Arroz del Senyoret

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •38 to 40cm paella pan or wide shallow steel pan
• •2 litre saucepan for fumet
• •Fine sieve
• •Box grater or blender for salmorreta
• •Measuring jug

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the fumet

   Put the mussels in a covered pot over medium-high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, just until they open. Pick out the mussel meat and set it aside; strain the liquor through a fine sieve. Put the prawn shells and heads, fish bones, onion, halved tomato, bay leaf, mussel liquor, and 1.5 litres cold water in a pot. Bring it up slowly, skim the foam, then simmer gently for 25 minutes. Strain, press lightly, and measure out 1.1 litres of fumet. If you have more, reduce it; if you have less, add water.

   Do not boil fish stock hard or cook it for an hour. A short, clean fumet tastes of the sea; an exhausted one tastes muddy.
2. 2

   Cook the salmorreta

   Cover the seeded ñoras with hot water for 15 minutes, then scrape out the soft red flesh. Warm 40ml of the olive oil in the rice pan over medium-low heat, add the garlic, and let it turn pale gold. Add the grated tomato, ñora flesh, parsley, and a pinch of salt. Cook it down 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until the tomato is dark, thick, and the oil begins to show at the edges. Mash it well or blend it smooth. That is the salmorreta, the Alicante base that gives the rice its depth.

3. 3

   Prepare the seafood

   Pat the peeled prawns, squid or cuttlefish, monkfish, and mussel meat dry. Salt the monkfish lightly. Keep the prawns and mussels cold while the pan starts; they only need the last minutes or they turn tight and dull.

4. 4

   Sear and reserve

   Set a 38 to 40cm paella pan or wide shallow steel pan over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 20ml olive oil. Sear the monkfish for 1 minute per side and remove it. Sear the prawns for 30 seconds per side and remove them too. Add the squid or cuttlefish and cook 4 to 5 minutes, until its water has cooked off and the edges just begin to catch.

5. 5

   Toast the rice

   Stir the salmorreta into the squid. Add the bomba rice and move it through the pan for 1 to 2 minutes, until every grain is coated and turning a little glassy at the edge. Crush the saffron between your fingers into the hot fumet. This small toasting step helps the grains stay separate later, and this rice wants separation, not creaminess.

   The rice layer should be thin, about one grain deep in places and never deeper than 1.5cm. If the pan is crowded, the arroz stews instead of drying.
6. 6

   Add hot fumet

   Pour in the 1.1 litres hot saffron fumet all at once. Add the teaspoon of salt, taste the liquid, and make it a little more seasoned than soup; the rice will take it in. Spread the grains evenly with a spoon, then stop touching them. From here, no stirring. Boil lively for 5 minutes, then reduce to a steady medium bubble for 8 minutes.

7. 7

   Finish the socarrat

   After 13 minutes of cooking, tuck the monkfish, prawns, and mussel meat over the top of the rice, pressing them just into the surface. Cook 4 to 5 minutes more, until the liquid has disappeared and the rice is tender with a tiny bite at the centre. Raise the heat for the last 60 to 90 seconds and listen: a faint crackle means the socarrat is forming. Smell toast, not scorch. If the rice is still hard and the pan is dry, spoon 50ml hot water around the edge and give it another minute, but do not stir.

8. 8

   Rest and serve

   Take the pan off the heat, cover it loosely with a clean cloth, and rest it 5 minutes. The grains finish settling and the crust releases more cleanly. Serve straight from the pan, scraping down to the dark socarrat so every plate gets a little. A spoon of allioli on the side is welcome, but taste the rice plain first. Tal como se hace allí.

Chef Tips

• •Use bomba if you can. Calasparra works well with the same measured fumet. Arborio is only a pinch-hitter: use 1 litre of fumet instead of 1.1 litres, do not stir it, and accept that the finish will be softer.
• •Raw frozen prawns with shells on are better than already peeled cooked prawns. The shells build the fumet, and the raw meat can be cooked gently at the end instead of turning rubbery.
• •If good fresh tomatoes are not worth grating, use canned crushed tomato for the salmorreta and cook it down longer. A watery tomato base gives you a thin rice.
• •No ñoras where you are? Use 2 tablespoons jarred ñora pulp or pimiento choricero pulp. If you must use sweet pimentón, add 1 teaspoon off the heat so it does not burn, and know the rice will miss some of that round Alicante pepper sweetness.
• •Cook it in a paella pan because the shape is right, wide and shallow. Still, call the dish what it is: an Alicante arroz seco. Not every arroz is a paella.

Advance Preparation

• •The fumet can be made 1 day ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator, or frozen for up to 2 months. Reheat it fully before it touches the rice.
• •The salmorreta can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept chilled, or frozen in small portions. Bring it to room temperature before adding it to the pan.
• •Peel the prawns and cut the squid and monkfish earlier the same day, then keep them cold and well covered. Salt the fish only shortly before cooking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 570g)