Chef Isabel
Arròs a la Cassola
Catalonia's casserole rice is cooked in a cassola, not a paella pan: rabbit, chicken, and pork rib over a dark sofregit, finished juicy with a small picada.
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Arròs Negre de l'Empordà
Created by
Catalan black rice from the Empordà, cooked in a cassola with cuttlefish, pork rib, ink, and a slow dark sofregit. Keep it moist, not dry, and serve allioli beside it.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Comfort Food
Special Occasion
One Pot
25 min
Active Time
1 hr 15 min cook•1 hr 40 min total
Yield4 servings
Arròs Negre de l'Empordà is Catalan, from the northeastern comarca of the Empordà, and it is black rice with a surname: cuttlefish and its ink, a little fresh pork rib from inland, and a dark sofregit cooked in a cassola until the rice finishes melós, moist and spoonable. This is mar i muntanya, sea and mountain, not a Valencian paella tinted black. The pan is different, the finish is different, and the rice should carry the taste of cuttlefish before it carries the colour.
The method that decides it is the sofregit, the slow onion and tomato base. Cook it low until the onion turns dark gold and jammy and the tomato loses its water, then let the cuttlefish ink darken what already tastes deep. Rush that base and the ink only paints the grains black. It gives you black rice that tastes thin.
If you can buy dirty cuttlefish, ask the fishmonger to save the ink and the melsa, the brown sauce sac. Far from Catalonia, use cleaned cuttlefish or squid with packeted ink and a good fish stock; what changes is depth, not the bones of the recipe. For rice, choose bomba, bahía, sénia, or any Spanish arroz redondo, round short-grain rice. Arborio works at a pinch, but it gives a softer, creamier finish, so watch the liquid. No hace falta haber pisado España.
In my Margin beside this one I wrote: black is not burnt. Keep the stock hot, let the rice settle in the cassola, and don't chase a dry bottom as if every arroz wanted the same thing. This one wants to arrive juicy, with allioli beside it. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Arròs negre de l'Empordà belongs to the Catalan comarca that runs from inland farms to the Costa Brava, so the cassola naturally takes both pork rib and cuttlefish. The colour comes from cuttlefish ink, but the depth comes from the dark sofregit, a method Josep Pla fixed in Catalan memory when he wrote about the region's black rice. Its mar i muntanya habit, sea and mountain on one table, is one of the marks that separates this rice from the drier black rices cooked elsewhere along the coast.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole cuttlefish, cleaned with ink reserved, or cleaned cuttlefish or squid plus packeted ink
Quantity
700g whole or 550g cleaned plus 8g ink
cut into 2cm pieces
fresh pork ribs (costella de porc)
Quantity
250g
cut into 3cm pieces
Spanish short-grain rice
Quantity
320g
bomba, bahía, sénia, or arroz redondo
fish stock (fumet)
Quantity
1.2 liters
kept hot
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
divided
onion
Quantity
250g
finely chopped
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
200g
grated, or 180g canned crushed tomato
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
finely chopped
cuttlefish melsa (brown sauce sac) (optional)
Quantity
1
fine sea salt
Quantity
6g, plus more to taste
garlic clove for allioli
Quantity
1 small
peeled, green germ removed
fine sea salt for allioli
Quantity
1 pinch
mild extra virgin olive oil for allioli
Quantity
120ml
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole cuttlefish, cleaned with ink reserved, or cleaned cuttlefish or squid plus packeted inkcut into 2cm pieces | 700g whole or 550g cleaned plus 8g ink |
| fresh pork ribs (costella de porc)cut into 3cm pieces | 250g |
| Spanish short-grain ricebomba, bahía, sénia, or arroz redondo | 320g |
| fish stock (fumet)kept hot | 1.2 liters |
| extra virgin olive oildivided | 60ml |
| onionfinely chopped | 250g |
| ripe tomatoesgrated, or 180g canned crushed tomato | 200g |
| garlic clovesfinely chopped | 2 |
| cuttlefish melsa (brown sauce sac) (optional) | 1 |
| fine sea salt | 6g, plus more to taste |
| garlic clove for alliolipeeled, green germ removed | 1 small |
| fine sea salt for allioli | 1 pinch |
| mild extra virgin olive oil for allioli | 120ml |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide 30 to 32cm cassola or heavy low casserole
- •Small saucepan for keeping the fish stock hot
- •Mortar and pestle for allioli
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the cuttlefish
If your fishmonger gives you whole cuttlefish, ask for the ink sacs and the melsa, the brown sauce sac. Cut the body and tentacles into 2cm pieces. If using packeted ink, whisk 8g ink into 60ml of the hot fish stock so it goes into the cassola evenly. Pat the pork ribs dry and season them with 2g of the salt.
