Midweek Paella

The Ingredients

• About 10 Chicken Tenderloins (Cut even thinner)
• 1/2 Yellow pepper
• 1/2 Red pepper
• 1/2 Green pepper
• 1 Large onion
• 4 Garlic Cloves (minced)
• 4 Tbls of sundried Tomatoes
• 1 Tbls of Capers
• 2 cups of yellow rice (if using regular white rice then add 1 teaspoon of safron)
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 1/4 cup of white wine
• 16oz can of diced tomatoes with chilies
• 4 tsps of tomato paste
• 2 tbls of unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup of cilantro
• 1/4 cup of scallions
• 1/2 cup of bacon (dried)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Hot sauce
• Crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 Limes
• Adobo
• Salt 
• Pepper

The Recipe

1. Cut chicken tenderloins into even thinner pieces.  Season with Adobe. Then squeeze two limes over them, cover, and let them marinade for a few hours.  
2. Cook bacon in hot pan.  Remove it, dry in paper towel, and cut into small bite size pieces.  Throw out fat remaining in the pan. 
3. Boil 2 cups of chicken stock in sauce pan with butter. 
4. With some olive oil in a large deep frying pan add the onions and the garlic.
5. After about 2 minutes add the chicken.
6. After the chicken starts to get golden (5 minutes) add the peppers and the bacon.  
7. Let everything cook for about 3 minutes then add the wine.
8. After about a minute add the tomatoes with chili, the tomato paste, and the raw rice. 
9. Add the boiling chicken stock and season with some salt and pepper, mix and cover.  Cook until rice is somewhat ready checking back a couple of times. It should take about 20 to 30 minutes depending on your rice.  If using regular white rice add the safron in step 6. 
10. Add the sundried tomatoes, the capers, the cilantro, and the scallions.
11. Let cook until you reach a desired consistency.  It should be wet but not dripping like soup.  The rice should be cooked through. 

The experience

I love making paella and usually make it with seafood, Portuguese choriço, and chicken thighs.  It usually takes me about 3 hours to do all the prep work if I'm cooking for about 8 people.  I wanted the taste of paella but I only wanted to use ingredients I already had and make it a lot quicker!  It took me about 15 minutes to do the prep work including chopping the onions, the scallions, the cilantro,the peppers, and seasoning my chicken.  The actual cooking time took about 25 minutes because I used a great yellow rice!  On my "take forever to make paella with seafood" I use fresh safron which is very intense in flavor.  Once I had my chicken ready and the peppers were smelling the house I saw that this was a very easy way of making paella!  One of the key ingredients in this dish is the tomatoes with chilies. It adds to the final wetness feel and texture of the dish.  I like my food with a kick so I definitely added some hot sauce to it!  I also loved adding capers and sundried tomatoes.  They don't belong in paella but like I said, this was just a midweek throw together kinda thing that actually worked!!!  Now, don't be afraid of throwing raw rice into your large frying pan.  It works! The first time I had to do this it freaked me out but by boiling the chicken stock (or water if you don't have any) first you don't stop the cooking process.  The rice will simmer along with all the other tastes in the pan.  One pan cooking rocks!  Just make sure that nothing is burning and just like with regular rice cooking, if you see that it's drying out and burning just add more water.  The steam will take care of the rest.  Everyone loved this dish!  I made enough for about 5 hungry people.  I will definitely be making some more!  Try it yourself and give me your feedback!  Remember, Season Your Food!