Els Meus Arrosos en Paëlla: Rice Dishes

Els Meus Arrosos en Paëlla

For some time now I’ve been making rice on average one or two times a week and it has, in fact, become rare that I make rice in any other cooking vessel. I’ve already posted once on a rice with favas dish that I make...
Arròs amb faves en paëlla
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=6163
... and last month a particularly successful plate of my basic rice, adorned with kidney beans – frijoles colorados – appeared in a couple of photos alongside a stew of pork shanks in red chile sauce:
Arroz 'Duque de Sessa' con Fríjoles Colorados
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=64006#64006

In this thread, I thought I might present some of the other rice dishes I’ve made over the past several months.

Moros y Agnósticos

Rice and black beans – Moros y Cristianos -- is a famous dish. Lest the following take on this preparation offend any traditionalists, I’ve decided to call this version Moros y Agnósticos. The base was a simple sofregit of onion and a little garlic; the liquid used was chicken stock in which I had allowed some saffron to steep.


Cooked separately were the black beans, which were made with a little olive oil, garlic and some dried epazote. Some fresh cilantro was added as a garnish.


The Moors and Agnostics were served alongside some carne asada and a simple salad; the three together made for a nicely blanced and quite savoury meal.


Black beans are one of my favourites of the bean family and the combination of them with rice is an especially happy one, no matter what one calls it.

Bon profit,
Antonius

Links to other recipes and cooking notes by this writer: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=55649#55649

Arroz con Morcilla estilo Trisastres
Rice with Blood Sausage ‘Tri-Taylor Style’

Some time back in the part of winter that was actually cold, we made our first trip to El Mercado, the store up on Southport that is associated with the neighbouring Argentine restaurant, Tango Sur. The trip thither was prompted by the recommendation of the store by JeffB and one of the items we intended to purchase, the morcilla, that is, blood sausage, was one that Jeff had particularly praised. Not surprisingly, I really enjoyed this Argentine version of morcilla and used it successfully in several dishes. The most enjoyable application was to my mind in the arroz con morcilla estilo Trisastres, which I made one snowy night when the rest of the family was away on a short trip back east.

The dish started with the frying of some coarsely chopped white and green onion, one or two of our home-grown dried red serranos, a little minced garlic, one coarsely chopped chorizo riojano, and one morcilla, half of which was sliced in disks and half of which was coarsely chopped into smaller pieces. After frying the disks of morcilla a little, I removed them that they retain their integrity (they tend to start to break up as they cook) but left the chopped pieces that they might help colour the rice. A touch of pimentón was added to the pan late in this stage.


The rice was then added to the pan for colouring through gentle frying.


The cooking liquid I used was just water and I also added a half a cup or so of imported Spanish ‘fresh’ favas (i.e., the ones that have been jarred).


There was considerable complexity in this dish of both flavours and textures – the sweet-spice aspect of the morcilla with its partly crispy and partly grainy textures, the vinegary tang and chewiness of the chorizo, the earthy and soft aspects of the favas, the piquancy of the chiles -- but in the rice itself, all the flavours were brought together and harmonised. Along with some dandelions prepared Italian-style, this arroz con morcilla estilo Trisastres made for a particularly satisfying ‘home-alone’ meal.


Olé!
Antonius


Links to other recipes and cooking notes by this writer: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=55649#55649

A,

You know, I hope you're not in any way discouraged by the lack of replies to some of your incredible food posts. It's just that you gift us with pix of your magnificent looking vittles, I swoon, I recover, and then, really, what is there to add?

You may tire of plaudits, but please accept this as the sound of one poster, clapping.

Hammond

A--

I wouldn't have complained if you had called the black beans and rice Moros y Cristianos; what's in a name?

Both dishes look great, particularly the second. The Riojano chorizo is a terrific flavor base for rice, as your 3rd photo demonstrates. The pimenton-tinged lard from the sausage is much greater than the sum of its parts, and it allows the flavors to permeate the rice.

