I found a recipe for paella recently in a cookbook at home, but like most recipes that I find, it did not fit the likes or needs of my family quite right. I changed a few things to suit our tastes and added others to make the process a little faster and this is what I came up with, a chicken, shrimp and sausage paella that is to die for! This makes a huge pot that was more than enough for our six person household.


Ingredients:

1 tbls. olive oil
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-2 in. chunks
1 1/2 links of smoked turkey sausage cut into slices
1 onion chopped
2 small sweet red peppers chopped (these are mini sweet peppers that came with orange, red and yellow)
2 small sweet yellow peppers chopped
1 tsp. minced garlic
Dash of Cayenne Pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 package of saffron yellow rice mix
4 ounces of fresh green beans snapped into 1 in. pieces
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 bay leaf
12 ounces shrimp (I used a bag of frozen medium shrimp)

Instructions:

Step 1 - Place a tbls. of olive oil in a large pot and cook the chicken and smoked sausage until cooked through. Place off to the side in a bowl.


Step 2 - Reduce to medium and add onion and peppers to the pot. Cook until tender and then add in the garlic and cayenne pepper. Cook for another few minutes and then add in the can of diced tomatoes.

Step 3 - Cook the saffron yellow rice mix in another smaller pot according to the package instructions and set off to the side.

Step 4 - At the same time the rice is cooking, add green beans, water, chicken broth, salt, rosemary and bay leaf to the large pot with the vegetables in it. Add in chicken and sausage and bring the mixture to a boil before reducing heat to low and simmering covered for 20 minutes.

Step  5 - Mix in the rice you made previously to the large pot and then fold shrimp into the mixture as well. Cover and allow to cook for another 4-5 minutes until shrimp is opaque and cooked through. Remove from heat and allow to sit for several minutes before serving.