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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Arroz con Almejas Gallego
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Arroz con almejas is Galician spoon rice: loose, briny, and built on good clams, their strained liquor, a slow sofrito, and enough stock to keep it brothy.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Comfort Food
One Pot
Weeknight
30 min
Active Time
35 min cook•1 hr 5 min total
Yield4 servings
Arroz con almejas is Galician, from the wet Atlantic edge where the clams are not a garnish but the dish. This is not a dry Valencian paella, and it shouldn't try to be one. It is arroz caldoso, spoon rice, loose and briny, with the clam liquor carrying the sea through the pot and a broken potato giving the broth a little body.
The method that decides it is simple: open the clams gently, strain every drop of their liquor, and return the meat only at the end. Boil the clams with the rice and they go tight and rubbery. Keep them back, cook the rice in the sofrito, wine, stock, and clam liquor, and the whole pot tastes of Galicia instead of tired shellfish.
If you are far from the rias, buy the best live clams you can find, small littlenecks if that is what your fishmonger has. Manila clams work too, though they are a little sweeter and less deep. Purge them well. No hace falta haber pisado Espana, but you do need clean clams, a real fish stock, and the sense not to dry the rice out. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Arroz con almejas belongs to the Galician coast, especially the rias where clams have long been gathered from tidal flats and cooked simply with garlic, parsley, wine, and rice. The dish sits in the family of arroz caldoso, a soupy rice meant for a spoon, not the dry, crusted rice of Valencia. Breaking a potato into the pot is a northern habit that thickens the broth by rough edges of starch, a practical home-kitchen trick rather than a flourish.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
live clams
Quantity
1kg
scrubbed and purged
fine sea salt
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for purging
short-grain Spanish rice, such as bomba, Calasparra, or arroz redondo
Quantity
250g
waxy potato
Quantity
1 medium, about 180g
peeled and broken into bite-size pieces
onion
Quantity
1 medium
finely chopped
green pepper
Quantity
1 small
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
4 cloves
finely chopped
ripe tomato
Quantity
1, about 150g
grated
dry Galician white wine, such as Albarino, or another dry white wine
Quantity
80ml
fish stock
Quantity
900ml
kept hot
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
bay leaf
Quantity
1
saffron threads (optional)
Quantity
small pinch
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
salt
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| live clamsscrubbed and purged | 1kg |
| fine sea saltfor purging | 2 tablespoons |
| short-grain Spanish rice, such as bomba, Calasparra, or arroz redondo | 250g |
| waxy potatopeeled and broken into bite-size pieces | 1 medium, about 180g |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 medium |
| green pepperfinely chopped | 1 small |
| garlicfinely chopped | 4 cloves |
| ripe tomatograted | 1, about 150g |
| dry Galician white wine, such as Albarino, or another dry white wine | 80ml |
| fish stockkept hot | 900ml |
| extra virgin olive oil | 2 tablespoons |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| saffron threads (optional) | small pinch |
| flat-leaf parsleychopped | 2 tablespoons |
| salt | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide cazuela or heavy 28-30cm pot
- •Large bowl for purging clams
- •Fine sieve and clean cloth or kitchen paper
Instructions
- 1
Purge the clams
Put the clams in a large bowl with 1 litre cold water and 2 tablespoons fine sea salt. Leave them 30 minutes, then lift them out by hand, leaving any sand behind. Rinse well. Throw away any clam that is cracked or stays open when tapped. Sand in the pot is the one mistake no sofrito can hide.
If your clams are very sandy, change the salted water once and give them another 20 minutes. Do not leave them soaking all afternoon; they are alive, not vegetables. - 2
Open the clams
Put the clams in a wide pan with the white wine and 2 tablespoons of water. Cover and cook over medium-high heat just until they open, shaking the pan once or twice, about 3 to 5 minutes. Lift the clams to a bowl as they open. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve lined with kitchen paper or clean cloth, and keep it. That liquor is the sea in this dish.
- 3
Cook the sofrito
Warm the olive oil in a wide cazuela or heavy pot. Add the onion, green pepper, and a pinch of salt, and cook low and slow until soft, sweet, and dark gold at the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Stir in the grated tomato and cook until thick and almost dry, 6 to 8 minutes. This is the floor of the pot; rush it and the rice tastes thin.
- 4
Add rice and potato
Add the rice, broken potato pieces, bay leaf, and saffron, if using. Stir for 1 minute so the grains are coated in the sofrito. Pour in the strained clam liquor, then add 800ml of the hot fish stock. Bring it to a steady simmer and taste before salting, because the clam liquor may already carry enough salt.
- 5
Keep it soupy
Cook uncovered at a lively but not violent simmer until the rice is tender and the potato edges have softened into the broth, 16 to 18 minutes. Stir now and then so the rice does not catch. Add the remaining 100ml hot stock if the pot tightens before the rice is done. This arroz should move when you tilt the cazuela; if it sits stiff, you have made it too dry.
- 6
Return the clams
Slip the clams back into the pot for the last 2 minutes, just to warm through. Discard any that never opened. Fold in the parsley, turn off the heat, and rest 3 minutes. Serve at once in shallow bowls, with plenty of broth around the rice. Tal como se hace alli, this is food for a spoon.
Chef Tips
- •Buy live clams that smell clean and of the sea, never sour or heavy. Small Galician almeja fina or babosa are beautiful if you can get them; littlenecks or Manila clams are the honest substitute abroad. Manila clams are sweeter and open quickly, so watch them.
- •Use fish stock, not chicken stock. A light stock made from white fish bones, hake trimmings, prawn shells, or even a good unsalted bottled fish stock keeps the rice in Galicia's register.
- •Short-grain rice is the right rice here. Bomba or Calasparra hold well, and ordinary arroz redondo gives a softer, homier pot. Do not use long-grain rice; it stays separate when this dish wants body.
- •Break the potato with the tip of a knife instead of cutting it cleanly. Those rough edges release starch and thicken the broth gently. It is a small thing, and it works.
- •Serve it as soon as it rests. Soupy rice keeps drinking liquid after it leaves the heat, so leftovers will be thicker. Loosen them with a little water or stock and warm gently, knowing the clams will not be as tender the second time.
Advance Preparation
- •The clams can be purged up to 2 hours ahead, then kept cold in a bowl covered with a damp cloth. Do not store them submerged in fresh water.
- •The sofrito can be cooked 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Warm it in the cazuela before adding the rice, potato, clam liquor, and stock.
- •The dish itself is best cooked just before serving. Rice waits for nobody, and clams forgive even less.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 420g)
Calories
440 calories
Total Fat
9 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
35 mg
Sodium
1200 mg
Total Carbohydrates
67 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
21 g
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