Hube necesitado más suerte!*

*I needed more luck!

This is a hard post to write, due to conflicting factors which I'll try to explain below. Hopefully, I'll have an opinion worked out by the time I get through writing.

Substitutions/changes: I used olive oil, non-cured chorizo, paprika, long grain rice, no saffron (although I'm sure it would be delicious!!), half chicken stock and half white wine, chicken breasts and fresh peas. I also cooked it in a large pot on the stovetop. Enough changes that I probably couldn't rate the recipe as is on epicurious!

The good: The smell in our apartment when we were eating and after. The moist result. The flavourful rice. Lots of protein. Few dishes dirtied in preparation. The taste of the first helping. The happy hubby (see quotes below).

The bad: I got a bad start when I knocked over the kettle of boiled water I had made for the chicken broth. Luckily, I was wearing thick socks at the time and managed to hop out of the flood of hot water quickly. It took some time to clean up and mentally start over though! Then, I realized that in reading the recipe that called for "roast chicken" I had skipped over the small detail that roast involves 'already cooked'. I had to cook my chicken breasts before starting the recipe. Strike against "Quick...Paella". Earlier, at the grocery store, I was delighted to find fresh peas (two other grocery stores didn't have them) because I have a low tolerance for peas, and frozen peas are pretty much The Worst. Fresh, crisp peas are enjoyable. Turns out these ones got a little mushy overnight in the fridge and furthermore, I didn't compensate for the fact that the recipe calls for frozen peas. So, I think I should have added the peas in much later. As it was, I added when the recipe directed it and not only were the peas rather mushy but I found it made the whole meal smell like peas only. Finally, I wasn't really happy with the skin on the chorizo. It was a bit tough. I think I'm too used to the garlic sausage from St. Jacob's!

The ugly: You may have noticed I referenced "the first helping" under "The good". Since I was tentative about what the meal would be like (all I could smell were peas), I didn't take much to start. After I plucked out a bunch of the peas, I tasted it and was pleasantly surprised. It was nice. Lots of colours too! However, I brought ruin by going back for more. There is something in the chorizo (a seasoning?) that I can only eat in small quantities. It gave me a bad headache when I tried more. It is not the usual headache, but an odd food-related one that I also get from eating pesto sometimes or eating bananas or orange juice on an empty stomach. Anyway, I hoisted my food on Kevin and he enjoyed it greatly.

The verdict: Okay. I probably wouldn't make it again. I did like the fact that once you get all the ingredients together, you can pretty much leave it. There was more prep work than I anticipated though and I think I could find some of the good qualities from this recipe in a casserole recipe. That said, it was neat to try a different meat, and to make my first paella.

Happy hubby:
"A hearty meal that sticks to your bones!"
"Any meal where more than one animal is involved is a great feast."