Recipe: BBQ Rice

Disclaimer

This is really for what we would consider in the USA as a “paella” done on the BBQ, but here in Spain it is just considered a rice dish because it does not meet the strict requirements to be a “paella”. What are those strict requirements? Well I guess that would depend on which spaniard you are asking, so to avoid any problems I just will call this BBQ Rice.

This particular rice dish recipe calls for prawns and cuttlefish, but this summer we made this almost every weekend and never repeated the shrimp and cuttlefish, but tried with pork ribs, chicken, and what ever we thought would go well together (see bottom of page for pictures of different ones we have made).

And proof that this is easy, I made this all on my own last weekend (the picture above is the one I made on my own with red pepper instead of green as in all the pictures below).

Ingredients

  • about 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • chopped green pepper (or red)
  • 3 or 4 roughly chopped garlic cloves
  • 1 or 2 chopped cuttlefish (depending on size)
  • 1 grated tomato
  • 1 chicken bouillon cube
  • saffron threads (maybe 10 or so)
  • 1 guindilla (hot little pepper) (option to give it a kick)
  • 1 cup rice (not long grain! the short stubby kind!)
  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • salt to taste (love putting this, because it drives me crazy in recipes, but I have no idea how much my wife added, but she never uses any spoons, just eyeballs it)
  • 1 lemon
  • bag of uncooked prawns

Instructions

  • Until we did the first BBQ rice, I did not realize my BBQ was not really level … so before getting things hot, check that your’s is more or less level.
  • Turn on all three burners to medium high heat and put the paella pan in the middle and add the olive oil.
  • Add the peppers and garlic and saute a bit.
  • The cuttlefish needs more time sauteing so add it next, but when we did other meats we added it later in the process.
  • Saute and when cuttlefish is a bit browned around the edges add the grated tomato.
  • Continue sauteing until there is a really good sauce that seems chalked full of good flavors.
  • Sprinkle the bouillon cube in and keep moving until absorbed.
  • Pour rice over, add the saffron threads, and move around until rice absorbs some of the good sauce and gets browned a bit.
  • Pour in water, add salt, and squeeze lemon over it all.
  • Shake pan with hot pads so rice is evenly spread through the paella pan, close lid, and lower burners to low.
  • Let cook 15 minutes and then add prawns wiggling them so they are down in the rice
  • Let cook another 5 minutes and make sure all the water is mostly absorbed and prawns are pink
  • Remove from BBQ, cover with aluminum paper, and then put a towel over and let rest 10 minutes.

Pictures of process

Level the BBQ:

Warm the paella pan (notice all burners at medium):

First start with olive oil, peppers and garlic:

After a bit add the cuttlefish:

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The grated tomato and saffron ready to go:

Add grated tomato and continue sauteing:

Once everything is nicely sauted, and there is a tastey looking suace, add rice and saffron:

After rice has soaked up sauce and browned a bit add the water:

Squeeze a lemon all over it:

Close the lid and keep it hummin at about this temperature for 15 min:

Squeeze the prawns into the rice:

After 5 more minutes if prawns are pink and water has been absorbed, remove from gril, cover with aluminum foil, and then put a dish towel over it and let it rest 10 minutes:

Enjoy!

Different varieties that we have experimented with:

Chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), and chicken:

Mar and Tierra (Sea and land): asparagus, mushrooms, squid, and shrimp:

Source

The wife’s brain

Thanks for reading and feel free to give feedback or comments via email (andrew@jupiterstation.net).