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.
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Arroz a Banda
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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.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
Comfort Food
45 min
Active Time
1 hr 15 min cook•2 hr total
Yield4 servings
Arroz a banda is Alicante's, especially the rice country of the Valencian coast, and its name tells you the trick: the rice is cooked apart from the fish. First the fish gives itself to a deep fumet, then the rice takes that stock, salmorreta, and oil until it cooks dry and stained red-gold. The fish is served on the side, a banda, with allioli. That's what makes it this dish and not its neighbour.
The method that decides it is the stock and the stillness. Build a clean, strong fish fumet from heads, bones, and small rock fish if you can get them. Then make salmorreta, the Alicante base of ñora pepper, garlic, tomato, and parsley, cooked until the raw tomato is gone and the oil turns brick red. Toast the rice in that base before the stock goes in. Once the hot stock is added, spread the grains flat and leave them alone. Stirring wakes the starch and turns dry arroz into porridge. A fine porridge perhaps, but not arroz a banda.
If you're far from Alicante, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use bomba if you can, Calasparra if not, and a short-grain rice for paella at a pinch. For the stock, ask for firm white fish bones and heads, shrimp shells, or a few blue crabs; what changes is the depth, not the rule. Don't use salmon bones, they make the broth oily and loud. My Margin beside this one says only: hot stock, wide pan, no spoon. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Arroz a banda belongs to the fishermen of the Alicante coast, especially around Dénia and the Marina Alta, where humble fish from the day's catch was boiled for broth and served separately from the rice. The name means "rice apart," because the fish and potatoes or seafood from the caldero were eaten on one side while the rice cooked in the broth came on the other. Its close relatives along the coast, including caldero and arroz del senyoret, share the same seafaring larder, but arroz a banda keeps its identity in the separated fish and the dry, stock-fed rice.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
bomba rice or Calasparra rice
Quantity
350g
strong fish fumet
Quantity
1.2 litres
kept hot
firm white fish
Quantity
450g
cut into large pieces
fish bones and heads
Quantity
250g
gills removed
shrimp shells or small rock fish (optional)
Quantity
200g
for the fumet
onion
Quantity
1 small
halved
leek
Quantity
1
cleaned and sliced
bay leaf
Quantity
1
cold water
Quantity
2 litres
dried ñora peppers
Quantity
3
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
unpeeled
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
300g
grated
chopped parsley
Quantity
1 tablespoon
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
90ml
divided
sweet pimentón de la Vera
Quantity
1 teaspoon
saffron threads
Quantity
1 pinch
salt
Quantity
to taste
allioli
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| bomba rice or Calasparra rice | 350g |
| strong fish fumetkept hot | 1.2 litres |
| firm white fishcut into large pieces | 450g |
| fish bones and headsgills removed | 250g |
| shrimp shells or small rock fish (optional)for the fumet | 200g |
| onionhalved | 1 small |
| leekcleaned and sliced | 1 |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| cold water | 2 litres |
| dried ñora peppers | 3 |
| garlic clovesunpeeled | 4 |
| ripe tomatoesgrated | 300g |
| chopped parsley | 1 tablespoon |
| extra virgin olive oildivided | 90ml |
| sweet pimentón de la Vera | 1 teaspoon |
| saffron threads | 1 pinch |
| salt | to taste |
| allioli | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Paella pan, 34 to 38cm
- •Wide stockpot
- •Fine sieve
- •Mortar and pestle or blender
- •Clean kitchen cloth for resting
Instructions
- 1
Make the fumet
Put the fish bones and heads, shrimp shells or rock fish if using, onion, leek, bay leaf, and cold water in a wide pot. Bring it slowly to a bare simmer and skim the foam well. Cook gently for 30 minutes, no longer, or the broth turns muddy and tired. Strain it, press lightly on the solids, season with salt, and keep 1.2 litres hot for the rice.
Do not boil fish stock hard. A calm simmer gives you a clean sea broth; a hard boil drags bitterness from the bones. - 2
Cook the fish
Slip the large pieces of firm white fish into the strained fumet and simmer just until they flake, 4 to 6 minutes depending on thickness. Lift them out carefully to a warm dish and cover. This is the fish served a banda, apart from the rice, so keep it in good pieces rather than breaking it through the pan.
- 3
Build the salmorreta
Remove the stems and seeds from the ñoras. Warm 60ml of the olive oil in the paella pan or a frying pan, fry the ñoras for a few seconds per side until fragrant, then lift them out before they scorch. Fry the unpeeled garlic until golden and soft. Peel the garlic, scrape the ñora flesh from the skins, and pound or blend both with the parsley, grated tomato, pimentón, saffron, and a pinch of salt. Return this paste to the oil and cook it low until thick, brick red, and no longer raw-tasting, 8 to 10 minutes.
- 4
Toast the rice
Set the paella pan over medium heat with the remaining 30ml olive oil and the salmorreta. Add the rice and move it through the oil for 1 to 2 minutes, until the grains look glossy at the edges. Pésalo, no lo adivines: the rice and stock ratio is what gives you dry arroz instead of soup.
- 5
Add hot stock
Pour in 1.2 litres of hot fumet all at once. Taste the liquid now; it should be well seasoned because the rice will drink it. Spread the rice evenly across the pan, then stop stirring. Boil briskly for 8 minutes so the grains set in place and the surface bubbles evenly from edge to centre.
- 6
Finish dry
Lower the heat to medium-low and cook 8 to 10 minutes more, still without stirring, until the stock is absorbed and the rice is just tender with a dry, separate finish. If the centre is lagging, turn the pan a quarter turn now and then, but don't drag a spoon through it. For a light socarrat, raise the heat for the final 60 to 90 seconds and listen for a faint crackle, then take it off before it smells burnt.
- 7
Rest and serve
Cover the pan loosely with a clean cloth and rest the rice for 5 minutes. Serve the arroz from the pan, with the fish on a separate platter and allioli at the table. A small spoon of allioli beside the rice is right; drowning the pan in it is not. Tal como se hace allí.
Chef Tips
- •Use bomba rice if you can. It drinks stock without bursting, which is why Valencian rice dishes lean on it. Calasparra is the nearest good substitute; ordinary short-grain rice works only if you reduce the stock slightly and watch the final minutes closely.
- •The fumet must taste stronger than a soup you would drink. Rice softens seasoning as it absorbs liquid, so a timid stock gives a timid arroz. Fish heads, bones, shrimp shells, and a little rock fish make the best home version.
- •Ñora peppers give salmorreta its Alicante taste, sweet, red, and round. If you cannot find them, use 2 tablespoons ñora paste or, at a pinch, 1 tablespoon good tomato paste plus another half teaspoon of sweet pimentón. It will be less deep, but it will still behave.
- •This is not paella with fish thrown in. Keep the rice dry, wide, and unstirred, and serve the fish apart. Not every arroz is a paella, and this one has its own name for a reason.
- •Serve with a dry white from Alicante, Marina Alta Moscatel seco if you can find it, or a crisp Verdejo. The allioli wants freshness in the glass, not oak.
Advance Preparation
- •Make the fumet up to 24 hours ahead, cool it quickly, and refrigerate it. Bring it back to a full simmer before adding it to the rice.
- •The salmorreta can be made 2 days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. It also freezes well in small portions, which is a good habit for rice days.
- •Cook the rice just before serving. Arroz a banda waits badly once finished; the rest should be five minutes, not half an hour.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 530g)
Calories
760 calories
Total Fat
35 g
Saturated Fat
5 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
28 g
Cholesterol
75 mg
Sodium
1150 mg
Total Carbohydrates
77 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
34 g
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