I love paella of all sorts and certainly love the traditional version with various seafood types steeped in a seafood broth scented with saffron and chorizo along with a group of vegetables collectively known as a sofrito.  Here, instead of seafood, I used organic chicken thighs and chicken stock.  Together with a sofrito that was spiced with a spicy pimenton (or Spanish smoked paprika), this dish came together rather well and was generally easier to pull off without a trip to a meat market to purchase the various seafood products (not to mention more economical).  I used a short grain rice, like arborio or risotto rice, as it cooks quickly and soaks up lots liquid!

You can scale this up and down depending on how many people you are serving.  You can also certainly use a whole leg here instead of just the thighs.  However, I would stick with the thigh or the whole leg and avoid the chicken breast as it will dry out during the prolonged cooking time.  Recipe follows after the jump… Continue reading →