Paella de Verduras
A thin layer of rice, stock poured once, and then nothing touches it. The crust on the bottom is the whole reward.
- Prep
- 20m
- Cook
- 40m
- Waiting
- 5m
- Total
- 1h 5m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 4 tbsp | Build the sofrito and toast the paprika off the heat 14m Paprika scorches in seconds and turns bitter. Pan off the flame, stir, straight back on. | Add the rice and stir it through the sofrito for one minute only 2m Long enough to coat every grain in oil, which slows the starch release. | Cook undisturbed until the liquid has gone and the base crackles 18m No stirring, ever, once the stock is in. Stir and you make risotto. | Rest 5 minutes off the heat under a clean cloth 5m The cloth traps steam and evens out the last of the moisture. | |
| 1 | |||||
| 1 | |||||
| 4 cloves | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 2 tsp | |||||
| 320 g | |||||
| 900 ml | Warm the stock with the saffron so it has time to bloom 6m Saffron needs hot liquid and about five minutes to give up its colour. | ||||
| a large pinch | |||||
| 1 1/2 tsp | |||||
| 150 g | |||||
| 200 g | |||||
| 200 g | |||||
| 1 sprig | |||||
| 1 | |||||
-
Build the sofrito and toast the paprika off the heat
14m- olive oil 4 tbsp
- onion 1
- red pepper 1
- garlic 4 cloves
- tomatoes 3
- smoked paprika 2 tsp
Paprika scorches in seconds and turns bitter. Pan off the flame, stir, straight back on.
-
Add the rice and stir it through the sofrito for one minute only
2m- from 1 Build the sofrito and toast the paprika off the heat
- bomba or calasparra rice 320 g
Long enough to coat every grain in oil, which slows the starch release.
-
Warm the stock with the saffron so it has time to bloom
6m- vegetable stock 900 ml
- saffron a large pinch
- salt 1 1/2 tsp
Saffron needs hot liquid and about five minutes to give up its colour.
-
Cook undisturbed until the liquid has gone and the base crackles
18m- from 2 Add the rice and stir it through the sofrito for one minute only
- from 3 Warm the stock with the saffron so it has time to bloom
- green beans 150 g
- artichoke hearts 200 g
- butter beans 200 g
- rosemary 1 sprig
No stirring, ever, once the stock is in. Stir and you make risotto.
-
Rest 5 minutes off the heat under a clean cloth
5m- from 4 Cook undisturbed until the liquid has gone and the base crackles
- lemon 1
The cloth traps steam and evens out the last of the moisture.
What makes the socarrat
The crust on the base is caramelised starch, not burnt rice. It forms in the last few minutes when the free liquid has evaporated and the pan floor climbs past 100°C with a film of starch and oil against it. Two things allow it — a shallow layer of rice, no deeper than a finger’s width, so the liquid can actually leave, and a hands-off pan, since stirring releases starch into the body of the dish and keeps everything wet.
Notes
- Bomba absorbs about three times its volume and stays separate. Risotto rice will not behave.
- Listen at the end. The sound changes from a bubble to a dry crackle, and that is the thirty-second warning.
- Cook it wider than seems sensible. Depth is the enemy of every part of this.