Dinner in Brooklyn: Steppin' It Up A Notch!

I made this totally rad paella last night. If I may say so, I normally make a pretty darn good paella, but last night I had a stroke of inspiration, and really stepped the recipe up a notch. I was in the grocery store, hemming and hawing about what to cook, when I spied a package of D'Artagnan's Chorizo Sausages.  (If you're not familiar with the D'Artagnan products, I highly recommend you explore their website. All of their sausages and exotic meats are awe-some, so go take a look...) 


The recipe I used is the one below... which can also be found here, minus my snazzy new additions.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 D'Artagnan Chorizo Sausages, sliced in 1/2-inch rounds
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed

Directions:

1. In a heavy 12-inch saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Cook shrimp until just pink on both sides, 4 to 5 minutes (do not overcook). Transfer to a plate.
2. Add remaining tablespoon oil and sausage to pan; cook over medium-high heat until beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Add onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and rice; cook, stirring to coat, until rice is translucent, 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Stir in paprika, turmeric, tomatoes, and broth, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover, and cook until rice is tender and has absorbed almost all liquid, 20 to 25 minutes. Stir in peas; cook 1 minute. Stir in cooked shrimp; serve immediately.

Never to be outdone, I also bought six scallops, and seared them before adding them to the paella. Cooking them was a cinch-- basically a little salt, pepper, and olive oil thrown into a bowl, the scallops tossed into that-- and then seared over high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side. 
This dish was really easy, reasonably quick, EX-TREMELY delicious, and would be perfect for a dinner party. I served it with manchego cheese and quince paste to start, and then a simple green salad with a lemony-olive oil dressing for our mandatory green... Everything so simple and yummy.  

Give it a shot!