Paul Flynn: Food trucks have come a long way from the greasy burger van of old

I’ve started filming a new television series, which is due to be released next spring. Every Monday and Tuesday for the foreseeable I’ll be going around the country filming Food Truck Favourites, capturing the very best of this new Irish phenomenon. I even get to play in my very own food truck for a while, so I can drag out my cooler, more casual alter ego, Paulie.

I’ve long being fascinated with food trucks. After all, I started out in a chip van when I was 15. That certainly wasn’t a vocation, but it did give me a sense of freedom and the money to bulk up my record collection. That nomadic feeling was never available in a Michelin-starred kitchen. The greasy burgers that were being dispensed back then were a million miles from the fabulous inventiveness of today’s cool food trucks. I’m very much looking forward to the adventure.

Today’s dishes are all about the height of summer. I hadn’t come across bomba rice in an Irish supermarket until recently. Since then it’s been like a bomba festival in our house. Use arborio if you can’t get it. The method is to let it boil, spit and bubble like a paella. It’s not the silky smooth amalgamation of a risotto. I’m serving this with a very simple aioli; they are a compelling combination.

The last time I ate devilled eggs was in the brilliant Spitalfields in Dublin. As an egg fan, I had high hopes when I ordered them, but these were stratospheric. It just goes to show that in skilled hands, even the simplest of ingredients can be sublime. I’m going off-piste here and making a devilled egg dressing to go with some little gem lettuce, baby potatoes and spring onions, a feisty partnership.

The salmon dish is a warm salad. I’m baking the fish, then breaking it up in the tray and mixing it with courgettes, butterbeans, lemon and dill. It’s all a bit rugged but very tasty. Served on a large platter, it makes for the perfect summer lunch.

Recipe: Chicken and chorizo bomba