Lobster Rice
Lobster Rice
All across Delta del Ebro you will find great restaurants where you can enjoy the local rice speciality, cooked with other local ingredients. This is my lobster rice recipe, with a little help from Ca’l Faiges … the flavour of their lobster is to die for.If you are lucky enough to go there, don’t order one per person – the portion sizes are really generous! And remember to ask for the ortiguillas (anemones) too. They’re simply deep-fried – you won’t regret ordering them. — José Pizarro, author of Catalonia
Servings
8
Ingredients
- 2 live lobsters (about 1 lb 9 oz each)
- 17 fl oz fresh shellfish stock
- 17 fl oz fresh chicken stock
- 2 fl oz olive oil
- 2 large onions, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 1/3 cup bomba or other short-grain rice
- 7 fl oz white wine
- 1 lb 5 oz fresh tomatoes, finely chopped
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- good pinch of saffron threads
- 1 lb 2 oz hake, cut into chunks
- 1 lb 2 oz fresh clams, cleaned
Directions
- With a sharp, heavy knife, cut the lobsters in half down the middle in one swift movement. Remove the stomach and discard. Remove the claws and crack them with the back of a knife or a rolling pin. Remove the small legs.
- Combine the stocks in a pan and heat until steaming.
- Heat the oil in a very large pan. Gently fry the onions for 10 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and rice and fry for a minute until the rice is toasted. Add the wine and tomatoes and cook, stirring, until the wine is absorbed, then add the saffron threads.
- Pour 750 ml (25 fl oz) of the hot stock into the rice, stir well and season. Nestle the lobsters into the rice, and cook gently, without stirring, for 15 minutes. Add the hake and cook for a further 3–5 minutes then add the clams and a further splash (150–200 ml / 5–7 fl oz) of stock. Cover and cook for 1–2 minutes until the clams are open (discard any that stay shut).
- Serve straight away with lots of bread.
- Recipes excerpted with permission from Catalonia: Recipes from Barcelona and Beyond by : José Pizarro (Hardie Grant Books, 2017)