Chef Isabel
Aletría Murciana
Aletría Murciana is Murcia's humble noodle guiso: fine fideos, pork ribs, potato, saffron, and a dark sweet sofrito. Get that base right and the pot knows where it's going.
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Gurullos de Almería con Conejo y Caracoles
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Gurullos de Almería are tiny hand-rolled pasta grains cooked like rice in a rabbit, snail, chickpea, and saffron guiso, with the sofrito cooked low until it turns dark and sweet.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Comfort Food
One Pot
Budget Friendly
50 min
Active Time
1 hr 30 min cook•2 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
Gurullos de Almería belong to the dry southeast of Andalucía: tiny grains of wheat dough, rolled by hand, then guisados, stewed, with rabbit, snails, chickpeas, saffron, and a slow tomato-pepper sofrito. This is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, but with pasta where another region might reach for rice. Cooked like an arroz, yes. Paella it is not.
The part that decides it is the sofrito before the gurullos ever go in. Cook the onion, pepper, garlic, and tomato low until the tomato loses its raw water and the oil comes back to the surface, red-gold and glossy. That is where the stew gets its depth. Rush it and the broth tastes thin, no matter how carefully you roll the pasta.
The gurullos themselves should be small, no bigger than fat grains of rice, and left to dry a little so they drink the rabbit broth without turning pasty. If you are far from Almería, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use farmed rabbit if you can get it; bone-in chicken thighs are the honest substitute, sweeter and less wild. For the snails, buy cleaned cooked caracoles in a jar or frozen. If you cannot get them safely, leave them out and add a little more chickpea. What changes is the country taste, not the method.
Expect a thick, spoonable pot, not soup and not dry pasta. Keep hot water beside you and loosen it as the gurullos swell. My Margin beside this one says only: small grains, slow sofrito, enough broth. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Gurullos belong to Almería and the neighbouring southeast, especially the inland comarcas where wheat, chickpeas, rabbit, and snails made a filling pot from a dry-country larder. The handmade pasta answered a practical need: flour and water could be rolled into tiny grains that stretched a little meat through a whole cazuela. The Almeriense version is recognized by those hand-rolled gurullos cooked in the broth with rabbit or hare, often with caracoles gathered after rain.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
plain wheat flour
Quantity
200g, plus more for dusting
warm water
Quantity
95ml
fine salt
Quantity
3g
for the dough
bone-in rabbit
Quantity
700g
cut into serving pieces
fine salt
Quantity
8g, plus more to taste
divided
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
onion
Quantity
1 medium, about 150g
finely chopped
Italian green pepper
Quantity
1, about 100g
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
3 cloves
minced
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
300g
grated, or use 250g canned crushed tomato
dried ñora pepper
Quantity
1
soaked, flesh scraped
sweet pimentón
Quantity
1 teaspoon
saffron threads
Quantity
1 good pinch
bay leaf
Quantity
1
hot water or light rabbit or chicken stock
Quantity
1.5 litres, plus more if needed
cooked chickpeas
Quantity
220g
drained
cleaned cooked snails
Quantity
250g
jarred or frozen, rinsed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| plain wheat flour | 200g, plus more for dusting |
| warm water | 95ml |
| fine saltfor the dough | 3g |
| bone-in rabbitcut into serving pieces | 700g |
| fine saltdivided | 8g, plus more to taste |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
| extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 medium, about 150g |
| Italian green pepperfinely chopped | 1, about 100g |
| garlicminced | 3 cloves |
| ripe tomatoesgrated, or use 250g canned crushed tomato | 300g |
| dried ñora peppersoaked, flesh scraped | 1 |
| sweet pimentón | 1 teaspoon |
| saffron threads | 1 good pinch |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| hot water or light rabbit or chicken stock | 1.5 litres, plus more if needed |
| cooked chickpeasdrained | 220g |
| cleaned cooked snailsjarred or frozen, rinsed | 250g |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy cazuela or 28-30cm heavy pot
- •Large mixing bowl
- •Clean kitchen cloth or floured tray for drying gurullos
- •Box grater for tomato
Instructions
- 1
Make the dough
Put the flour and 3g salt in a bowl. Add the warm water little by little, mixing with your fingers until you have a firm dough that is not sticky. Knead it for 5 minutes, then cover and rest it for 20 minutes. It should feel stiffer than bread dough; soft dough makes swollen, clumsy gurullos.