Packeted ink is often salty. Hold back on the final salt until the rice has cooked in the stock for a few minutes and you can taste it properly. - 2
Brown the pork
Heat 40ml of the olive oil in a wide 30 to 32cm cassola or heavy low casserole over medium-high heat. Brown the pork ribs on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes, then lift them to a plate. Add the cuttlefish and cook until it releases its liquid and that liquid mostly cooks away, another 6 to 8 minutes. Lift it out with the pork. You are not looking for a hard crust here; you are driving off water so the sofregit fries instead of boiling.
- 3
Build the sofregit
Lower the heat to medium-low, add the remaining 20ml olive oil, then add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook slowly, stirring often, until the onion is dark gold, soft, and jammy, 25 to 30 minutes. If it catches, add a spoonful of hot stock and keep going. Add the grated tomato and chopped garlic and cook until the tomato has lost its water and the oil begins to show again, 12 to 15 minutes. If you have the melsa, stir it in for the last 2 minutes. This is the step that gives the rice its depth. Pésalo, no lo adivines, and don't hurry it.
- 4
Toast the rice
Return the pork ribs and cuttlefish to the cassola and stir them through the sofregit. Add the rice and move it through the oil for 1 to 2 minutes, until the grains look glossy. Stir in the ink mixture and let it darken the rice for 30 seconds. The cassola should smell of the sea and sweet onion, not scorch.
- 5
Cook in stock
Pour in 1 liter of the hot fish stock, scrape the base once, and spread the rice evenly. Bring it to a lively simmer for 8 minutes, then lower the heat and cook 8 to 10 minutes more. Do not stir it like risotto; shake the cassola by the handles and nudge only if you must. Add the reserved hot stock in small ladlefuls if the rice looks dry before the grains are tender. It should finish melós, juicy but not soupy, with the grains cooked through and still holding their shape.
- 6
Rest and serve
Take the cassola off the heat when the rice is just tender and still glossy. Cover it loosely with a clean cloth and rest 5 minutes. While it rests, make the allioli: crush the small garlic clove with a pinch of salt in a mortar, then add the 120ml olive oil drop by drop at first, then in a thin thread, working until it thickens. Serve the rice from the cassola with a spoon of allioli on the side, not mixed through the whole pot unless each person wants it.
If the allioli splits, nadie nace sabiendo. Put a teaspoon of warm water in a clean bowl and whisk the broken sauce back in a spoonful at a time.
Chef Tips
- •Buy dirty cuttlefish if you can, with the ink and melsa saved. That is where the dish gets its briny depth. Cleaned squid or cuttlefish with packeted ink works far from Catalonia, but then your fish stock and sofregit have to do more of the work.
- •Use Spanish short-grain rice: bomba, bahía, sénia, or plain arroz redondo. If arborio is all you can get, use it at a pinch, but expect a softer, creamier finish and watch the liquid closely near the end.
- •Cook this in a cassola or a heavy low casserole, not because clay is magic, but because the dish wants a moist, even finish. Not every arroz is a paella. This one should be melós, spoonable and glossy.
- •The pork should be fresh rib, costella de porc, not cured sausage. Chorizo would bully the cuttlefish and turn the whole cassola toward another dish.
- •Once the rice goes in, serve it the same day. The base can wait, the cooked rice cannot; it swells, dulls, and loses the point of the dish.
Advance Preparation
- •The fish stock can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator, or frozen for longer storage.
- •You can cook the sofregit with the pork and cuttlefish up to 1 day ahead. Stop before adding the rice, chill it, then rewarm the base gently and continue with the hot stock.
- •Do not cook the rice ahead. Arròs negre is at its best after its short rest, while the grains are still glossy and separate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 540g)
Calories
935 calories
Total Fat
52 g
Saturated Fat
10 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
41 g
Cholesterol
190 mg
Sodium
1550 mg
Total Carbohydrates
74 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
39 g
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