Our little band of six, known to ourselves as “wine group”, have gathered for the evening, but I can no longer truly say we’re about the wine. We are definitely more about the food these days, the wine is just a plus.

Our entree will be a paella, with a New Orleans influence. Chef Husband turns up the heat on the paella pan and begins the process by sautéeing the onions and chicken (that have been diced into large chunks) in olive oil.

Meanwhile, I will grab a head of garlic and press it with the heel of my hand to break it open and separate the cloves. We only need a little over half the cloves, of which I will trim, peel (gotta love those little silicone garlic peelers!) and thinly slice. Notice I didn’t say chop or mince…we want to keep as much of the flavor of the garlic in the actual garlic and not ground into the cutting board.As the cooked chicken and onions, along with any pan juices, come out of the paella pan, the next batch of ingredients are on deck. The sliced garlic makes its debut first in the pan alone, then followed by green bell peppers, red bell peppers, green onions and Andouille sausage (again, all diced into large chunks).

Once they have cooked, they will join the chicken off to the side and we will begin our next layer of ingredients.