Cooking at Home: Arroz al horno
Arroz al horno is very similar to paella in that it is rice, it is yellow, and it has meat and other stuff on top. But it's not usually served in a restaurant that specializes in rice, because it's more of a homey dish. While paella is usually reserved for extended family get-togethers on the weekend, arroz al horno is also a weekday dish. When I made it I realized how easy it was; it's essentially a rice casserole.
Here I have the main ingredients. From the left, broth from cocido, a stew which is usually made with pork, chicken, chickpeas, potatoes, etc. Pork ribs, cut into 1.5 inch chunks, half-inch strips of pork belly, also cut up in the same length, morcilla (blood sausage). I also included salchicha sausages, but that's not standard. In the yellow mortar is saffron steeping in water, next to it bomba rice, chickpeas, sweet pimentón (paprika, i.e. not smoked pimentón), grated tomato, whole garlic, a halved tomato, and slices of cooked potato.
I'm really happy that I finally figured out how to easily use saffron! Basically just mash it with a mortar and pestle into a powder, add water, and let it steep. That's it!
Next, fry all of the ingredients individually.
Even fry up the rice and chickpeas, together with the grated tomato in the leftover fat of the meat.
Next, put the rice and chickpea mixture in a cazuela. Then on top, arrange all of the ingredients, putting the garlic in the middle. Valencianos seem to like radial patterns so that's what I went for.
As a final step, pour in the broth.
Bake in the oven, and out it comes! The radial pattern is quite nice, isn't it!