If one is making a large paella or similar dish, a nice trick is use a can of the cheap chorizos packed in lard, which is red-orange from the spices used in the sausages. The sausage isn't great, but the lard is.

Antonius,

These are some wonderful posts. Inspiring! Really.
Moros y Cristianos I make now and then, but it's been a while, but with your Divers Sausages with Lentils posts and now this - I just had to go over to El Mercado for some of the sausages.
For dinner we had Arroz con Morcilla estilo Don Antonio – using el mercado morcilla and chorizo (latter all chopped) and fava-beanless. Still it was a tasty dinner. I raised my glass to you.
Gracias!

I was going to ask what rice you used, from your picture the grains look short and for some reason I wondered arborio? In a moment of clarity that came as I chopped the onions I realized - just as A2Fay asked me, "Don't we have a bag of arroz in the pantry?" By this she meant the enriched long grain (that's what the packet says, but not really) parboiled rice. That's what we used.
The morcilla does break apart, actually starts turning to mush very rapidly. The whole discs in your picture are quite masterful.


Then there was dessert. Any guesses?

For what it may be worth, the classic Spanish rice dishes like paella and arroz con pollo use short grain, Valencia-type rice. In contrast, the criollo beans and rice dishes, morros y cristianos, congri, and arroz con gandules (along with the odd bit creations like arroz con salsichas (in which the sausages are canned Viennas)) use medium or long grain rice. The saffron-based dishes are to have the somewhat creamy but al dente texture of the short grain rice, while the others are meant to be very dry and separate. That is achieved through toasting the rice first in a significant amount of oil/lard, using minimal liquid, and adding some of the beans toward the end. I have never seen proper morros sold in Chicago, even at La Unica. It is a tricky dish to do right, and it rarely is, anywhere.

PS, chorizo has many meanings, including at Mercado, from the brat-like Argentine sausage, to the robust Colombian one, to the dry cured Spanish standby. Which did you use?

The rice I used was IMO medium grain. In the Spanish rice dishes is the rice used typically parboiled?

The chorizo I used was the Argentine brat type. I used one link taken out of its casing.
The Spanish dry cured type I picked up once at Bobaks (I saw the same one at the deli at Iberico) - no preservatives it said (can't remember the brand, but IIRC it was the only one at Iberico). I didn't care for it that much.

el mercado had a whole list of other fresh sausages (not to mention other items) I'll have to go back for.

The alfahores - butter cookie (shortbread?) with thin filling of dulche de leche - we shared at el mercado was decadent. A great appetizer as we headed home to cook dinner.

JeffB wrote:chorizo has many meanings, including at Mercado, from the brat-like Argentine sausage, to the robust Colombian one, to the dry cured Spanish standby.

The term "chorizo" is very confusing. I once tried grilled "bistec de chorizo" at an Argentine restaurant. Not a sausage at all but a delicious cut of veal or beef. Of course, terms for food differ from country to country (and even regions within countries), but a perfectly harmless term in one area can be a vulgar insult in another. I have a knack for embarrassing myself in restaurants when I get too talkative with the waiter. And let's not even mention hand gestures, except to say that I should keep mine in my pockets to stay out of trouble.

Awesome photos, Antonius. I can smell the delicious aromas from here.

Bill/SFNM

Parboiled? Dios mio, no.

The Palacios brand chorizo that is sometimes at Mercado and always at La Unica, Sam's and Iberico is brilliant. I just picked up another brand from Madrid (I honestly can't remember where I purchased it right now), but it is not nearly as good. Probably from Paulina, which has started to stock some Spanish cured meats, including Iberico.

PS, the cookies are alfajores, with a jota, in case you are looking for it later.

Finally, yes, one can get into trouble by using seemingly innocent terms for things such as birds and insects in Latin America (though the same holds true in other languages). Often the Argentine cut is called bife de chorizo to partially alleviate the confusion.

