Chef Isabel
Arroz a Banda
Arroz a banda is Alicante's fishermen's rice: dry rice cooked in fierce fish stock with salmorreta, the fish served apart, and allioli beside it. Not paella. Its own thing.
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Chef Isabel
Arròs amb Fesols i Naps
Arròs amb fesols i naps is Valencian spoon rice from La Safor and La Marina: white beans, winter turnips, and pork cooked into a broth rich enough to take the rice without turning dry.
Chef Isabel
Paella de Verduras Valenciana
Paella de verduras is Valencia's market-garden paella: artichokes, ferraura, garrofó, peppers, saffron rice, and a dry finish. Build the sofrito, toast the rice, then leave the pan alone.
Chef Isabel
Arròs al Forn de Vigilia
Arròs al forn de vigilia is Valencia's meatless baked rice for Cuaresma: chickpeas, potato, tomato, and a whole garlic head set in a clay cazuela and baked dry, with no stirring.
Chef Isabel
Arroz Empedrado Valenciano
Arroz empedrado is Valencian rice with desalted cod and white beans scattered through the pan like little stones, built on a slow pepper and tomato sofrito and finished dry, never soupy.
Chef Isabel
Paella de Marisco Valenciana
Paella de marisco is Valencia's coastal rice: prawns, mussels, squid, bomba and fish fumet in a wide paellera, cooked dry and left alone until the bottom catches into socarrat.
Chef Isabel
Paella de Fetge de Bou
Meliana's paella de fetge de bou from L'Horta Nord is a Valencian rice of thrift and nerve: fresh beef liver, chickpeas, tomato, and saffron, cooked wide and dry until the socarrat catches.
Chef Isabel
Arroz con Costra
Arroz con Costra belongs to Alicante, especially Elche and the Vega Baja: dry oven rice with rabbit, pork, sausage, and a beaten-egg crust that rises golden over the cazuela.
Chef Isabel
Arroz Negro Valenciano
Arroz negro is Valencian coastal rice: short grains stained black with sepia ink, cooked dry in a wide pan, and finished with allioli, never peas.
Chef Isabel
Arròs amb Ànec i Anguila
Arròs amb ànec i anguila belongs to the Albufera of Valencia: duck from the marsh, eel from the water, and rice cooked dry until the bottom catches dark and good.
Chef Isabel
Arroz del Senyoret
Arroz del Senyoret is Alicante's dry seafood rice, the polite one with every shell removed. Build a good fumet and salmorreta, toast the grain, then leave it alone until the socarrat crackles.
Chef Isabel
Paella Valenciana
Paella Valenciana is Valencia's rice dish of chicken, rabbit, garrofó, flat beans, saffron, and patience: build the flavor in the pan, add the rice, then leave it alone for socarrat.
Chef Isabel
Arroz con Conejo y Caracoles Alicantino
Inland Alicante's dry rice of rabbit, snails, ñora, saffron, and rosemary belongs to the country pan, not a deep pot. Brown the rabbit, toast the grain, add the broth, then leave it be.
Chef Isabel
Paella Mixta Valenciana
Paella mixta is Valencia's coastal rice of field and sea: chicken and rabbit, prawns and mussels, bomba rice stained with saffron, and the rule that matters once the stock goes in: don't stir.
Chef Isabel
Arroz al Horno Valenciano
Arroz al horno is Valencian oven rice, born from cocido broth and leftovers, baked dry in a clay cazuela until the grains stand separate and the top catches.
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