Daring Cooks Challenge: Spanish Rice by José Andrés

If you've read my old posts (and if you know me), you'll remember that I have an immense love affair with Spain and its food. In fact look back on the blog's humble beginnings and you'll see how I went through a phase of Spanish fare until I promised to stop and cook from another region! And stop I did.

Thank goodness my dry spell has ended!

And applause for Olga from las Cosas de Olga and Olga's Recipes for the August challenge of Daring Cooks! A woman after my heart it seems as she's chosen a Spanish Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes by influential Spanish Chef José Andrés who once trained under El Bulli demi-god Ferran Adria.

Cooking the Sofregit

I've quantified the Daring Cook's recipe to serve 4 people but it can be easily adjusted. The basic guide is 1.5 cups of liquid for every 1/2 cup of rice and that will easily serve one person. Because I didn't have a large enough pan to fit everything in, I had to cook it in two batches. Also the recipe called for the rice to simmer for 8 minutes but for me it took at least 20-25mins! That was because my pan weren't wide enough to cook the rice in a flat, single layer so it took a lot longer. Next purchase on my list is definitely a giant satellite paella pan!

The Sofregit is a fragrant sauce made from vegetables and some herbs and spices and is a delicious base for any dish. The recipe calls for only 3 tablespoons of sofregit for every 2 cups of rice but I thought that was way too little! I ended up using at least 8 and they were huge spoonfuls but it made for the most flavoursome dish. Even after all that I had a bit of sofregit left so if you're making the full recipe of it, you could always freeze what's leftover. Or you could do what I did and cook a pot of mussels in the sofregit and some white wine and garlic aiolli.

The wonderfully pungent garlic aiolli

As for that garlic aiolli, I made it the traditional way with a mortar and pestle and a little mixed through the rice just lifted the dish beautifully. There were a few Daring Cooks comments about how pungent and spicy it was and we were advised to make a reduced amount of it. Frankly it wasn't enough! But then again we couldn't stop dipping our fingers in it so in the end, the full recipe just didn't yield enough for The Captain and I to put in our rice! If garlic isn't your thing, then by all means, a little goes a long way. But if you're obsessed with garlic and have no qualms about eating it raw like I do then feel free to get down and dirty with it and make double the amount (half for the rice, half for licking while cooking!). There's no such thing as too much garlic in my books!

What a better time than any to end Citrus and Candy's Spanish hiatus, don't you think? Olé!

Sofregit

(can be made ahead of time)

Ingredients

Cooking time: aprox. 1 hour

2 Tbl olive oil
5 big red ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup of button or Portobello mushrooms, chopped (optional)
1 Bay leaf
Salt
Touch of ground cumin
Touch of dried oregano

Directions

Put all the ingredients together in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft.

Taste and salt if necessary

NOTES: My tomatoes weren't really ripe and juicy so the sauce looked a little limp (to put it eloquently!). To make it more vibrant and saucier I added a little bit of tinned crushed tomatoes.

I also added an extra bay leaf and some Spanish Smoked Paprika as well as upped the generosity with the cumin and oregano. I highly recommend adding the green pepper and mushrooms to the sofregit.

Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 Artichokes (use jarred/frozen if fresh isn't available) - hearts chopped or sliced
• 12 Mushrooms (button or Portobello) - chopped into quarters
• 1 or 2 Bay leaves
• 1 glass of white wine (and an extra one for yourself to drink while cooking!)
• 2 Cuttlefish (use frozen cuttlefish or squid if you can't find fresh) - cut into strips
• Sofregit (from the above recipe)
• 300 gr (2 C) short grain rice (Spanish types Calasparra or Montsant)
• 6 C (1.5L) Water or Fish Stock (I highly recommend skipping the water and using all fish stock and/or extra wine)
• Saffron threads (if you can’t find it or afford to buy it, you can substitute it for 1/4 tsp of tumeric or yellow coloring powder)
• Garlic allioli (two recipes will follow - pick one)

Directions

Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and put the cuttlefish in the pan.

Add a bay leaf (if using), the artichokes and the mushrooms to the cuttlefish and sauté until artichokes are golden.

Add a touch of white wine and scrape any solids of the bottom for extra flavour.

Add two or three tablespoons of sofregit to the mix and fry until combined (I added 8 and the flavour was awesome. Don't be afraid to use more).

Add all the fish stock/water and bring to a boil on high heat.

Add the rice and boil on the high heat for about 5 minutes.

Add some saffron threads to the rice and lightly stir to mix it in. If you’re using turmeric or yellow coloring, use only 1/4 teaspoon.

Reduce to low heat and simmer for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”). Mine actually took at least 20 mins but that was because I was using medium grain rice and a small pot. Just simmer for as long as you need it until rice is cooked.

If you're adding mussels as I did, add the mussels and wedge it into the rice in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

When done, take the pan off the heat and let the rice stand a couple of minutes.

Allioli (Traditional recipe)

Cooking time: 20 min aprox.

Ingredients

4 garlic cloves, peeled
Pinch of salt
Fresh lemon juice (some drops)
Extra-virgin olive oil (Spanish preferred but not essential)

Method

Place the garlic in a mortar along with the salt.

Using a pestle, smash the garlic cloves to a smooth paste. (The salt stops the garlic from slipping at the bottom of the mortar as you pound it down.)

Add the lemon juice to the garlic.

Drop by drop; pour the olive oil into the mortar slowly as you continue to crush the paste with your pestle.

Keep turning your pestle in a slow, continuous circular motion in the mortar. The drip needs to be slow and steady. Make sure the paste soaks up the olive oil as you go.

Keep adding the oil, drop by drop, until you have the consistency of a very thick mayonnaise. If your allioli gets too dense, add water to thin it out. This takes time—around 20 minutes of slow motion around the mortar—to create a dense, rich sauce.

José's tips for traditional recipe: It's hard to think that, when you start crushing the garlic, it will ever turn into something as dense and smooth as allioli. But don't give up. It's worth the extra time and effort to see the oil and garlic come together before your eyes. Just make sure you're adding the olive oil slowly, drop by drop. Keep moving the pestle around the mortar in a circular motion and keep dreaming of the thick, creamy sauce at the end of it all.

Allioli a la moderna (Modern recipe)

Cooking time: 3-4 minutes

Ingredients

1 small egg
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (as above, Spanish oil is highly recommended)
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 Tbs. Spanish Sherry vinegar or lemon juice (if Sherry vinegar is not available, use can use cider or white vinegar)
Salt to taste

Method

Break the egg into a mixing bowl.

Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic cloves, along with the vinegar or lemon juice.

Using a hand blender, start mixing at high speed until the garlic is fully pureed into a loose paste.

Little by little, add what's left of the olive oil as you continue blending.

If the mixture appears too thick as you begin pouring the oil, add 1 teaspoon of water to loosen the sauce.

Continue adding the oil and blending until you have a rich, creamy allioli.

The sauce will be a lovely yellow color.

Add salt to taste.

José's tips for modern recipe: If you do not have access to a hand blender, you can use a hand mixer (the kind with the two beaters) or a food processor. If you use a food processor, you must double the recipe or the amount will be too little for the blades to catch and emulsify.

What happens if the oil and egg separate? Don't throw it out. You can do two things. One is to whisk it and use it as a side sauce for a fish or vegetable. But if you want to rescue the allioli, take 1 tablespoon of lukewarm water in another beaker and start adding to the mix little by little. Blend it again until you create the creamy sauce you wanted.