BLACK RICE WITH CUTTLEFISH OR SQUID

 

This recipe is the original of Ferran Adrià's book called 'The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià'. I had to adapt it, because here in Australia it is difficult to find cuttlefish in small country places, so I used squid instead. I had also fish broth in the freezer, so I used this one instead of the recipe below. But I did make a 'sofrito' with fresh herbs instead of dried ones, because I like them better that way, and in the 'picada' I also put more garlic in it and added the oil at the end. Yesterday we ate it as is, but today I will make some 'all i oli' to accompany it. It is a very good recipe but it takes a bit of time to make it if you have to do all the preparation on the same day, it is best to do it beforehand and then it is very easy. Bon Appetit!

To make the rice, you need to have the fish broth, the 'sofrito' and the 'picada' ready. Instructions and ingredients for following the steps can be found at the end of the rice recipe.

Ingredients

Rice:

600 gr. of Bomba rice (I have used Arborio, because I do not find this one)

Olive oil (70 ml)

600 grs. of clean fresh cuttlefish (or squid)

1.8 l fish stock

30 gr. picada (1 tbsp) - (I put more)

80 gr. sofrito (about 6 tablespoons)

5 sachets of 4 gr. of squid ink (I only had two, which is why I didn't come out so black)

Salt

To cook the rice

Cut the clean cuttlefish into 2 cm squares. approx.

Heat the broth.

Heat oil in a frying pan, sauté the cuttlefish. (Here it's squid)

Add the sofrito.

Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, adding a little water if necessary.

Add the rice and fry for 2 to 5 minutes, stirring often.

Turn up the heat and wet the rice with the hot broth and cook, stirring constantly, adding the broth in small amounts as the rice absorbs it.

After 5 minutes, add the ink previously dissolved in a little hot broth to the rice. Continue to add the rest of the broth for about 12 minutes, stirring often.

When there is only about 5 minutes left to finish cooking, add the picada with the last ladle of broth and stir well.

Let it cook for a couple more minutes. Add salt if necessary. Let stand covered for 5-10 minutes.

It can be served with all i oli.

Serves 6

Here, served with all i oli. Even more delicious. If you want to make the real 'all i oli' not the one sold in the supermarkets here in Australia, you can click here for the real recipe, which takes 5 minutes to make!

You will need to prepare this beforehand:

Fish broth

Ingredients:

1 kg. of rockfish (morralla) or heads and spines

250 gr. of crabs, galleys or similar

1 tablespoon olive oil

2.5 l. of water

1- Heat the olive oil in a pot. Add the crabs (or selected crustaceans) and sauté well.

2 - Incorporate the washed fish (if the fish are small they can be added whole, but if they are bigger I remove the viscera so that they do not become bitter)

3 - Add water and bring to a boil.

4 - Once it comes to a boil, remove the impurities from the surface.

5 - Cook for 20 minutes and pass through a fine sieve.

Sofrito

Ingredients:

150g tomato puree or passata

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 or 2 cloves garlic (to taste)

1 finely chopped onion

1 pinch of dried thyme or fresh

1 pinch of dried rosemary or fresh

1/4 bay leaf

Sal

1 - In a frying pan, add the onion and garlic, letting them brown a little.

2 - Lower the heat, add the herbs and stir so that they do not stick.

3 - Add the tomato and season with salt, let it all cook until it has a jam consistency, about 20 - 30 minutes.

Picada

Ingredients:

Leaves from 2 sprigs of parsley 

40 ml of olive oil

Saffron 5 or 6 threads

1 clove garlic, peeled (I put 3)

35 g peeled and toasted hazelnuts (or almonds)

a pinch of salt

1 - Toast the saffron strands, wrapped in aluminium foil, in a frying pan for two seconds, trying not to burn them. (I didn't toast them)

2 - In a mortar put a pinch of salt and the peeled garlic and chop it until they have the consistency of a paste.

3 - Add the peeled and clean parsley and saffron and continue to chop.

4- Add the hazelnuts and continue to chop until you get a paste.

5 - Incorporate the olive oil and mix until a homogeneous mixture.