Rice Doesn’t Mean Just Paella: Two Simple and Delicious Recipes

Here are two recipes with rice that are easy and quick to make at home.

Rice with baby squid, hake, and shrimp

Ingredients

1. One medium coffee cup of bomba rice
2. 7 oz Hake
3. 17 oz of squid
4. 6 shrimps
5. Homemade sofrito (two tablespoons)
6. Three medium-sized coffee cups of fish broth or fumet
7. 1 clove of garlic

How to make it?

1. Start by cooking the squid in the paella pan with a little olive oil. As soon as they begin to brown, remove them and set them aside. Lightly mark the hake delights and the shrimps, proceeding then to reserve everything.
2. Then, in the same oil, brown a clove of chopped garlic and add a spoonful of sofrito.
3. Once everything is ready, add the rice, the saffron, and the broth and let it cook over high heat for 8 minutes. To intensify the flavor, add the content of the heads of the shrimps, squeezing them a little.
4. Lower the heat to the minimum but control it so that the rice does not stop cooking and add the baby squids, leaving the rice to cook for another 7-8 minutes more. Carefully add the hake delicacies and the peeled prawns and turn off the heat, covering the rice with a tea towel while letting the last pieces added cook with the remaining heat and the steam under the cloth, leaving to rest for about 15 minutes before serving.

How to accompany this recipe?

Aioli potatoes, are an easy and tasty tapa recipe

 Ingredients

• 2 potatoes.
• 1 egg.
• 1 garlic clove.
• 150 ml of sunflower oil.
• Parsley (a few sprigs).
• Salt.
• Lemon juice (a few drops).

How to make it?

1. Cook the potatoes without peeling -well washed- in a pan with salted water and take them out after 20 minutes, when they are well cooked. Then peel them and cut them into irregular pieces, leaving them in a bowl to cool well.
2. Prepare the alioli following the traditional recipe, but make it only with garlic and oil, without egg or in the mortar. Or just do a simpler preparation, making mayonnaise with garlic that is not too thick so that it can coat the potatoes perfectly.
3. To make this garlic mayonnaise, or easy aioli, put the egg, the clove of garlic, and the sunflower oil in a tall glass, add a few drops of lemon juice, and put the blender in straight, leaving it still until the sound changes. Then, slowly lift it up until the sauce is ready. When the potatoes are cold, add the aioli sauce and mix well, giving enveloping movements and trying not to break them. It is better to add the aioli little by little, so as not to overdo it with the quantity.
4. Finely chop a bunch of parsley very fine and incorporate it into the potatoes and alioli, also with enveloping movements. Reserve a little more to sprinkle on top at the moment of serving and a sprig to decorate. Keep the potatoes covered with cling film in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, so that they get cold to eat.

Mellow Risotto with leek, pear, and saffron

 Ingredients

1. 7 oz Leek (about 3 units)
2. 3 black peppercorns
3. 30 ml of extra virgin olive oil
4. 6 oz of arborio or carnaroli rice
5. 150 ml of white wine
6. 1 medium pear
7. 600 ml of chicken or vegetable stock (approximately)
8. Saffron (a few strands)
9. 1 oz of butter
10. Parmesan cheese to taste
11. Ground black pepper
12. Salt

Traditional preparation

1. Cut the ends of the leeks and remove the outermost leaf if necessary. Wash and cut into thin slices or chop into small pieces. Wash the pear (if it is small, use two), peel, and core.
2. Heat the stock over moderate heat. Separate a small quantity into a glass to infuse the crushed saffron threads (about 4).
3. Heat the olive oil in a casserole and sauté the leek with a pinch of salt and the black peppercorns.
4. Add the rice, stir well for a minute, and add the white wine. When it has evaporated, add the pear, stir well, and add the saffron infusion.
5. Start cooking the risotto over low heat, adding the broth little by little, always hot, stirring gently. Cook it for 18-20 minutes. Add more broth if necessary.
6. In the end, butter it and add grated Parmesan cheese. Check the salt and serve with freshly ground black pepper and more cheese to taste.

Bonus track: How about making rice in a rice cooker?

The two previous recipes are delicious dishes you can make by cooking the rice the traditional way.

However, as a final tip, you should know there is an innovative device that could make you save a lot of time.

A rice cooker is an electronic kitchen appliance used for cooking rice automatically without the need for constant supervision. It typically consists of a removable pot or bowl, an electric heating element, and a thermostat. Most modern rice cookers include a digital control panel with a lot of functions, since they aren’t limited to cooking rice, but can be used to process a vast range of foods.

To make rice in rice cooker, you just have to measure the desired amount of rice and water into the pot, and then turn on the appliance. The heating element and thermostat work together to bring the water to a boil and then maintain it at a steady temperature until the rice is fully cooked.

Once the rice is done, the cooker will automatically switch to a “keep warm” mode, which will keep the rice at a safe serving temperature until it is ready to be served.

Rice cookers are popular in many countries, particularly in Asia where rice is a staple food, but they’re available in Europe and US markets as well. They come in a variety of sizes and styles, from basic models that only cook rice, to more advanced models that can also cook other types of grains, steamed vegetables, and even bake cakes.