Chicken Paella for the 4th of July

R2Egg2Q · July 2012

It’s been a while since I’ve cooked paella so I thought I’d cook some for a 4^th of July party. I’ve always enjoyed the Chicken Paella recipe on the Naked Whiz’s paella page (http://www.nakedwhiz.com/paella/paella.htm) or a slight variation of it so I upsized the recipe for cooking on my 18” paella pan.

I thought I should share some pics & details of the cook.

Got the XL Egg up to temp with lump burning pretty evenly all around and then proceeded to roast the red peppers (not part of the recipe but I've struggle with peeling the skin off of sauteed peppers enough to change tactics – I found this was easier):

Put on the 18" paella pan and got to cooking some garlic & green beans:

Making the sofrito:

Finished paella:

I covered it with foil right after pulling and taking the above pics and then drove off across town for the party.

I had to wait for some leftovers today to get a pic of the soccarat:

Things I learned from this cook:

- don't wait until the night before the 4th of July to buy chicken thighs (the store was all out of normal thighs so I went with boneless/skinless - not as tasy or moist as I'm used to)

- between prep time and cook time, these things always seem to take me longer than I plan on (reducing the sofrito took significantly longer this time thanks to excessive water in the tomatoes)

- despite upscaling the recipe to account for a 65% larger pan, I still had room for more in the pan

- Mrs R2 doesn't care for spanish chorizo (kind of dense) - we both like portuguese linguica better on paella

- I still want a carbon steel pan (not crazy about the stainless one)

allitnils · July 2012

That soccarat looks insane! Nicely done.
I like to make paella with more rustic cuts of meats.. Chopped up pieces of rabbit which adds a distinct flavor to the broth.. I like your addition of artichoke! It looks great..

SkinnyV · July 2012

Had my first paella experience a few days ago. The host had easily 50+ people the pan was very very large and was hooked to a propane tank that sat on a 3 ringed burner. The food was great and i was told that it can be done over coals but a reload may be needed for the cook since it can take some time. I must say though it was an experience being part of the cook.

R2Egg2Q · July 2012

That soccarat looks insane! Nicely done.
I like to make paella with more rustic cuts of meats.. Chopped up pieces of rabbit which adds a distinct flavor to the broth.. I like your addition of artichoke! It looks great..

Thanks! I've heard that rabbit & snails are pretty popular but have yet to have the opportunity to try it. Unfortunately I have a seafood allergy so that rules out all of the great seafood paellas for me. :(

Had my first paella experience a few days ago. The host had easily 50+ people the pan was very very large and was hooked to a propane tank that sat on a 3 ringed burner. The food was great and i was told that it can be done over coals but a reload may be needed for the cook since it can take some time. I must say though it was an experience being part of the cook.

Sounds like fun! I ran pretty low on lump so next time I'm definitely loading above the fire box.

Chicken Paella for the 4th of July

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