also had to play nurse to my husband who was down with the flu . There was barely any time left for moi , so my dear friends blogging had to take the back seat while my full attention was focused on my family and business . However , I'm back and I'm looking forward to a much better week ahead of me . Since I mentioned that my husband was sick , I feel like I want to share with you a little something about this wonderful man . He is a man of action . He likes to keep himself busy with work , with some project of some sort , with his hobbies or his sports , etc . You would rarely find him idle . Actually , if ever you do find him idle then he's probably sick . Which is what he was last week and which is why it was so hard for him to just stay in the house and rest . Monday , he found himself with fever . He took some medication , lots of fluids and time off from work to rest . Tuesday , his fever went down and since he was " feeling much better " , he decided to go to the office in the morning and bike around the village in the afternoon to "sweat out " whatever fever was left . Wednesday , his fever was back with a vengeance ! By Thursday , I was able to convince him to go to a doctor for a medical check-up to rule out Dengue ( thank goodness the result for dengue was negative ! ) . The doctor's diagnosis : he had the flu , the doctor's orders : lots of rest , lots of fluids and meds. for fever as needed . So it was back to bed for him for te next three days . He was not a happy patient by the way , all this inactivity made him grouchy . My cure for grouchiness is usually food . I find that cooking my husband's comfort food never fails to put him back in a good mood . This time he requested for paella . My recipe for paella is actually my mother's and she taught this recipe to me way back when I was in high school . This is one of those dishes that I can do with my eyes closed . Let me share with you my recipe .

You will need: 1 kilo chicken thighs marinated with soy sauce for 30 mins. , 3 cups japanese rice , green peas , 2 pcs, chorizo Bilbao sliced , red bell peppers sliced into thin strips , 1 carrot cubed , 1/2 kilo beef sliced thinly OR 3 pcs. chorizo Bilbao sliced diagonally ( I prefer using the chorizo Bilbao ) , prawns or shrimps ( quantity depends on your preference ) , Paella yellow food coloring , spanish paprika , 4 cups chicken broth , saffron , 4 pcs , hard boiled eggs ( quartered) , 2 lemons ( quartered ) , olive oil , salt and pepper to taste , 1 whole garlic chopped , 1 onion chopped , 4 tomatoes chopped . Procedure : Heat olive oil in a paellera or whatever pan you have that's big enough to hold the rice . When oil is hot enough , fry the chicken thighs until golden brown . Remove the chicken from the pan and save for later . Sautee garlic , onions and tomatoes , add the red bell peppers , carrots ,green peas , beef , chorizo Bilbao and the pre -cooked chicken, continue to sautee until all the ingredients are mixed well then add a few threads of saffron , 2 tsp. spanish paprika , 1 tsp . yellow food color , salt and pepper to taste . Add the rice followed by the chicken broth . Cover the pan with aluminum foil and let the rice cook . I do not transfer the paellera on the oven , I just let it cook on the stove top mixing the rice every 10 minutes or so ( not to worry if you find some burnt rice at the bottom of your paellera , this is to be expected ) . When the rice is cooked ( it usually takes the rice 40 mins . to cook ) , I arrange the prawns on top of the rice and cover the paellera again with aluminum foil until the prawns are cooked . Just before serving , I arrange the eggs and the lemons on top of the rice and Voila ! paella is served !!