Arroz con Pollo (TTH)

• 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds), rinsed and patted dry
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
• 3 jarred piquillo peppers, seeded and chopped, or 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped [Eh, was moving soon.  I don't really need to buy a jar of pickled peppers right before.]
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 Roma (plum) tomatoes, halved, seeded, and chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground Espelette pepper, cayenne pepper, or hot paprika [I may have used double this amount.  I imagine half cayenne and half pimenton.]
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1 small packet (1 1/4 teaspoons) Sazon seasoning [Completely failed to see that an actual measurement is listed here]
• 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
• 3 cups chicken broth
• Hot sauce, such as Crystal, to taste
• 2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro [Pretty sure I didn't bother buying this]
• 2 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 cup plain whole milk yogurt for serving
• Lime zest (optional)

Mise en place.

Browning the chicken thighs.  it's probably impossible to tally up the number of chicken thighs I've browned since I started cooking.

Drain off half of the copious oil (we rendered plenty of fat from the chicken thighs) and cook onion, bell pepper, garlic, tomatoes, Espelette (I'm pretty sure this is some fancy pepper that my idol Richard Blais digs, but I've finally bought the pequin chiles April Bloomfield is into.  Really, I only need so much specialty red pepper in my life, thanks.), and bay leaves.  Cook until the onion softens.

La di da, add tomato paste and caramelize.  Apparently this is also a big Richard Blais thing.

Add rice, Sazon, and saffon and cook, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes.

Pour in chicken stock.  Season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce (which is surprisingly rarely ever used in my cooking even though I like things hot).  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and maintain a simmer.

Nestle in chicken thighs (I guess try to keep the skin from getting totally submerged.)_  Cook until chicken has cooked through.

Somehow it escaped me to take a photo of the finished dish itself.  Top with herbs, yogurt, lime zest, and copious amounts of the condiment I otherwise almost never use for some damn reason.
Arroz con pollo surely hasn't shot up my list of favorite things to eat, but this is arguably better than the ATK skillet version.