I should just call it crack.

My newest dish was originally inspired by the idea of paella, but the more I think about it, really has very little to do with paella anymore. Except that I could probably eat both dishes non-stop, to the absolute extreme of fullness, and then possibly one bite more. Tyson calls it the "Spicy Chicken Sausage Barley Peas Thing".

My recipe for SCSBPT.

Pearl barley
chicken breast, chopped
spicy andouille chicken sausage
frozen peas
italian parsley
chicken broth
dash of white wine
cayenne, paprika, cumin, salt, saffron

Chop sausage, saute on high heat in a little oil to get a nice char. Set aside. Brown chicken in the same yummy sausage oil drippings pan. Coat with cayenne, paprika, cumin, salt. Set aside. Using the same pan, toss in the pearl barley and a dash of white wine to deglaze pan. Add chicken broth and let barley cook as long as it needs to (I like my barley nice and firm, usually a 3:1 ratio of liquid to barley, cooked for about 25 min?) When there's just a little simmering liquid left in the pan, toss back in the sausage and chicken, along with chopped italian parsley, peas, and a few saffron threads. Cook down the rest of the liquid. Season/spice to taste-- in my case, I went a little overboard with the cayenne, and it was awesome.

Warning, I ate it for dinner and breakfast, and Tyson ate it for lunch, so luckily it's gone and I don't need to eat any more of it now.

(btw- a previous version of this had a couple of scallops thrown in, and mostly arborio rice, which made me think of paella... this is a healthier, cheaper version)

(and another btw- made that Indian dish from yesterday's post again... this time, just a couple of heaping spoonfuls of 2% fage greek yogurt. awesomeness.)