Paella (pah-EH-yuh)
My dad called me the other day to tell me about a recipe that was in the local paper. He wasn’t exactly sure what is was, but 
he said the picture looked really good. I found out later it was actually a paella recipe, which is a Spanish rice dish, and, coincidentally, I had just seen Ina Garten make on her cooking show. When I was home visiting my parents, I decided to make it for them for dinner.
Although I based my paella on Ina Garten’s recipe, I made a lot of changes to it. The biggest being the substitution of shrimp for lobster. A lot of people that had reviewed the recipe suggested this substitution, mainly because of cost, but also because the shrimp seems to hold up better in the dish. The other changes I made were basically just seasoning alterations, based purely on taste. The base of paella is rice and saffron, and then various meats and vegetables are added. I believe any long cooking rice will work for this recipe, although basmati rice is recommended since it stays firm during cooking and won’t stick together. I used risotto rice (arborio rice), which is a starchier rice, but I think it worked out okay. >> All of this brings us to the star ingredient of paella - saffron. Saffron is a spice made from the saffron crocus flower, and is also the most expensive spice, by weight, in the world. Don’t be too put off by that. I paid less than $4.00 for it, and you only need a little bit for each dish. And while the taste of saffron is somewhat of a mystery to me, it gives the paella a beautiful golden yellow hue that is irreplaceable. After all that, here is my take on Ina Garten’s paella recipe.
In a large pan over medium heat, I sauteed onions until they were soft. I added sliced red peppers to the onion, sauteed 
them for another 5 minutes, and then added garlic to the pan. Once the veggies were cooked, I added the rice, chicken stock, saffron, a pinch of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, brought the mixture to a boil, covered the pan, and let it simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. After that, I removed the lid and let the mixture continue to simmer about another 5 minutes until the liquid was absorbed and the rice was tender. At that point, I added the shrimp (make sure they are cooked), kielbasa, and peas to the paella, and again covered the pan to let everything heat through. Once heated, I squeezed lemon juice over the whole dish and served it straight from the pan.
My family really liked the paella. It’s a great combination of sweet (the shrimp and peas), salty (the kielbasa), and savory (the rice). It’s a unique dish, but familiar enough that everyone can enjoy it. I would definitely serve this to company, or, obviously, my family.