David Hammond wrote:You know, I hope you're not in any way discouraged by the lack of replies to some of your incredible food posts. It's just that you gift us with pix of your magnificent looking vittles, I swoon, I recover, and then, really, what is there to add?
You may tire of plaudits, but please accept this as the sound of one poster, clapping.

David,

Thank you very much for the response and the praise, which never is tiresome! ( ); quite the opposite, it is most incouraging and spurs one on to take the time to try to write up and present further recipes and such that may be of interest.

I know I enjoy very much reading about (and perusing pictures of) the dishes cooked by others on the board. Sometimes there isn't really much room or call for discussion, but sometimes there is, and I find the questions and answers that follow many of the recipe posts to be very interesting. Indeed, while I certainly enjoy and profit from and hopefully contribute to the discussions of restaurants in the area, this Shopping and Cooking Forum is my favourite.

Antonius

sazerac wrote:These are some wonderful posts. Inspiring! Really.
Moros y Cristianos I make now and then, but it's been a while, but with your Divers Sausages with Lentils posts and now this - I just had to go over to El Mercado for some of the sausages.
For dinner we had Arroz con Morcilla estilo Don Antonio – using el mercado morcilla and chorizo (latter all chopped) and fava-beanless. Still it was a tasty dinner. I raised my glass to you.
Gracias!

De nada!

I was going to ask what rice you used, from your picture the grains look short and for some reason I wondered arborio? In a moment of clarity that came as I chopped the onions I realized - just as A2Fay asked me, "Don't we have a bag of arroz in the pantry?" By this she meant the enriched long grain (that's what the packet says, but not really) parboiled rice. That's what we used.
The morcilla does break apart, actually starts turning to mush very rapidly. The whole discs in your picture are quite masterful.

Picking up on what Jeff said, in Spain both short and medium grain rice (both of various sorts) are used for different purposes. Also, as Jeff mentioned, a dish such as moros y cristianos tends to be made with medium grain rice. But note also that MyC is also made in Valencia and recipes (in Spanish and Catalan) that I've seen often don't specify rice type for the Valencian version. BUT note further that the Valencian version also employs boiled rice (albeit seasoned) -- not rice made in the pan -- which is then brought together with the beans; all in all, it's pretty close to the Caribbean dshes bearing the same name. The reason I felt I should change the name a bit to Moros y Agnósticos is that I made the dish en paëlla, in my trusty little Valencian flat pan. All the dishes I'll post in this thread will be en paëlla -- that's the theme of the thread -- but Valencian and Catalan rice dishes are not all cooked in that vessel. There are lots where the rice is boiled ('arroz blanco') and there are ones that are cooked in the oddly shaped puchero pot or in cazuelas and cooked on the stovetop or in the oven. There are LOTS of Valencian and Catalan rice dishes.

Anyway, dishes en paëlla generally are made with short grain rice. The ones I use are imported Spanish brands (Valencian type rice), running from fancy expensive ones to the very admirable Goya Valencian-type short grain. Italian risotto rices are absolutely well-suited to this manner of cooking and in all essential ways (shape, chemistry) Arborio and Vialone nano (and.... what's the third famous one? I'm blanking... Carnaroli, I think) are much like the basic Valencian types (Bahia and Senia) from all that I gather from reading and have experienced in cooking them. The Spanish Bomba is quite distinct in various ways, including crucial ones involving behaviour in cooking (they absorb a lot more water).

'Parboiled' or, as I think the Spanish say, 'vaporizado' is used over there but I don't think it's appropriate for en paëlla dishes. I've never seen it recommended for that in any event.

So then, I use Valencian short grain for these dishes, occasionally also the Italian short grains (but those tend to be more expensive, I think).

Then there was dessert. Any guesses?

Budin de arroz? Arroz con leche?

A

Antonius wrote:

Then there was dessert. Any guesses?

Budin de arroz? Arroz con leche?

