As some of you know, I love to cook.

BUT, more than that, I love to cook for other people… It really makes my day to see someone smile over a hot bowl of food.

It gets even better when they ask me to make food for them for some special event.

A wedding shower? Okay!

A birthday party? Bring It On!

A vigilling? Hell, yeah!

For those of you who don’t know, a vigil is the reception put on for someone getting a special award. How better to chat and hang out than with a bowl of mac n cheese or steaming paella? None.

So, my friend Fiadnata had asked if I would help with the food for her vigil a few weeks ago and I was more than happy to help. After all, she has been a good friend for many years and we have worked on each other’s projects more times than I can recall.

The only issue is that she lives 100 miles away.

Well, that is why they make coolers and crockpots, isn’t it?

So I whipped out a big batch of mac n cheese and the some onion soup but, to top it all off, I was going to make paella.

Never heard of paella?

Imagine the best whooped up version of Rice-a-Roni ever created. Now add shrimp and clams to your imaginary pot. Either chicken or tuna chopped up and added and then spice like your grandma lived there and POW! Delicious.

The only problem was that I had run out of crock pots and I needed to leave about 7 a.m. So, I hurriedly grabbed a pan and whipped it up.

First, you brown the rice in butter and olive oil. Then, you saturate it with chicken stock and spices. Then, add seafood to your heart’s desire. And, it tasted good – honestly.

Well, I knew I had to leave early in the a.m. so I put it in a pan in the oven on the lowest heat because I would be taking it straight from the oven to the car the next morning. Then, I hit the hay about 11:30.

So, imagine that you wake up about 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning and the first thing you smell is smoke. But, not wood smoke so I didn’t think the house was on fire. No, this was different.

Creeping down the back stairs to the kitchen, I immediately knew something was wrong. Not only was the smoke thicker but the kitchen was hot. Not warm. HOT!

Opening the back door to air out the house, I popped open the oven and was greeted with a charcoal briquette the size of a pillow. And the gas flames were on full!

“How the hell…?” I began before I noticed the dogs hiding in the pantry. Looking down I noticed a oven mitt laying on the floor and half chewed up.

Sooooooo, the dogs had decided to play tug of war with one of my ovens mitts and they had bumped into the knob and put it on “Cremate”. The knob was set at the highest level after the Great Dane decided that he had to have the oven mitt.

Oh, shit! I had 30 minutes to be on the road and half the food was now ruined.

Quickly, I dumped the victim in the trash can and rearranged the food so that my largest crockpot was now available. Luckily, I am the type that has a lot of supplies in the kitchen.

Rushing, I fried up some more rice and boiled up the chicken stock while I took a shower, dressed and packed the car.

I popped the stock and the rice on the crockpot, chopped up some tuna steaks, added frozen shrimp and mussels and headed to the car.

The other real problem was I had no time once I arrived on the site to cook the paella. It had to be ready once I got there and the kitchen was not available. And, paella takes several hours to make the right way.

Thank God, I have a Jeep.

In my backseat of the Jeep, there is actually an outlet where you can plug in items and as long as the car is running the items have power. I laid down plastic and towels, started the car, plugged it in and I was off!

I began to smell the spices around the Ohio border as I headed East. It actually smelled pretty good but you never know.

Arriving on site, I unpacked everything and carefully brought in the paella last. Fearful, I shoved a spoonful in my mouth expecting to spit it out immediately.

IT WAS DELICIOUS!

It really was! Honestly, that was the best tasting paella I have ever made. Everyone loved it…

BUT…

It gave new meaning to the words “Drive Thru”

NOW LET’S DO IT RIGHT!

Seafood Paella

Ingredients:

Rice, 4 cups (Basmati is best)

Chicken stock, 8 cups

Olive oil, 1/2 cups

Butter, 1 stick

Garlic, fresh ground

Sea Salt

Pepper, fresh ground

Tuna, 1 lb.

Shrimp, deveined and peeled, 1 lb.

Mussels, shelled, 1 lb.

And the secret ingredient is Lemon Peel!

1. Start by heating the chicken stock and mixing in the garlic and other spices to taste.
2. In a separate large pan, melt the butter and add the olive oil.
3. Add the dry rice to the melted butter and brown it. Make sure to keep stirring so it does not burn.
4. Add the stock to the rice and put on a low simmer so the rice can slowly absorb the stock.
5. Cover the pan with the rice and stir and adjust the heat as needed to keep it from burning.
6. After about 30 minutes, chop the tuna and mussels and mix with the shrimp.
7. Add the seafood to the pan and cook for at least another 30 minutes stirring often.
8. Zest the lemon peel and add about 15 minutes before you intend to serve.
9. ENJOY! Serves 8 – 10