See what I have to put up with when I get home? A perfectly cooked meal. My husband cooks for a living, but somehow has the time, passion, and energy to come up with these amazing dishes, putting his own little personal touch. To this traditional meal, he added Italian sausage, combining the Mexican with Italian. The rice was perfectly cooked and had rosemary, thyme, tomato and garlic. Sometimes we’ve joked to each other about wanting to cry when tasting food that was so delicious. We joked about it tonight, but it’s kind of true. This food made me want to cry. I am so lucky to be with someone who loves food as much as I do.

ingredients:

4 Tablespoons butter

6 chicken thighs and 6 drumsticks

3/4 pound chile guajillo

2 dried chipotle peppers

4 dried chile de arbol

1/2 onion, cut

4 cloves garlic

salt and pepper, to taste

6 bay leaves

12 ounces Italian dried salami, or Italian hot sopressata

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove seeds from the all the chili peppers (guajillo, de arbol, and chipotle). Place chili peppers in a medium pot with water over a stove and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes, or until water is colored and peppers are tender. Remove peppers and one cup of the colored water and add them into a blender, with onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Discard the rest of the water. Blend until smooth, and strain to remove large particles. Set sauce aside.

Grease large oven pan generously with 4 tablespoons of butter, and arrange chicken pieces in pan.  Slice the Italian sausage into 1/4 inch slices. Arrange sausage slices and bay leaves throughout and around the chicken pieces. Pour sauce on top of all the chicken pieces, making sure the sauce covers all the pieces. Bake chicken for 30 to 45 minutes, checking once about halfway through cooking time and turning pieces as needed for even cooking. Serve over rice.