Birthday Dinner...

We celebrated my hubby's birthday yesterday and he chose to have me cook dinner and go out for dessert. He is crazy like that. I wanted to make him something special for his special day and what better than Paella! And I am going to just do it. Yep toot my own horn...TOOT TOOT! It was fantastic!!!

Moroccan Paella

3 large Italian sausages sliced into rounds
1 chicken leg quarter (chicken thigh and drum stick)
1 pound mixed seafood (I had a mixed blend of squid, cod, shrimp, scallops)
1.5 cups rice
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans chicken broth
2 tablespoons knorr w/ tomato
1 teaspoon crushed chili flakes
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons dried cilantro
1 tablespoon garlic
1 tablespoon cumin
2-4 lemons, divided
salt and pepper
olive oil
water (if needed)

create a marinade with the chili flakes, paprika, cumin, cilantro, garlic, and juice of 1 lemon. Stick your chicken in and chill for 1-2 hrs.

place oil in bottom of large pot and cook your sausage and chicken making sure to place in all the marinade making sure to scrape off any tasty bits from the bottom.  take out the chicken and debone and toss back in. Pour in the rice and stir to coat everything. Then toss in everything else but the seafood and let simmer and reduce cooking the rice this took me about 30 min but I added a bit extra water. During the last 5 or so min of cooking toss in your seafood and place a lid on top to steam the seafood making it tender and wonderful.

Serve! (side note...next time I might put some veg like zucchini in for fun)