Sorry Antonius, good guesses, but I'm quite behind the times (or at least currency on LTH). Still stuck on the discussion from the earlier thread, once back in Chicago I just had to get some of these (too)
click for larger
Dessert consisted of one heaped teaspoon of each, licked shiny. FWIW the one on the right had good caramel flavor but was rather too sweet – simply a gooey caramel toffee one buys. The one on the left was better (to my taste), a little more complex caramelyness. Close but still didn't exactly hit the spot I was aiming for. I will have to go back to try the other brands at el Mercado. Nobody warned me that el Mercado was cash only , consequently other than the sausages I was reduced to only two of these (@2.99 or less.) I wanted to try the others – particularly the san Ignacio with the blue packaging which I seem to remember as my first tasting. Maybe soon I can have a true tres dulce de leche dessert In retrospect it's probably good for me that el Mercado takes only cash.


*****
With that digression over, let me attempt to get the thread back to a relevant topic.

Thanks JeffB and Antonius for the notes on the rice. Rice is a very interesting topic, although too many think of it, unfortunately I must add, as simply one thing.

JeffB wrote:Parboiled? Dios mio, no.

Buen dios! ¿Qué he hecho yo? (other than mangle Spanish) I am a fair twit! "Arroz" is Spanish for rice, not Spanish rice.
The parboiled rice I had and used for my rendition of arroz con morcilla came from a small package of "Arroz Rico" brand rice. Now parboiled rice we keep for eating with gumbo, jambalaya and some Kerala curries that require a slightly chewier and stronger (I know that's not the right word) tasting rice.
The standard "all-purpose" rice that we tend to use the most by far at home is jasmine rice. Typically I think I've used that (don't cringe) for MyC. Shorter grain rice – what I have at hand is Nishiki which I use nearly only for sushi. Basmati I clearly didn't think appropriate. Arborio I was contemplating (I had it and should have used it), but ended up reaching for the "Arroz"
I think this is the first time I've used parboiled rice in this fashion, i.e., coating and frying in oil (I used good Spanish olive oil too ) before adding liquid and simmering (covered). FWIW, it turned out great and I'll do it again. I'll note that the rice I did use isn't as fat (see pic) or strong tasting as say Uncle Ben's parboiled rice, maybe that's why it worked. Not to mention the tasty tasty morcilla. If the sausage satisfies, it's all good

sazerac wrote:I think this is the first time I've used parboiled rice in this fashion, i.e., coating and frying in oil (I used good Spanish olive oil too ) before adding liquid and simmering (covered). FWIW, it turned out great and I'll do it again. I'll note that the rice I did use isn't as fat (see pic) or strong tasting as say Uncle Ben's parboiled rice, maybe that's why it worked. Not to mention the tasty tasty morcilla. If the sausage satisfies, it's all good

If it was good, it was good, and there's no arguing with that. I gather parboiled rice is used to some extent in Spain, given that I remember having read something about it in a book published in that country, but again, tradition for en paëlla dishes is the Valencian short grain type.

A couple of further notes:

1) Not all traditional rice dishes made en paëlla involve toasting or gilding the rice first; in fact, I think most of the more famous dishes have the liquid added, then the rice. I myself do rossejar rather often, this perhaps being a reflexion of my Italian substrate.

2) When you add the rice to the liquid or the liquid to the rice, the flame should be high and you should cook the rice at a vigorous boil for about ten minutes or so. Then turn the heat well down for the last 8 to 12 minutes (depending on all the various variables). Don't cover the rice and don't stir it after you've evened it out after combining the rice and the liquid.

Further illustrations forthcoming...

luego,
Antonius

A--

You might be right about rice dishes in Spain where the rice is not fried/toasted first. However, that initial step is a given in Cuban cooking, for example. To me, it is a defining characteristic of Cuban rice dishes, where the firmness and separateness of the grains is most important.

JeffB wrote:You might be right about rice dishes in Spain where the rice is not fried/toasted first. However, that initial step is a given in Cuban cooking, for example. To me, it is a defining characteristic of Cuban rice dishes, where the firmness and separateness of the grains is most important.

