It’s either been a while since I’ve discussed it, or done it, but last night I felt the urge to cook something I’ve not cooked before.

Unsure of what to cook, I searched the Internet for a short while before deciding to cook a Mediterranean-style chicken dish. With the range of food styles substantially narrowed, I settled on a Greek Chicken Casserole. I read a small number of recipes and concluded that the flavours and ingredients in Greek food weren’t what I wanted to eat. Spanish came quickly to mind, and I resumed my search.

I had nearly settled on a Spanish Chicken Stew when “What about Paella?” popped into my head. Now determined to cook a Paella dish, I searched for a few more minutes until I finally settled on a Chicken Paella recipe.

A brief trip to the local supermarket and we had the small number of ingredients we were missing. After an hour of chopping, stirring, pouring and waiting, the dish was finally complete.

The great thing about Paella – and many other things I cook – is that it only uses one dish, which is great for someone lazy like me. Paella is an easy dish; you simply cook the meat, chuck in onions and garlic, then the vegies. Add rice and stock and once the stock reduces, eat!

The recipe I mostly followed is easy and though it takes an hour to cook, doesn’t require many involved steps. I didn’t add chorizo since Justine wouldn’t eat it, nor did I add some of the herbs since we don’t have them.

Paella has earned itself a place on our recipe list. Next time, I’ll add all the ingredients, and possibly add a bit more stock so there’s some “juice”. The recipe called for two cups of rice, though half that would have been more than enough.