This yummy creation is from Carlos Briceno and Rebecca Withers, the owners of the Slurp food trailer in Santa Fe. They recently visited fellow Airstream food vendor Lola's Gypsy Caravan on 11th Street near Peoria Avenue. Photo by Stephen Pingry/Tulsa World.
I've only had paella twice in my life.
Most recently, it was from Lola's Gypsy Caravan on 11th Street near Peoria Avenue. She was playing hostess to Rebecca Withers and Carlos Briceno, the delightful owners of the
Slurp food trailer in Santa Fe, who made a chorizo-and-chicken paella and served it from Lola's awesome Airstream.
Their paella was incredible and brought back tastebud-tingling memories of a seafood paella I had years ago, with shrimp, squid and mussels.
Unfortunately, I don't have the recipe for it; but I did find one in the February 2000 issue of Bon Appetit (by way of Epicurious.com) that is quite similar to it. This one uses shrimp, squid and mussels, too, but it also adds clams.
Seafood PaellaServes 6-81 tablespoon olive oil
5 bacon slices, chopped
1 3 1/2-pound whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
2 cups chopped onions (about 2 medium)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups long-grain white rice
1 (7-ounce) jar roasted sliced pimientos with juice
1/2 teaspoon crushed saffron threads
2 cups bottled clam juice
1 1/2 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
1 pound large uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined
1 pound cleaned squid, bodies cut into 1/2-inch rings
1 dozen clams, scrubbed
1 dozen mussels, scrubbed, debearded
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
Lemon wedges
1. Preheat oven to 450. Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add chopped bacon, and cook until fat is rendered, about 6 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels and drain. Set aside.
2. Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Add chicken to bacon drippings in pot, and cook over medium heat until brown, about 7 minutes per side. Using tongs, remove chicken from pot.
3. Add chopped onions and garlic to pot, and saute? until beginning to brown, scraping up any browned bits, about 10 minutes. Stir in rice, roasted pimientos with juices and saffron. Add clam juice and chicken stock to pot, and bring mixture to simmer. Remove from heat.
4. Pour rice mixture into 15x10x2-inch glass baking dish. Arrange chicken, shrimp, squid, clams and mussels in rice mixture. Sprinkle with chopped bacon and peas. Cover with foil.
5. Bake paella until chicken is cooked through, clams and mussels open, and rice is tender, about 45 minutes (discard any clams and mussels that do not open). Remove foil from baking dish. Let paella stand 10 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.
Peace, love and paella ... XOXO
