Adventures in cooking! I decided to try my hand at paella for the first time ever today. I don’t have a paella pan, but I do have some excellent cast-iron, so I gave it a try. Clearly, it’s not “traditional” but it was damned good for my first try. If you look closely (on the right of the plate), you will see that I even got some tasty soccarat! I generally followed a recipe by @sandra_valvassori but I made sofrito yesterday using a recipe by @marcvidalchef and let it rest overnight. Thanks, chef! That sofrito is amazing and so easy to make. Instead of the “Chicken and Chorizo” from the recipe I found online, I went for Kielbasa and Shrimp because, well, that’s what I had in my refrigerator. I added green beans, red peppers, and peas and used up the last of my stock of saffron for the traditional color and added some smoked paprika to get that pimenton flavor. I also had some tasty chicken stock I made a couple of months ago, so I heated that up. I am sure a paella pan would give a better result, but the cast iron worked great! For my first try at paella, I am tremendously impressed with the result. Good thing I like it since it makes a mountain of paella and I will be eating leftovers for the next few days. #homecook #homecooking @whyberwyn #nothinglikeasuburb #berwynillinois #berwyn #ChicagoInsiders #singledining #diningalone #datingmyself #diningsolo #solodining #tableforone #tableforoneplease #takingcareofme #grateful #lifeisgood #alonebutnotlonely #quarantine #quarantinecooking #paella #castiron #castironcooking (at Berwyn, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBZMeW7DtWd/?igshid=1jayhfte4m013