Yes, also in pilaffs or pulaos, in which the grains are separate and firm, the initial frying/toasting needs to ensure that every grain is coated with the oil/fat.

My best cooking buddy in Kansas City is upcountry Nicaraguan, and he always toasts the rice. Has rice and beans at least once every single day. Mostly pintos, altho' he does black beans not infrequently. (He lived in Mexico DF for a dozen years, which adequately explains the pintos!)

Geo

Arròs Verd
Green Rice

This dish is another one that I originally came up with on the spur of the moment, though it certainly resembles to a degree dishes I’ve seen described in the course of wide reading on Spanish cooking. I’ve made it on several occasions (with slight variations each time) and find it a particularly pleasant and simple preparation that works well as a side dish (rather than as a ‘primo’ or ‘piatto unico’ – apologies for the linguistic promiscuity).

To achieve the desired flavour and level of greenness I used an especially green olive oil (from Andalucía) and added to the sofregit of onion and a little garlic a good dose each of finely chopped parsley and finely chopped cilantro. I believe I also ‘toasted’ the rice briefly. Here is the dish after the addition of chicken stock (with saffron) and a cupful or so of jarred favas. (I’ve since made the dish with real fresh favas, which turned up in the local El Güero about a month ago; on a subsequent visit, they weren’t available.)


In the following picture the rice is being fluffed and has been garnished with some more chopped parsley and cilantro.


We enjoyed this green rice with some freshly grated formatge de Maó (Menorcan cow’s milk cheese), alongside some roasted chicken (started on the stove-top, finished in the oven) with a complex sauce (tomatoes, olives, capers, celery, various herbs and spices) somewhat similar to the famous Mexican salsa veracruzana and some Italian-style bitter greens.


Era una bona menjada.

Antonius

Links to other recipes and cooking notes by this writer: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=55649#55649

A--

You tempt fate by fluffing your Spanish rice with a spoon. Next thing you know, you'll do away with adding the rice in the sign of the cross.

JeffB wrote:A--

You tempt fate by fluffing your Spanish rice with a spoon. Next thing you know, you'll do away with adding the rice in the sign of the cross.

J:

I am blissfully ignorant of any theories, hypotheses or superstitions in this regard. I typically use my pointy spoon (pictured above) and a fork in combination to do the task. Since a spoon is ultimately required for serving (we do not eat directly from the paëlla), I assume it's use cannot be excessively deleterious.

I know that there is a great deal of ritual and highly developed 'philosophy' involved with rice dishes and the use of the paëlla in Valencia and Catalonia, but there are also considerable levels of disagreement on many points.

My position is that I believe absolutely in the correctness of the approach used in that Catalan-speaking village, wherever it may be, where they insist that one must use a fork and a pointy spoon to fluff the rice and that all who fail to fluff the rice according to this method are the most miserable, unspeakable barbarians.




A

Arròs amb verdures o Arròs ‘xamfainat’

One Saturday for lunch I made a rice dish in my paëlla with the assortment of vegetables that form the basis of xamfaina or samfaina and a number of the other western Mediterranean vegetable stews (as illustrated here (link) and discussed from an historical perspective here (link)): onion and garlic, pepper, zucchini, eggplant, and tomato. On this occasion, I decided to add some olives to the mix as well. The results were quite tasty:



Before assembling the sofregit, I first fried the zucchini.


Here is the sogfregit, including some tomato, red bell pepper, a red jalapeño (I think) and some olives and parsley.


I later added pimentón, a few mashed canned pomodori pelati, and ultimately a small eggplant, cut into small pieces.


Then came the water and finally the rice.


A short while later, the dish was done.


Please note the bits of ‘scorched rice’, the socarrat, which is especially delicious.


Coming soon: Arròs amb l’Amanida del LLogaret Grec!

Bon profit!
Antonius

Links to other recipes and cooking notes by this writer: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=55649#55649