Yup, It's A Tweeter!!

Outside my window every morning is a tweeter.  A very LOUD tweeter!!  Not the Smart Phone kind, but the MALE bird kind.  How loud is he?  He's so loud I can hear him through three inside highly insulated walls clear to my bedroom where he tweets me awake just before the puppies start their morning let's-jump-on-mom routine.  I assume he's looking for a springtime romance.  The tweeting is so adamant that I can go outside, shut the big door, walk down the sidewalk and he STILL won't shut up!!  Oh the joys of nature!!  I'm hoping he finds a girlfriend SOON!!

I know you're probably getting past the Instant Pot revolution, so here's a recipe you can make on the stove.  Honestly, I haven't been using either of my three ovens OR my gas stove for quite some time now.  I'm hoping my PG&E bill reflects that.  We shall see.  At any rate, I actually was following an Instant Pot recipe for this one, but I think it turned out better on the stove.

I put on my best go-to-town boots and hit the grocery store for ingredients.  Smoked turkey sausage or kielbasa ... you know the ones Hillshire Farms makes ... and shrimp.  I think it called for chorizo, but that's not on my cholesterol list of foods.  Of course in my little town, shrimp are in short supply, already cooked and frozen solid.  What can I say ... you use what you've got!!  One cup of rice, a can of chicken broth and a chopped up onion along with paprika, salt, pepper and oregano.

If you double all my measurements, you will have the "real" recipe which makes a LOT of paella-look-alike since it's not the real deal.  I cut everything in half for my recipe, which are the amounts I'm giving you here.  

The only weird ingredient is Saffron.  It's from a crocus plant that has four flowers.  Each flower has three crimson stigmas which are the distal end of a carpel.  Don't ask me, I have NO idea what that is.  I only know pound for pound they are more expensive than my cowboy boots.  Not that you could ever FIND a pound of saffron!!  This is a unique way to sell it with four tiny vials inside a large glass jar.  $17.99 ... and you thought the motor oil was expensive!!!  If it weren't for the wonderful taste, I wouldn't have bothered.

So ... on with the recipe.  You mix up 1/2 tbsp paprika, 1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp oregano and stir in small pieces of chicken.  I left the chicken out and just used shrimp.  Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp oil, 3 cloves of minced garlic, some red pepper flakes and the rice, stirring for about three minutes.  Totally out of order, I then added the onion.  In went one vial of saffron threads, a bay leaf, a tablespoon of parsley, one can of chicken stock and the zest of one lemon.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  Just enough time for a glass of wine, or in my case water.

In another frying pan, heat a little oil and cook the chicken if you have it, adding half a red bell pepper and half a green pepper.  I left that out too since I forgot to put it on my shopping list.  I didn't say this was an authentic recipe!!!  Then the sausage goes in with the shrimp being last.  Since my shrimp was already cooked, I basically just heated it through.  

Now comes the best part ... dump the shrimp/chicken(or not)/sausage mixture into the cooked rice and stir.  I don't know what got in to me to try this type of recipe since it's WAY beyond my skill level .... maybe it was the Ghost whispering Paella in my ear.  I can just tell you it was REAL GOOD!!    If that little birdie out there made this for his sweetheart, he would be in like FLYNN!!

It's going to be a cold, couch potato, baseball, paella for breakfast kind of day as I contemplate packing the rig up once again for a rally in Sacramento at the end of this month.  Right now, I'm just going to contemplate my cup of coffee.