Traditional black rice from Alicante, Spain - ARROZ NEGRO - cooked "on location" in the lovely coastal town of Denia.
ARROZ NEGRO is a "paella" style rice dish, coloured with squid or cuttlefish ink.
The all-important dried ñora pepper distinguishes Alicante rice dishes from those of Valencia and other areas.
I hope you are inspired to try this classic dish from Alicante, cooked, as always, just like the locals!
INGREDIENTS (for 2 people)
FISH STOCK
75 ml olive oil.
2 or 3 ñora dried peppers
5 cloves of garlic
the shells and heads from 250g small prawns.
500 g rock fish (morralla)
half a small leek
half a stick of celery
half an onion
a bay leaf
a couple of sprigs of parsley
1L water
ARROZ NEGRO
75 g olive oil
3 langoustines
1 smallish cuttlefish, ink sack reserved
the bodies of pealed prawns used in stock
5 cloves of garlic
a large tomato or a couple of smaller ones.
300 g Spanish paella rice
1 tsp pimentón pepper powder (optional)
a pinch of saffron (optional)
900 ml previously prepared fish stock
salt
lemon wedges
PROCEDURE
To make the stock, gently fry broken pieces of ñora peppers and the roughly chopped garlic in the oil. Meanwhile separate the heads and shells from the bodies of small prawns. Add the heads and shells to the pan and keep cooking gently for a couple of minutes. Add the gutted rock fish to the pan and stir around for a moment. Add the stock vegetables and herbs and cover with water. Cook for 20 minutes. Strain.
Fry the langoustines in a generous slug of oil. Remove them and reserve. Add the diced cuttlefish and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the bodies of the prawns used for the stock, closely followed by the chopped garlic. Season with salt. Stir around for a couple more minutes. Add the grate tomato pulp and allow this to reduce down and thicken for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle over the rice, stir around for a minute, adding saffron and pimentón pepper powder (if using).
Break the ink sack in a bowl and dilute with a little stock. Pour this into the pan and stir in well. Cover with the stock and brink quickly to a strong boil. Turn down the heat after 5 minutes and allow to boil gently for another 12 minutes (for a total of 17 minutes), tasting the stock as you go for salt. With 5 minutes to go, arrange the langoustines on top of the rice. Turn of the heat and cover with a cloth for five minutes. Serve with wedges of lemon.
SUBSCRIBE TO PETE’S PANS FOR REGULAR UPDATES
www.youtube.co....
KEEP UP TO DATE AND CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE
/ petespans
/ petespans