Arroz caldoso negre

Serves: 6
Course: main
Cooking Time: 1 hr
Prep Time: 20 mins
Ingredients
  • For the saffron dressing:
  • Juice of 1 lemon and one mandarin
  • Half-tsp saffron strands or powder
  • 150mls cream
  • For the arroz caldoso:
  • 100mls olive oil
  • 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
  • 2 sticks celery, finely diced
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced
  • 1tsp smoked paprika
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 500g squid rings, chopped into small pieces
  • 1tbs tomato purée
  • 300g bomba or risotto rice
  • 150mls red wine (white if you’re not using squid ink)
  • 1 litre of chicken stock
  • 2 sachets of squid ink
  • Salt and pepper
  • Packet of prawn crackers

1 For the saffron dressing, mix the ingredients together and chill the dressing for an hour or so.

2 Put the olive oil, garlic, onion, celery, chilli, smoked paprika, bay leaves and squid into a pot. Cover and cook gently for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice. All the vegetables should be soft and tender. Add the tomato purée.

3 Rinse the rice under cold water, add to the pot and stir everything together.

4 Pour in the red wine, then after a minute or two, add all the stock.

5 Bring to a simmer then cook for 20 minutes until the rice is tender, then add the squid ink.

6 Add some lemon if you think it needs it but the sauce contains quite a lot.

7 Season and serve with the saffron dressing and prawn crackers.

Paul Flynn

Paul Flynn

Paul Flynn is a chef, restaurateur and contributor to The Irish Times. He and his wife, Máire, run the Tannery restaurant and cookery school in Dungarvan, Co Waterford