- 2
Roll the gurullos
Pinch off tiny pieces of dough and roll each one between thumb and forefinger into a small tapered grain, about the size of a fat rice grain. Spread them on a floured cloth or tray as you work and dust lightly so they do not stick together. Let them dry for at least 30 minutes while you start the stew.
Uneven is fine. Chickpea-sized is not. Large gurullos stay doughy in the middle before the broth thickens. - 3
Brown the rabbit
Season the rabbit with 5g of the salt and a little black pepper. Heat the olive oil in a wide heavy cazuela or pot over medium heat and brown the rabbit in batches until golden on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes in all. Lift it to a plate. Do not crowd the pot, or the rabbit stews before it browns.
- 4
Build the sofrito
Lower the heat and add the onion and green pepper to the same oil. Cook slowly for 12 to 15 minutes, scraping up the browned bits, until the onion is soft and dark gold at the edges. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the grated tomato and the scraped ñora flesh. Cook until the tomato thickens, darkens, and the oil shows at the edge of the pan, another 12 minutes or so.
- 5
Season the broth
Pull the pot briefly off the heat and stir in the pimentón so it perfumes the oil without scorching. Crumble in the saffron, add the bay leaf, return the rabbit to the pot, and pour in 1.5 litres hot water or light stock. Bring it to a gentle simmer, add the remaining 3g salt, and cook partly covered for 45 to 55 minutes, until the rabbit is nearly tender.
- 6
Cook the gurullos
Bring the pot to a lively simmer and taste the broth; it should be well seasoned because the gurullos will drink it. Scatter in the handmade gurullos with one hand while stirring gently with the other, then add the chickpeas and snails. Cook uncovered for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the pasta is tender with a little bite and the broth has thickened to a glossy, spoonable stew.
- 7
Rest and serve
Turn off the heat and let the cazuela rest for 5 minutes. If it tightens too much, loosen it with a splash of hot water and shake the pot by the handles. Serve in deep bowls with rabbit, chickpeas, snails, and gurullos in every serving. This is meant to be eaten with a spoon and bread close by.
Chef Tips
- •Use only cleaned cooked snails from a trusted source, jarred or frozen. Do not gather wild snails unless you know how to purge and cook them safely. If you leave them out, add another 100g cooked chickpeas; the stew will be gentler and less country-tasting, but still honest.
- •Rabbit is the right meat here. If you cannot get it, use 700g bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed. They cook a little faster and taste sweeter, so start checking them after 35 minutes of simmering.
- •Make the gurullos small and let them dry a little. Fresh soft dough dropped straight into the pot clouds the broth and turns heavy. Pésalo, no lo adivines, especially the water in the dough.
- •Keep extra hot water beside the stove. Gurullos thicken the pot as they cook and again as they rest; loosen with water, not more tomato, or the balance you built in the sofrito goes off.
- •If the tomatoes are poor, use good canned crushed tomato. Almería knows tomatoes, but a watery winter tomato does no kindness to the pot.
Advance Preparation
- •The gurullos can be rolled a day ahead and left uncovered on a floured tray until dry, then kept covered at room temperature for another day.
- •Cooked chickpeas can be prepared the day before, or use a good jarred chickpea and rinse it well.
- •The stew is best the day it is made. Leftovers thicken in the refrigerator; reheat gently with splashes of water until spoonable again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 650g)
Calories
645 calories
Total Fat
23 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
19 g
Cholesterol
90 mg
Sodium
1350 mg
Total Carbohydrates
66 g
Dietary Fiber
8 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
43 g
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